Joseph Rudyard Kipling
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1,527
Words
Published
1
Film credit
273
Books
5
Awards
Rudyard Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 at age 42, the youngest ever. He wrote The Jungle Book while living in Vermont and composed Kim and the Just So Stories. After his son John was killed in World War I, he worked for the War Graves Commission and wrote the inscription ‘A soldier of the Great War–Known Unto God’.
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Rudyard Kipling by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Rudyard Kipling — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865, in Bombay, British India, to John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director, and Alice MacDonald Kipling. Indian nurses raised him, teaching him Hindi and Indian beliefs. At age six he went to England to live with a foster mother who treated him cruelly. He attended the United Services College at Westward Ho!, later inspiring his work Stalky & Co.
Kipling returned to India in 1882 as a journalist. By 1890 he had published Departmental Ditties and over 70 Indian tales, including Plain Tales from the Hills. He arrived in London in October 1889 at age 23 already a celebrity. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier and moved to Vermont, where he wrote The Jungle Books and Captains Courageous. He later wrote Kim in 1901 and The Just So Stories in 1902. After moving to Sussex, he published A Diversity of Creatures, Debits and Credits 1926, and Limits and Renewals 1932.
Kipling married Caroline Balestier, daughter of an American lawyer, in 1892. They lived in Brattleboro, Vermont for four years. The couple had three children: Josephine born 1892, Elsie born 1896, and John born 1897. The death of his son John in World War I deeply affected him. He declined the Poet Laureateship, the Order of Merit, and a knighthood.
Kipling became the first English-speaking writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. In 1995, his poem If… won the vote for England’s favorite poem. His works like The Jungle Book and Kim have endured as classics. Readers remember him as a master storyteller whose writings, though controversial for their imperialist views, offer insight into diverse cultures.
Browse the complete filmography of Rudyard Kipling — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Rudyard Kipling — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Rudyard Kipling's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from Rudyard Kipling — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Oh East Is East and West Is West and Never the Twain Shall Meet
The Female of the Species Is More Deadly Than the Male
Our England Is a Garden …
He Travels Fastest Who Travels Alone.
Words Are, of Course, the Most Powerful Drug Used by Mankind.
Most Amusements Only Mean Trying to Win Another Person’s Money.
Every One Is More or Less Mad on One Point.
A Woman Is Only a Woman, but a Good Cigar Is a Smoke.
The Silliest Woman Can Manage a Clever Man; but It Needs a Very Clever Woman to Manage a Fool.
One of the Hardest Things to Realize, Especially for a Young Man, Is That Our Forefathers Were Living Men Who Really Knew Something.
Little-known facts about Rudyard Kipling — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
He admired Mark Twain and made a special effort to meet him during his time in America.
Following the death of his son John in World War I, Kipling worked for the War Graves Commission and composed the inscription A soldier of the Great War–Known Unto God for unidentified soldiers’ graves.
His widow stated that the Jungle Book character Mowgli is pronounced MAU-glee, not MOH-glee.
A French soldier became his friend after a copy of Kim he carried stopped a bullet and saved his life.
He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, becoming the youngest winner at age 42 and the first English-speaking writer to do so.
Kipling turned down the Poet Laureateship, the Order of Merit, and a knighthood.
He learned Hindi from his Indian ayah from infancy, and it became his first language.
He became the first British citizen to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
Initially a firm supporter of Britain’s role in World War I, Kipling’s views changed entirely after his son John died at the Battle of Loos.
His poem If… was voted England’s favorite poem in 1995.
Among his notable poems are If…, The White Man’s Burden, and Tommy Atkins.
After his death, his widow donated their home Batemans in Burwash, Sussex to the nation; it is now a public museum.
Critics regard his short stories With the Night Mail and As Easy As A.B.C. as early examples of modern science fiction.
Kipling held right-wing political views and admired Benito Mussolini in the 1920s, but by 1935 he described Mussolini as a deranged and dangerous egomaniac.
He often called his son John by the nickname Jack.
Through his connections, he secured his son Jack a place in the army after Jack was rejected for severe short-sightedness.
His children were Josephine born December 1892, Elsie born 1896, and John born 1897.
He served as Rector of St Andrews University from 1922 to 1925.
Critics have frequently denounced his writings for supporting imperialism and colonialism.
The Soviet Union banned his works in 1939 after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
He was a cousin of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.
He was born at 4:53 PM local mean time.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Rudyard Kipling.
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