Rudyard Kipling
From ArticleWorld
Rudyard Kipling was born in India. Kipling along with his little sister was sent away to England. The siblings were cared for by a Mrs. Holloway. Distant and negligent, she made the children feel helpless, to say the least. Kipling visited his aunt and uncle, the Burne-Joneses, every Christmas until he was twelve.
His parents returned from India when he was twelve and rescued the siblings from the negligent caretaker. Kipling was related to the three-time Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. After a brief stay at a boarding school, Kipling rejoined his parents in 1881. At this time, they were working in India. He went to Lahore and started working as an editor at a local newspaper. He also tried his hand at poetry round the same time. By 1883, he first work was in print.
A well traveled writer
His working as a correspondent for the Allahabad took him all over India. By the mid-1880s, he published six short works. Soon after, he went back to England via Burma, China, Japan and USA. He settled down in London. He published an account of his sojourns, based on his newspaper articles at that time.
About a decade later, around 1898, he left for Africa. He liked it so much that he decided to spend all his winters there. This lead to his befriending Cecil Rhodes and the eventual materialization of " Just So Stories for Little Children ". Replete with pictures and poems, this book soon became a favorite with all those youthful.
The early 20th century proved to be one of his most creative periods. Kim was published around the same time as " Just so stories for Little Children ". These works gained the respect of his peers and established him as the literary voice of the West. Kipling was here to stay.
Rudyard Kipling: A genius
This is the less known Kipling. While in Vermont, he enjoyed the outdoors as much as his house, the "Naulakha” which he referred to as his ship. He loved golf and he invented "snow-golf “ while in Vermont. Most of his fans do not realize that he was a poet and that he was very loyal to meter and rhyme in his poetry.
He designed the obligation and ceremony for graduating engineers at the request of a civil engineering professor from Canada. This ceremony, beginning in 1923,"The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer" is in effect engineering colleges all across Canada, and even some in the USA. An iron ring is presented to engineering graduates at the ceremony to remind them of their obligation to society.
With the advent of the motor-age, Kipling became a "motoring correspondent "for a British periodical. Published in 1912, it not only reads like contemporary science fiction (but it is also believed that it had a major influence on Heinlein. While his fans know him for "Jungle Book”, "Stalky & Co " and "Just So Stories for Little Children " his ability to write science fiction are very obvious in " With The Night Mail ". He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, making him the youngest Nobel Laureate to date.
Death and after
Kipling died at the age of 70. His work was temporarily eclipsed after his death. His views about the inhabitants of the colony were considered politically incorrect. Most of his works have been turned in films. He lives on through his characters.