Rudyard Kipling Biography

Rudyard Kipling was an English author. He is known for his works like 'Just So Stories', 'If', 'The Jungle Book', etc. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his Literature writing. In this Rudyard Kipling biography, we will learn about of his early life, his work as a writer along with his awards and achievements.

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Early Life

In this part of the Rudyard Kipling short biography, his early life is discussed.

Kipling, Joseph Rudyard, was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist best known for his children's books and advocacy for the British empire. He was born in British India in the middle of the nineteenth century and was brought to England for his education at the age of six. He later moved to India to pursue a career as a journalist, but soon abandoned it to return to his homeland, where he focused solely on writing. He stayed in Vermont, USA, for a few years after his marriage before returning to England permanently. He was a prolific author whose books for children are considered masterpieces. He was reportedly given poet laureateship and knighthood multiple times, but he declined both. He did, however, accept the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English writer to receive one.

Rudyard Kipling was born in India in 1865 and received his education in England before returning to India in 1882. Kipling married Caroline Balestier and moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, a decade later, where he penned The Jungle Book (1894) and a number of other works that made him famous.

Rudyard Kipling is one of the most well-known poets and storytellers of the late Victorian era. Despite winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, his political beliefs, which became increasingly corrosive as he grew older, have long made him unpopular. “Kipling has been labelled a colonialist, a jingoist, a racist, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, and a right-wing imperialist warmonger, and though some scholars have argued that his views were more complicated than he is given credit for to some degree, he really was all of those things”, wrote Charles McGrath in the New Yorker. Kipling's works for children, particularly his novel The Jungle Book, first published in 1894, have stayed part of popular culture thanks to multiple cinema versions made and remade since the 1960s. 

Rudyard Kipling autobiography ‘Something of Myself’, was published posthumously in 1937. Kipling recalled his stay with dread, and wondered if the combination of violence and neglect he endured at Mrs. Holloway's hands could not have accelerated the start of his literary career: "If you cross-examine a child of seven or eight on his day's doings (especially when he wants to go to sleep) he will contradict himself very satisfactorily. Life is not easy if every disagreement is written down as falsehood and sold at breakfast. I've been experienced it before, but this was premeditated torture, both religious and scientific. Nonetheless, it made me pay attention to the lies I was soon forced to say, and I suppose that this is the cornerstone of literary effort. 

Rudyard Kipling Life and Works

The following part of the Rudyard Kipling short biography we will learn about the great works of Kipling.

Kipling enrolled at the United Services College, a boarding school in Westward Ho, Devon, in January 1878. He had to deal with harsh discipline and bullying while he was there, but he eventually formed close friendships with the other boys and shared practical jokes and pranks with them.

He also formed a positive rapport with the headmaster, who encouraged him to write and appointed him as the school magazine's editor. His father published the poetry he penned for the journal as 'Schoolboy Lyrics' in 1881.

In October 1882, after completing his education, he returned to India. Simultaneously, he walked throughout the native districts, absorbing the vibrant culture of the indigenous people. As a result, he got the opportunity to observe the entire social fabric. He began to fill his notebook with short rhymes and prose sketches, driven by an insatiable desire to write.

He went to Shimla, a well-known hill station and India's summer capital, in the summer of 1883. He must have liked the region a lot because he went there every year from 1885 to 1888. Many of the stories he wrote for his publication focused on the community.

In 1886, he released his first book, ‘Departmental Ditties,' a collection of amusing poetry. Between November 1886 and June 1887, he continued to compose short stories, of which at least thirty-nine were published in the Gazette. 

Kipling was posted to Allahabad in November 1887. He worked as an Assistant Editor at the Gazette's sister paper, "The Pioneer," until early 1889. The time was extremely fruitful in terms of literature.

His first collection of short stories was released in Calcutta in January 1888. (now Kolkata). It contained forty short stories, twenty-eight of which were pre-published in the Gazette in 1886/1887, and was titled ‘Plain Tales from the Hills.'

He also published six other collections of short stories in 1888. Soldiers Three, The Gadsbys' Story, In Black and White, Under the Deodars, The Phantom Rickshaw, and Wee Willie Winkie was among them. There were forty-one stories in total, some of which were extremely lengthy.

As the special correspondent of ‘The Pioneer,' he travelled extensively in Rajputana's western region during this time. The sketches he made during this time were ultimately published as ‘From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel' in 1889.

Returning to the West

When he arrived in England, he discovered that his reputation had preceded him and that he had already established himself as a remarkable author. His stories began to appear in several periodicals soon after.

For the next two years, he worked on his first novel, "The Light That Failed." It was negatively welcomed when it was published in January 1891. He met Wolcott Balestier, an American writer, and literary agent, shortly after and began working on a novel with him.

Kipling again had a nervous breakdown in 1891, and on the advice of his doctors, he proceeded on a new expedition to India, passing through South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. 

In 1892, Rudyard Kipling married Caroline Starr Balestier. They had three children: Josephine and Elsie, two daughters, and John, a son. Only Elsie's parents survived the attack. While Josephine died at the age of six from influenza, John went missing during WWI. He is thought to have perished in combat.

It was when he was living there that he was inspired to write a narrative about a boy named Mowgli and his animal companions. Later, he wrote a series of stories based on the same concept, which he published in 1894 as ‘The Jungle Book.'

Joseph Rudyard Kipling biography includes other major works of this period were ‘Many Inventions’ (1893), ‘The Second Jungle Book’ (1895), and ‘The Seven Seas’ (1896). Each of these works was well-received, and they not only made Kipling a wealthy man, but they also cemented his reputation.

Life in New England

In 1897, he released ‘Captains Courageous,' a book based on his New England adventures. This was also the year he wrote ‘Recessional' in honour of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

He also penned another of his famous poems, "The White Man's Burden," in the same year, but he didn't publish it until two years later, in 1899, after changing it somewhat to laud American expansion following the Spanish–American War. These two poems sparked a lot of debate since they were viewed as supporting imperialism.

He published ‘Stalky & Co.,' a collection of short stories inspired by his time at the United Services College, in 1899. 'Kim' was another major work from this time period. From December 1900 to October 1901, it was serialized in McClure's Magazine before being published as a book in October 1901.

Kipling's fame had reached its pinnacle by this time. Apart from ‘Kim,' two of his most famous early 1900s works were ‘Just So Stories for Little Children' (1902) and ‘Puck of Pook's Hill' (1906).

Around the same time, Kipling became involved in politics, making pleas on both sides of the Atlantic on a variety of problems.

John vanished in 1915 and was never found. In his poem "My Boy Jack," Kipling addressed his sorrow (1916). After the war, he joined the Imperial War Graves Commission and wrote a poignant essay called "Gardener" about his experiences.

Major Works

The Jungle Book, a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling, is his most famous work. There are seven short stories in total. The book's main character is Mowgli, a boy-cub raised by wolves. A tiger named Sher Khan and a bear named Baloo are also prominent characters.

His poetry is similarly well-known, with the most prominent being ‘Mandalay' (1890), ‘Gunga Din' (1890), ‘The White Man's Burden (1899), ‘If' (1910), and ‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings' (1919).

Awards & Achievements

Rudyard Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in recognition of the capacity of observation, originality of imagination, vigour of ideas, and outstanding aptitude for a narrative which distinguish this world-famous author's works."

In 1926, the Royal Society of Literature awarded him the Gold Medal.

Final Years and Death

For the next two decades, Kipling continued to write, but he never returned to the bright, cheery children's stories that he had previously enjoyed. As a result of age and bereavement, both Kipling and Carrie developed health problems.

Kipling suffered from a terrible ulcer throughout the last few years of his life, which took his life on January 18, 1936. Kipling's ashes were interred at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, between the tombs of Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens.