Reading

• About
  • Rudyard Kipling went to India at the height of the British empire and recognized the marvelous differences in all the cultures that he saw there. While he always thought that Britain's culture was best, he often honored the other cultures strengths. One instance of this is his poem "The Ballad of East and West". He did feel that Britain's role was to help other people and that they could do this better than any one else, so there is that arrogance there, but he also loved the diversity of India, and the courage of all cultures and races. There were many dark places in colonialism, but I don't see that this takes away from the celebration of life in Kipling's writings.

    There was an underlying brutality in life during the Victorian age that was often covered up by the "respectable" people and this made life for most people, both in Britain and in their colonies, very difficult. Several of the poems and stories deal with this and sympathize with the lower classes, at home and abroad, including the privates in the army who led a hard life.

    He also had poetry that rhymed! A big plus in my estimation. I have always had the feeling that free verse just wasn't as real as poetry that rhymed. Ok, I recognize this as one of my weak points. His poem "If" which pretty much sums up life, I think is one of the best poems written, and certainly my favorite.

• Books - This list is in my order not published order.
  • Kim

    The tale of a boy who grew up an orphan, yet made his way in the world with his cleverness till he found his true heritage. This is my favorite book of Kipling's, not The Jungle Book which is the one everyone thinks of. There is a true joy in Kim as he dances through the "game" between Britain and Russia and the contradictions between Indian culture, which he grew up in and preferred, and British culture, which was his heritage. In the relationship between Kim and the holy man he adopted, or who adopted him, and the people they interact with, we see all of India in it's contradictions and richness.