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Questions tagged [rudyard-kipling]

For questions about the works of Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) and his life as a writer. His works include 'The Jungle Book' (1894), 'Kim' (1901), short stories such as 'The Man Who Would Be King' (1888), and poems such as 'The White Man's Burden' (1899), and 'If—' (1910).

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4 votes
1 answer
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What is the meter of these lines from 'If' by Rudyard Kipling?

The poem is in iambic pentameter and employs a feminine ending to the odd lines; but there are a few lines whose rhythm confounds me: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting Twisted by knaves to ...
Pearl's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
151 views

Context of Kipling poem Dane-Geld

Kipling's poem Dane-Geld is a warning about submitting to blackmail. It makes the point that if you pay blackmail then the blackmailer will come back and demand more. Therefore you should never pay. ...
Pete's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
566 views

What is the meaning of the final stanza of The Rabbi's Song by Rudyard Kipling?

The final stanza of The Rabbi's Song by Rudyard Kipling goes as follows: Our lives, our tears, as water,       Are spilled upon the ground; God giveth no man quarter,       Yet God a means hath found,...
Betterthan Kwora's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
179 views

Is there any evidence to support the claim that Mowgli's character was inspired by Dina Sanichar?

In 1904, The World Wide Magazine ran an article with the following snappy intro: It essentially says that the character Mowgli from The Jungle Book was probably inspired by the real-life 'feral child'...
CDR's user avatar
  • 3,636
8 votes
1 answer
226 views

Which Kipling poem is this an allusion to?

My great-grandfather wrote lots of poems, and among them a small verse called "Apologies to Rudyard Kipling". It seems that the verse is a travesty on, or reference to, a Kipling poem, but I ...
Wilhelm's user avatar
  • 83
8 votes
3 answers
292 views

Is there any known tune for the last two verses of Rudyard Kipling's Parade Song of the Camp Animals?

The last section of the Jungle Book is a song by the animals serving in the army in India, split into sections for each animal. For the first four sections the verses closely mirror well known tunes ...
Showsni's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
179 views

What is the meaning of cleaning the samovar in "To Be Held for Reference" by Rudyard Kipling?

From "To Be Held for Reference" by Rudyard Kipling: “All things considered, I doubt whether you are the luckier. I do not refer to your extremely limited classical attainments, or your ...
Quassnoi's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
299 views

How does Irishness affect subject-formation and national identification in Kipling's *Kim* and Tagore's *Gora*?

Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) and Rabindranath Tagore's Gora (1910) have several parallels. Each is about an Irish orphan who passes for Indian. Each is also a Bildungsroman, portraying their ...
verbose's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
684 views

An Indian man retires to become a hermit

I think this story was by Kipling -- it's set in India, during the British Empire. Maybe a few dozen pages in length. The plot -- An Indian man had had a successful career, as a ruler or a high ...
ChrisW's user avatar
  • 163
5 votes
1 answer
684 views

Why the capitalization of "Heavens" in Rudyard Kipling's "The Secret of the Machines"?

In Rudyard Kipling's poem The Secret of the Machines the last stanza goes as follows: Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes, It will vanish and the stars will shine again, ...
Baskaran Soundararajan's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
306 views

What are the hand signals based on Kipling's books?

I'm listening to "Lucifer's Hammer" and more than once book mentions hand signals based on Kipling's books. Something along the line of this: one person is manning a barricade, another man in a hide-...
trailmax's user avatar
  • 111
4 votes
3 answers
7k views

Explain "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you"

In Kipling's poem IF, there is this line: If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you To achieve that, it seems you would have to be so closed off, insulated, and emotionally barricaded that ...
HerrimanCoder's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
110 views

Are there elements of racial superiority in 1894's Jungle Book?

Rudyard Kipling is famous for The Jungle Book, and also infamous for the poem The White Man's Burden. As the former takes place in a British colony and given Kipling's attitude displayed in the latter,...
Narusan's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
798 views

Were the three slogans in Orwell's 1984 partly inspired by Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden"?

George Orwell did not like Kipling at all. I quote from this essay by Orwell: Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting. But this essay also shows that ...
Peter Shor's user avatar
  • 14.4k
8 votes
0 answers
317 views

Why does Kipling's poem ‘The Three-Decker’ differ between editions?

Rudyard Kipling’s collection The Seven Seas (1896) contains the poem ‘The Three-Decker’, whose third verse is as follows: By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of cook, Per Fancy, ...
Gareth Rees's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is the pun in Kipling's poem "The Three-Decker"?

In the poem The Three-Decker, by Rudyard Kipling, there is one line where the meter is slightly different from all the other lines. I Googled that line, not expecting to find anything, and Google ...
Peter Shor's user avatar
  • 14.4k
8 votes
2 answers
7k views

Why rename Kipling's poem "The Beginnings" to “The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon”?

Several white nationalist and neo-Nazi websites have published a modified version of Kipling's poem "The Beginnings." In the new version of the poem, the title was renamed to "THE WRATH ...
user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
37k views

Did Rudyard Kipling Write "The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon"?

I came across a poem on a forum, attributed to Rudyard Kipling called "THE WRATH OF THE AWAKENED SAXON" (the title seems to be often posted in caps). A Google search indicates that where ...
Rusty's user avatar
  • 139
10 votes
1 answer
250 views

Did Alfred Tennyson ever read The Last of the Light Brigade?

The Last of the Light Brigade, by Rudyard Kipling refers to Alfred Tennyson and his poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. Do we know if Alfred Tennyson ever read The Last of the Light Brigade? If so, ...
Benjamin's user avatar
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