Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born December 30, 1865 in Bombay, British India in the family of the professor of the local art school John Lockwood Kipling and Alice (MacDonald) Kipling.
He received the name Rudyard, it is believed, in honor of the English lake Rudyard, where his parents met. The early years, full of the exotic sights and sounds of India, were very happy for the future writer. But at the age of 5, Kipling, along with his 3-year-old sister, was sent to a boarding school in England - in Southsea (Southsea, Portsmouth). The next six years - october 1871 to April 1877 - Kipling lived in a private boarding house at 4 Campbell Road, Lorne Lodge, which was supported by the married couple of Price E. Holloway, a former merchant marine captain, and Sarah Holloway. They mistreated the boy, often punished. This attitude influenced him so much that he suffered from insomnia for the rest of his life.
At the age of 12, his parents put him in a private Devon school so that he can then enter the prestigious military academy. Later, about the years spent at the school, Kipling will write an autobiographical work "Stalki and Company". The headmaster of the school was Cormell Price, a friend of Rudyard's father. It was he who began to encourage the boy's love for literature. Myopia did not allow Kipling to choose a military career, and the school did not give diplomas for admission to other universities. Impressed by the stories his son wrote at school, his father finds him a job as a journalist for the Civil and Military Gazette, published in Lahore (British India, now Pakistan).
In October 1882 Kipling returns to India and starts working as a journalist. In his spare time, he writes short stories and poems, which are then published by the newspaper along with reports. His work as a reporter helps him to better understand the various aspects of the country's colonial life. The first sales of his works begin in 1883.
In the mid-1880s Kipling began touring Asia and the United States as a correspondent for the Allahabad newspaper Pioneer, with which he was contracted to write travel essays. The popularity of his works is growing rapidly, in 1888 and 1889 6 books with his stories are published, which brought him recognition.
In 1889 he makes a long trip to England, then visits Burma, China, Japan. He travels across the United States, crosses the Atlantic Ocean and settles in London. He is beginning to be called the literary heir of Charles Dickens. In 1890 his first novel, The Light That Failed, was released. The most famous poems of that time were "The Ballad of East and West", as well as "The Last Rhime of True Thomas".
In London, Kipling meets a young American publisher, Walcott Balestier, and they work together on the story The Naulahka. In 1892 Balestier dies of typhus and Kipling marries his sister Caroline shortly after. During the honeymoon, the bank where Kipling had savings went bankrupt. The couple had money left only to get to Vermont (USA), where Balestier's relatives lived. They live here for the next four years.
At this time, Kipling again begins to write for children; in 1894-1895 The famous "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book" are published. The poetry collections The Seven Seas and The White Thesis have also been published. Two children are soon born: Josephine and Elsie. After an altercation with his brother-in-law, Kipling and his wife in 1896 return to England. In 1897 the novel "Captains Courageous" is published. In 1899During a visit to the United States, his eldest daughter Josephine dies of pneumonia, which was a huge blow to the writer.
In 1899 he spends several months in South Africa, where he meets Cecil Rhodes, the symbol of British imperialism. The novel "Kim" is published, which is considered one of the best novels of the writer. In Africa, he begins to select material for a new children's book, which is coming out in 1902 entitled Just So Stories ("Just fairy tales").
In the same year, he buys a country house in Sussex (England), where he remains until the end of his life. Here Kipling writes his famous books Puck of Pook’s Hill and Rewards and Fairies - tales of Old England, brought together by the elf storyteller Pak, taken from Shakespeare's plays. Simultaneously with his literary activities, Kipling begins an active political activity. He writes about the impending war with Germany, supports conservatives and opposes feminism.
Literary activity is becoming less and less saturated. Another blow to the writer was the death of his eldest son John in the First World War. in 1915... He died during the Battle of Los September 27, 1915, being part of the battalion of the Irish Guards. John Kipling's body was never found. Kipling, who worked with his wife during the war in the Red Cross, spent four years trying to find out what happened to his son: he always had a glimmer of hope that, perhaps, his son was captured by German captives. June 1919having lost all hope, Kipling in a letter to the military command admitted that his son was most likely killed.
After the war, Rudyard Kipling became a member of the War Graves Commission. It was he who chose the biblical phrase "Their names will live forever" on the obelisks of memory. During one trip in 1922 in France, he meets the English king George V, with whom a great friendship is later struck.
Kipling continued his literary career until early 1930s, although success accompanied him less and less. Since 1915 the writer suffered from gastritis, which later turned out to be an ulcer.
Rudyard Kipling died January 18, 1936 in London. Buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.
Born December 30, 1865 in Bombay (India). His father, a prominent specialist in the history of Indian art, was the director of the museum; mother came from a well-known London family; both grandfathers were Methodist priests. At the age of six, the boy was sent to England in the care of a Calvinist family. In 1882, sixteen-year-old Rudyard returned to India and got a job as an assistant editor in a Lahore newspaper. In 1886 he published a book of poetry "Department Songs". It was followed by Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) - laconic, often rude stories about the life of British India. In 1887 Kipling moved to the Pioneer newspaper in Allahabad. His best stories were published in India, in cheap editions, and later were collected in the books "Three Soldiers" and "Wee-Willie-Winky", containing pictures of the life of the British army in India.
In 1889, Kipling traveled all over the world, writing travel notes. He arrived in London in October and almost immediately became a celebrity. The next year was Kipling's year of glory. Starting with "Ballad of East and West", he moved to a new manner of English versification, creating "Songs of the Barracks".
With the release of Kipling's first novel, The Lights Out (1890), there are some bibliographic difficulties, since it appeared in two versions - one with a happy ending, the other with a tragic one. Due to overwork, the writer's health deteriorated, and he spent most of 1891 traveling across America and the British dominions. Returning in January 1892, he married the sister of the American publisher W. Ballestier, with whom he wrote the unsuccessful novel "Naulanka" (1892).
During their honeymoon in Japan, the Kiplings' banking collapse left them penniless, and they settled in the Balstier home in Brattleborough, Vermont. During his four years in America, Kipling wrote his best works. These are stories included in the collections "Mass of Fictions" (1893) and "Works of the Day" (1898), poems about ships, the sea and pioneer sailors, collected in the book "Seven Seas" (1896), and two "Jungle Books" (1894-1895). In 1896 he wrote the book The Brave Navigators. The Kiplings' life in New England ended in an absurd quarrel with his brother-in-law, and in 1896 they returned to England. On the advice of doctors, the writer spent winters in South Africa, where he became close with the ideologists of colonialism A. Milner, L.S. Jameson and S. Rhodes. Was a war correspondent during the Boer War of 1899-1902.
At the height of fame and fortune, Kipling avoided publicity, ignored hostile criticism, renounced the title of poet laureate and many honors. In 1902 he settled in a remote village in Sussex. In 1901, Kipling published Kim, his parting word to India, and in 1902, a delightful children's book, Fairy Tales.
By the middle of the writer's life, his literary style had changed, now he wrote slowly, carefully, carefully checking what he wrote. For two books of historical stories "Pak from the Pook Hill" (1906) and "Awards and Fairies" (1910), a higher structure of feelings is characteristic, some of the poems reach the level of pure poetry. Kipling continued to write stories collected in the books "Ways and Discoveries" (1904), "Action and Reaction" (1909), "All kinds of beings" (1917), "Debit and Credit" (1926), "Restriction and Renewal" ( 1932). In the 1920s, Kipling's popularity declined. The writer stoically endured the death of his son in the First World War and persistent illnesses. Kipling died in London on January 18, 1936.
A truly talented person must be talented in everything. Confirmation of these words - Joseph Rudyard Kipling. The biography of this man, in particular, the fact of receiving the Nobel Prize at the age of forty-two is evidence of this. The writer, poet and writer loved people and nature, was interested in everything, read a lot. He was courageous, always took a clear social and political position. He believed that there is a "noble fear" that should be shared by all people - for the fate of another person. British by education, he always considered India, whose language he knew, as his second homeland.
What works made Kipling famous?
As you know, British poetry is one of the richest in talents in the world: George Gordon Byron, William Shakespeare, Matthew Arnold.Therefore, the choice of the English public for the attempt of the famous BBC radio station to name their favorite poems is indicative. The primacy (and by a significant margin!) Belonged to Kipling's "Commandment". However, he is no less known all the same as a prose writer. Kipling's work is multifaceted. The most significant of his works are the novel "Kim" and the collection of stories "The Jungle Book".
The lines of this writer are picturesque. Indeed, The Jungle Book can rightfully be called prose in verse. This is how our classics Turgenev and Gogol wrote, but, of course, about Russia. The mosaic of 15 stories from The Jungle Book consists of the story of Mowgli, uniting 8 of them, and other stories about the human-endowed about the brave mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, about a cat that walks by itself. The story of the Kipling boy Mowgli, raised by a pack of wolves, about his confrontation with the cruel tiger Sherkhan, was repeatedly displayed in cartoons and is familiar to all children.
Childhood of the writer
Kipling became famous for his stories about India. His biography begins in Bombay, where he was born in 1936. In India passed his country he knew and loved. The strongest, most vivid childhood impressions of the son of the rector of the Bombay School of Arts are associated with the magical stories of an Indian nanny about animals (the boy understood and could speak Hindi well).
At the age of six, he was sent to England, to a private boarding school, according to Kipling's biography. For children accustomed to free colonial life, it was often difficult to get used to the boarding drill. He was not the hostess's favorite. Memories of injustice and cruelty that the writer faced in his youth, he later presented in the short story "Black Sheep".
Youth
At first, my father believed that young Kipling should become an officer. Biography testifies that as a thirteen-year-old boy he was admitted to the Devonian School (in fact, an analogue of our Suvorov School), which is a kind of springboard for future officers wishing to enter well-known military academies. Boyish "graters", bruises and "mini-battles" with badass classmates - all this should have been passed in the men's team before getting recognition from "our". Joseph fell in love with school and service. The collection of stories "Stalki and Co" tells about this period of his life. There his talent as a writer was manifested. At the same time, poor eyesight did not leave hopes for a military career. The father recalled the 17-year-old young man to India, where a position was found for him in the Civil and Military Gazette.
Getting started writing
It is from the journalistic path that the stories of R. Kipling originate. His collection "Department Notes" is a success. The aspiring writer is fluent in the Hindustani language, he is close to the Indian reader, he is understood and loved. The 34-year-old writer, already famous in Britain, comes to London to "make a name for himself." Here, in collaboration with the American Walcott Balestier, the publisher, Kipling is working on the story "Naulahka". Biography, a brief chronology of his life during this period is the most interesting. He found a true friend and, moreover, fell in love with his sister. However, their joint work did not last long. After his partner dies from typhus, he marries his sister Caroline. He writes his famous poems "Gunga Din" and "Mandalay".
Vermont period
The young couple moved to where the two-volume "Jungle Book" and the collection of poems "The Seven Seas" are being published. Here, happy parents had two daughters, then a son. Kipling's best novel, Kim, about a ragged Indian boy who learned Buddhist wisdom and became a British intelligence officer, is being written. After a quarrel with his wife's relatives, the thirty-three-year-old writer and his family moved to New York. Here he and his daughter fall ill with pneumonia, after which the girl dies.
Moving to Britain
For several months he works for a South African newspaper, then buys a private house in England, in Sussex. He is actively involved in political life, supporting conservatives. Recognition comes to him: the Nobel Prize, honorary degrees from British and European universities. But again a great loss awaits the writer. His son dies at the front of the First World War. The writer and his wife devote all their time to helping people in the Red Cross. He hardly writes, so great is the grief. However, soon Kipling finds a friend who managed to "shake him" and awaken him to life. They became ... the English king (Kipling was unusually friendly with this man until the end of his days.) The biography of the writer testifies to how he immortalized the memory of his son, at the age of fifty-eight, writing the story "The Irish Guards during the Great War." The life of this writer was not easy, creative triumphs, unfortunately, were often accompanied by the loss of loved ones. The gastritis that tormented him developed into a peptic ulcer. He died of internal bleeding, buried in
Conclusion
Kipling's work is multifaceted. We know him thanks to the bright and magical children's stories from The Jungle Book. However, there is another side to his works. called it "English Balzac". The novel "Kim" is rightfully considered the best work about India in English. Kipling was respected and respected by adults, especially during the First World War. Our classic Konstantin Simonov noted Kipling's "courageous style", his "soldier's severity", "masculinity."
Indeed, could an unmanly person say that a man should not be “stopped” and “penetrated into the soul” of triumphs and failures, that he must always treat them “detached”.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling is an English writer and poet, best known for his works of The Jungle Book and Kim, as well as numerous poems.
Kipling was born in Bombay on December 30, 1865. His father was an artist and professor at an art school. When Kipling was 5 years old, his parents decide to send him to an English private boarding school.
Already at a young age, Kipling begins to write his first stories. At this time, he was already studying at the Devon School. In 1883, the "Civil War Gazette" began to publish the writer's works.
In the late 1980s, Kipling worked as a reporter and decided to take trips to the United States of America, making travel essays along the way that brought him considerable popularity.
In 1989, Rudyard Kipling publishes his first novel, The Lights Out. During these years he decides to settle in England, where he creates wonderful children's novels "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book".
After in 1899, while in South Africa, Kipling meets Cecil Rhodes, who made a great impression on him, he writes one of his best novels, Kim. In Africa, meanwhile, there is the Boer War. The writer publishes a military newspaper while in the army. He also sends reports on the war to England.
The writer is interested in politics, he has an analytical and sharp mind. Thus, he assumes the possibility of a war with Germany, and is right.
In 1892, Kipling married Caroline Balestier. Soon they have two children - Josephine and John. But, unfortunately, the fate of the writer and his family suffered tragic blows. As a child, the writer's daughter dies of pneumonia. And during the war with Germany, his son also perishes.
Until the 1930s, Kipling continued to write short stories, but they are no longer as popular as his earlier works. After the war, he travels a lot. The writer dies in 1936 in London at the age of 70. He is buried at Westminster Abbey.
Rudyard Kipling made a significant contribution to the development of English literature. His works are widely known to this day.
Biography 2
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in India in 1865. His father worked as a professor at an art school. Until the age of five, the writer lived with his younger sister in India, but then the children were sent to England, to a private boarding school. A married couple who ran a boarding house mistreated the boy and were often punished. All of this had a profound effect on Rudyard. Later, his mother, after learning how her children were mistreated, took them back to India, but not for long.
At the age of 12, the young writer enters a private school and prepares to enter the military academy. This period became a test for the boy with glasses, small stature. Education and upbringing were built on strict discipline. It was here that the future writer was formed as a person. But myopia did not allow Kipling to become a military man. The director of the school, an acquaintance of his father, encouraged the young man to be interested in literature. And after college, Kipling, with the support of his father, becomes a journalist in India. Working as a reporter, the writer also publishes short stories and poems.
In 1888-1889, Kipling traveled to Asia, the USA and England, his stories and poems were actively published. In England, he decides to stay, publishes his first novel and meets the publisher W. Balestier. The young man dies of typhus, and Rudyard later marries the deceased's sister, Caroline. They live for several years in Vermont (USA), in 1894-1895 the Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book were published. After, the writer and his family returned to England.
Kipling had three children, two daughters and one son. In 1899, Josephine dies of pneumonia, his eldest daughter. It was a difficult time for the writer, he leaves for South Africa for a while, writes the novel "Kim". In the same year, the writer acquires a house in England. In this country house, he writes the books "Pak from the Hills" and "Awards and Fairies". Kipling begins to write on political topics. In 1915, the writer's only son, John, is killed in the war. His body was never found. For Rudyard, this was a great tragedy. For another four years after that, he hoped that his son was still alive. In 2007, the film "My Boy Jack" was released, based on the story of the death of the writer's son. Elsie's daughter lived a long life, the only one of the writer's three children.
Kipling continued to write until his death, but his works enjoyed less and less success. In 1922, the writer travels to France and meets the King of England, George V, a friendship is struck between them. In 1936, Kipling dies of a perforated ulcer. During his lifetime, due to a misdiagnosis, he was treated for gastritis. After the death of the writer, his works are rethought and receive a second life.
Brief biography of the poet, basic facts of life and work:
RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-1936)
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865 in Bombay, where his family then lived. The Kiplings were not rich people, without capital, they subsisted on earned personal labor.
John Lockwood Kipling, the father of the future poet, was a sculptor and decorator, but he could not achieve recognition in England. In search of good luck, the family moved to India. John taught at the Bombay School of Art, became a major specialist in the history of Indian art. He later received the prestigious and well-paid position of curator of the Museum of Indian Art in Lahore, then the artistic capital of India, where he did much to preserve the original forms of Indian art. The memory of Sr. Kipling is still honored in the land of yogis.
Rudyard's mother, Alice (McDonald) Kipling, came from a prominent London family, wrote to local magazines.
Little Rudyard's Ayey and his younger sister Alice were a Portuguese Roman Catholic. The boy was also looked after by the Hindu porter Mita. Thanks to the environment, Hindi became the first language for the baby. Subsequently, the poet said that in childhood he spoke English, translating words from the local dialect in which he was thinking.
In order for the children to learn their native language well, six-year-old Rudyard and little Ellis were sent to England, in the care of people found in a newspaper ad. This modest private boarding house was run by the widow of the deceased sailor Mrs. Holloway. She immediately disliked the independent boy, and years of moral and physical torment began for Rudyard. This lasted for six whole years! In the end, the child's nerves broke down. After a particularly humiliating punishment (for some insignificant offense, the boy was forced to go to school with the inscription "liar" on his chest) Rudyard fell seriously ill and completely lost his sight for several months. They feared that the poor thing might go mad.
But the mother came, found out about everything that had happened to the children during their absence, and took them from the boarding house.
From 1878 to 1882, Rudyard attended school across England. United Service College, according to Kipling's own recollections, “was a kind of camaraderie organized by poor officers and other people of low income for the inexpensive education of their sons. It was located in Westwood Howe, near Bideford. It was practically a caste school: about seventy-five percent of its students were born outside England and were going to follow in the footsteps of their fathers to enter the army. "
Already in college, Rudyard chose his life path - he decided to become a writer. Therefore, immediately after graduation, and it happened in 1882, the young man returned to India, to Lahore, where his parents moved. Rudyard was hired as an assistant editor (actually a reporter) in the editorial office of the daily "Civil and Military Gazette", and he was even immediately assigned a decent salary for a beginner.
The newspaper was published for a very narrow circle of people - seventy officials of the Indian civil service and several hundred officers from military units located in Northern India. To the surprise of the seventeen-year-old boy, all newspaper work fell on his shoulders. The staff of the publication still had only the chief editor. Kipling had to work ten to fifteen hours a day. In addition to collecting reporting materials and writing articles, it was necessary to keep an eye on native typesetters who did not know a word of English, and to do proofreading work, since the local proofreaders drank unrestrained. Under such conditions, the newspaper had to be published daily and on time. In search of newspaper material, I had to move around the country a lot and write, write, write ...
Once Rudyard's mother discovered a notebook with his school poems, read it and published it at her own expense. But the beginning of his literary career, Kipling himself determined 1886, when his poetic "Department Songs" and the first prose collection "Simple Stories from the Mountains" were published in India. The circulation of "Songs" was very limited, but it was sold out instantly, it was necessary to do a reprint in the same year.
In 1887, Kipling joined the Pioneer newspaper, published in Allahabad, hundreds of miles south of Lahore. Pioneer's weekly supplement was distributed in England. Since the newspaper constantly published poems and stories of Kipling, he became famous in the metropolis.
This continued until 1889, when the poet sold to his publisher the rights to everything he had written over the course of six years for £ 250 and, receiving a six-month severance pay, went to England via Japan and the United States. In October of the same year, Rudyard arrived in the capital and almost immediately became a celebrity.
In 1890, Kipling met the American writer and businessman Walcott Balestier, and they decided to jointly write the adventure novel Naulaka. The American part of the novel was to be written by Balestier, the Indian by Kipling. In 1891, the novel was completed, but Kipling alone had to finalize it. At the end of 1891, Balestier went on business to Germany, contracted typhoid fever there and died.
Five weeks after the death of the co-author, Rudyard married his sister Caroline, and the newlyweds went on a honeymoon trip - first to Canada and the United States, and then to Japan, where Kipling learned that his bank had burst and he was broke. Using the loan, the newlyweds returned to the United States, to the homeland of Carolina in Brattleboro, Vermont. Shortly thereafter, The Ballad of East and West was published, which marked the beginning of a new manner of English versification. World fame came to the poet. And on December 29, 1892, his first daughter Josephine was born in Vermont.
During his four years in America, Kipling created his best works. These are the stories included in the collections "Mass of inventions" and "Works of the day", poems about ships, the sea and pioneer sailors, collected in the book "Seven Seas". And one day in 1894, American children's writer Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge, author of the popular book Silver Skates, asked Kipling to write about the Indian jungle. Memories of his youth completely captured the writer. Soon the first "The Jungle Book" was ready, the main part of which consisted of stories about Mowgli. The success of the book was so great that the author immediately in hot pursuit created the second "The Jungle Book".
The Kiplings' life in New England ended in a ridiculous quarrel with his brother-in-law. In the United States, a young family settled on a plot of land formerly owned by Caroline's brother, Biddy. The site was soon bought out, but one day Biddy decided that his relatives were misusing the land. The farmer got mad and promised to "blow the brains out of Kipling." Rudyard in all seriousness imagined that Biddy intended to kill him, and filed a lawsuit. A scandal broke out. And then at the family council it was decided to leave for England. It happened in 1896. Soon after the move, the Kiplings had a daughter, Elsie, then their son John was born.
In 1899, Rudyard Kipling visited the United States for the last time. Here he and his beloved daughter Josephine fell ill with pneumonia. The girl died.
When the Boer War broke out, Kipling boldly supported it, which greatly undermined his reputation in the eyes of the democratic intelligentsia. In defiance of the demagogues, the writer became a bosom friend of the richest man in the British Empire, the master of South Africa, Cecil Rhodes. The billionaire learned that doctors recommended that the writer, who had weak lungs, to live in South Africa more often, and gave the poet a new house near his residence. This abode became a favorite haven of the Kipling family for many years.
Kipling openly called himself an imperialist at a time when rabid freedom fighters (as in our day, by the way) publicly persecuted anyone who even hinted at their patriotic views.
The novel "Kim", published in 1901, immediately received great recognition and brought the author significant capital. This allowed the Kiplings to buy the Batemans estate in Sussex, which became the main residence of the writer until his death.
At the beginning of the century, Kipling was active in politics, supported conservatives and against feminism and Irish Home Rule, and warned of an impending war with Germany.
In 1907, Rudyard Kipling was the first Englishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Immediately after receiving the award, the writer was elected honorary doctors of the Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Durham universities; he was awarded by the universities of Paris, Strasbourg, Athens and Toronto.
From now on, Kipling began to receive legendary royalties - a shilling per word. His every word was worth fifty kopecks in gold for our money. The same Dickens did not earn even a tenth of that kind of money.
Why was Kipling's work so appreciated? First of all, because of his extraordinary influence on the English reader, primarily on the military. According to numerous testimonies of contemporaries, up to the First World War, most British officers diligently imitated the lifestyle and speech structure of courageous heroes from the stories of the "Iron Rudyard", and the Anglo-Indians praised by him struggled to match their "neo-romantic" image that flattered their provincial pride ...
It seemed that the time had come for a quiet, rich life. But the First World War began. Kipling and his wife began working for the Red Cross. And in 1915 he left to serve in the regiment of the Irish Guards and went missing eighteen-year-old John Kipling, the only son of the writer.
From that time on, Rudyard Kipling's life seemed to come to a standstill. But the war was over, and Kipling was drawn to the journey. He especially often traveled to Europe as a member of the Commission on War Burials. During one of these trips to France in 1922, the poet met the English king George V, and this is how their great long-term friendship began. During this period, the writer joined the right wing of the Conservative Party.
The long-term campaign of the democratic public in Europe to compromise the great writer eventually bore fruit. Despite the fact that the last decades of his life Kipling wrote a lot, the general reader turned away from him. Progressive criticism announced that his work was hopelessly outdated.
Since 1915, the writer suffered from gastritis, which later developed into an ulcer. Rudyard Kipling died in London from intestinal bleeding on January 18, 1936. The writer was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
At the end of the 20th century, that is, quite recently, the English radio station BBC asked its listeners to name, in their opinion, the best poems of English poets. Thousands of people responded. The BBC published the book "Favorite Poems of the Nation" based on this poll. The most favorite poem was "The Commandment" by Rudyard Kipling. This book opens to them.
But English poetry is very rich in names and masterpieces.
We give this poem in full. Translated by M. Lozinsky.
Commandment
Control yourself among the confused crowd,
Swearing you for the confusion of all
Believe in yourself against the universe
And forgive them of the unbelieving;
Even if the hour has not struck - wait without getting tired
Let the liars lie - do not condescend to them;
Be able to forgive and do not seem to forgive,
More generous and wiser than others.
Know how to dream without becoming a slave to dreaming,
And to think without deifying thoughts;
Meet success and abuse equally
Stay quiet when your word is
Cripples a rogue to catch fools
When all life is destroyed and over again
You have to recreate everything from the basics.
Know how to put, in joyful hope,
Everything that I have accumulated with difficulty is at stake
To lose everything and become a beggar as before,
And never regret
Be able to force the heart, nerves, body
Serve you when in your chest
Everything has been empty for a long time, everything has burned out
And only Volya says: "Go!"
Stay simple talking to kings
Stay honest when speaking to the crowd;
Be direct and firm with enemies and friends,
Let everyone, in their hour, reckon with you;
Give meaning to every moment
Hours and days of relentless running, -
Then you will take possession of the whole world,
Then, my son, you will be a Human!
In the original, this poem is called IF—, so some translators give it the name "If ...", this is how this word is translated into Russian. Lozinsky gave it the name "Commandment", proceeding from the solemn seriousness of tone and content.
Nowadays, Russian readers know Kipling primarily from the book (or cartoon) about Mowgli, from a funny song:
On a distant Amazon
I have never been.
Only "Don" and "Magdalene" -
Fast ships, -
Only "Don" and "Magdalene"
They go there by sea ...
There is another well-known song, more precisely, a romance from the film, Nikita Mikhalkov sings it:
Shaggy bumblebee - for fragrant hops,
Moth - on meadow bindweed,
And the gypsy goes where the will leads,
Behind your gypsy star!
And together along the path, towards fate,
Without wondering whether to hell or heaven.
So you have to go, not afraid of the path,
At least to the ends of the earth, at least to the edge!
So go ahead - for the nomadic gypsy star -
To the sunset where the sails tremble
And the eyes look with homeless longing
Into the crimson skies
True, for some reason they never say that this romance is written on the verses of Kipling, and the translation is by G. Kruzhkov.
The classic of English literature, poet and prose writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865 in Bombay into the family of a sculptor. His father went to India with his young wife in search of a permanent job. Until the age of six, the boy lived in a close-knit family, in his own home, where Indian nannies and servants were involved in his upbringing. Of course, in these initial years, the English boy absorbed India, as they say, with his mother's milk, which later was so strongly reflected in his work.
The parents sent Rudyard to school in England, in a private boarding school. The writer called this period of his life "The House of Despair". The owner of this "House" disliked the independent boy and constantly mocked him. All this he will describe later in the story - "Mah, black sheep ...".
Once this hostess, for some offense, hung the inscription "liar" on the boy's chest and made him walk around the school. His nerves could not stand it, he fell seriously ill. His mother came and took him back to India. Here he also finished his education in a rather strict school, where, as they said, "Empire builders" were trained. He told about these years in the book "Stock and Company". Here he was imbued with respect for Order and Discipline, which in fact he will then chant.
At seventeen, Rudyard decided he would be a writer. For starters, he becomes a colonial newspaperman. She writes reports about wars and epidemics, maintains secular chronicles, interviews a variety of people. He is reputed to be an expert on local customs and mores; even the British commander-in-chief, Count Roberts of Kandahar, is interested in his opinion.
Kipling travels a lot - China, Japan, America, Australia, Africa. In 1890 he returned to England, then he will live in the homeland of his wife in the USA, in the state of Vermont, where, by the way, our compatriot Alexander Solzhenitsyn lived for many years in the XX century. In 1902, after a correspondent trip to the war in South Africa, he settled in England forever.
Kipling simultaneously began writing poetry and prose. Fame came to him immediately after the first publications. In England in those years were popular books written on an exotic theme - "Treasure Island" by Stevenson, "Mines of King Solomon" by Haggard. So Kipling's works came in handy.
And the interest of the British in all this is understandable. The British Empire was still developing new colonies and was proud of itself.
India is a country where two great cultures came together - "West and East", the stanzas from his "Ballad of East and West" were often quoted:
Oh, West is West, East is East, and they won't budge,
Until Heaven and Earth appear at the Last Judgment of the Lord.
It must be said that Kipling never belittled or denied the merits of Asian culture. He patiently tried to understand the inner law of the East, tried to decipher its code. Kipling's best novel, Kim (1901), is about this. The main character rushes between the Eastern and Western value systems, ultimately chooses the West, but yearns for the East.
One of the main and even the first theme of Kipling's work is the theme of the Empire. As experts write, "imperial messianism became his religion, and with the fervor of an apostle, he rushed to convert the entire globe into it."
Kipling creates the myth of the Empire. As a Christian, he believes that only in the Empire a person remains a true Christian, only the Empire strengthens the Faith and keeps the Faith. It is given to the empire to carry the "great goals" for the sake of their own good. He sees the conquest of new colonies as selfless sacrifice, as a "burden of the whites", as service, as the fulfillment of the moral law.
Both in poetry and in prose, Kipling praises courage, energy, devotion, endurance. For Kipling, it is primarily the deed, the accomplishment of a person, and not his inner world that is important. His heroes are sometimes extremely simple, disinterested workers, soldiers. He respects their work, their feat. They carry the "white burden". This is what the poem "Dust" is about.
Dust (Infantry Columns)
Day-night-day-night - we're walking through Africa
Day-night-day-night - all in the same Africa.
(Dust-Dust-Dust-Dust - from walking boots)
There is no vacation in the war!
Eight six twelve five twenty miles this time
Three-twelve-twenty-two — eighteen miles yesterday.
There is no vacation in the war!
Drop-drop-drop-drop - see what's ahead.
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
All-all-all-all - she will go crazy
And there is no vacation in the war!
You-you-you-you - try to think of something else
God-my-give-me-strength - not completely mad!
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
And there is no vacation in the war!
Account-account-account-account - lead the bullets in the sash,
Slightly-sleep-took-over - the rear ones will crush you.
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
There is no vacation in the war!
For-us-all-nonsense - hunger, thirst, long way,
But-no-no-no - worse than always one, -
Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots
And there is no vacation in the war!
In the afternoon, we are all here - and it’s not so hard
But a little bit of darkness - again only heels.
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
There is no vacation in the war!
I-walked-through-hell - six weeks and I swear
There-no-darkness - no braziers, no devils,
But-dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots,
And there is no vacation in the war!
(Translated by A. Onoshkovich-Yatsyts)
In 1907, Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize.
In Russia, Kipling was very popular during the Civil War. If before that, perhaps, only one Gumilyov initially relied on the work of Kipling, then Soviet poets Vladimir Lugovskoy, Nikolai Tikhonov, Eduard Bagritsky and many others imitated him with might and main.
K. Simonov wrote that young Soviet poets liked Kipling "for his courageous style, his soldier's severity, refinement and clearly expressed masculine principle, male and soldier."
In Russia, Kipling is published a lot and, we note, in very good translations.
* * *You have read a biography (facts and years of life) in a biographical article dedicated to the life and work of the great poet.
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Copyright: biographies of the lives of great poets
