Prose & Poetry - Rudyard Kipling
Updated - Saturday, 11 August, 2001

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was born on 30 December 1865 and spent the first six years of his life in Bombay.

In 1871 he was brought home to England and placed in the unhappy care of a rigid Calvinistic foster family in Southsea, where he was treated with some cruelty.  At age 12 he was removed and sent to public school, where he fared better.

Whilst at college Kipling began writing poetry, from which Schoolboy Lyrics was published in 1881.  The following year, at the age of 17, he started work as a journalist, back again in India, and while there produced a series of books that made him an instant literary celebrity, notably Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) and Soldiers Three (1888).  Kipling developed a reputation as a master of the short story form.

He married Caroline Balestier, an American, in 1892, living in Vermont until 1896 until after the death of his daughter Josephine, and a bitter quarrel with his wife’s relatives drove him home.  It was whilst living in Vermont that Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1894).  Kim followed in 1901, and Just So Stories in 1902.  The Second Jungle Book was published in 1895.

In 1896 Kipling returned to England and in 1902 took residence in Sussex, continuing to travel widely, including South Africa during the Boer War.  He continued to produce classic stories: A Diversity of Creatures (1917), Debits and Credits (1926) and Limits and Renewals (1932).

The death of Kipling’s only son, John, serving with the Irish Guards in the First World War in September 1915, brought Kipling great sorrow.  It wasn’t until the end of the war that Kipling finally acknowledged his son’s death.  He spent many years after the war in a vain attempt to locate his son’s body, who even today has no known grave.  Following the war Kipling wrote The Irish Guards in the Great War (1923).  During the war itself Kipling also wrote a number of propaganda books.

Kipling declined the Poet Laureateship and the Order of Merit (the latter on three occasions) but accepted the Nobel Prize in 1907, the first English writer to receive the prize.

Rudyard Kipling died on 18 January 1936 and is buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey.  His autobiography, Something of Myself, was published posthumously in 1937.
 

The Irish Guards (1918)
WE'RE not so old in the Army List,
But we're not so young at our trade,
For we had the honour at Fontenoy
Of meeting the Guards' Brigade.
'Twas Lally, Dillon, Bulkeley, Clare,
And Lee that led us then,
And after a hundred and seventy years
We're fighting for France again!

Old Days! The wild geese are flighting,
Head to the storm as they faced it before!
For where there are Irish there's bound to be fighting,
And when there's no fighting, it's Ireland no more!

Ireland no more!
The fashion's all for khaki now,
But once through France we went
Full-dressed in scarlet Army cloth,
The English-left at Ghent.
They're fighting on our side to-day
But, before they changed their clothes,
The half of Europe knew our fame,
As all of Ireland knows!

Old Days! The wild geese are flying,
Head to the storm as they faced it before!
For where there are Irish there's memory undying,
And when we forget, it is Ireland no more!

Ireland no more!
From Barry Wood to Gouzeaucourt,
From Boyne to Pilkem Ridge,
The ancient days come back no more
Than water under the bridge.
But the bridge it stands and the water runs
As red as yesterday,
And the Irish move to the sound of the guns
Like salmon to the sea.

Old Days! The wild geese are ranging,
Head to the storm as they faced it before!
For where there are Irish their hearts are unchanging,
And when they are changed, it is Ireland no more!

Ireland no more!
We're not so old in the Army List,
But we're not so new in the ring,
For we carried our packs with Marshal Saxe
When Louis was our King.
But Douglas Haig's our Marshal now
And we're King George's men,
And after one hundred and seventy years
We're fighting for France again!

Ah, France! And did we stand by you,
Then life was made splendid with gifts and rewards?
Ah, France! And will we deny you
In the hour of your agony, Mother of Swords?
Old Days! The wild geese are flighting,
Head to the storm as they faced it before!
For where there are Irish there's loving and fighting,
And when we stop either, it's Ireland no more!

Ireland no more! 

	Download "Captains Courageous"
	Project Gutenberg Text
	Download "Just So Stories"
	Project Gutenberg Text
	Download "Kim"
	Project Gutenberg Text
	Download "Plain Tales From The Hills"
	Project Gutenberg Text

One in five of the Australians and New Zealanders who left their country to fight in the war never returned; 80,000 in total.

Original Material © Michael Duffy 2000-07, SafeSurf Rated