Editing Rudyard Kipling (section)

==Early adult life (1882–1914)==
From 1883 to 1889, Kipling worked in British India for local newspapers such as the ''[[Civil and Military Gazette]]''  in Lahore and [[The Pioneer (India)|''The Pioneer'']] in [[Allahabad]].<ref name="autobio" />
[[File:Lahore railway station1880s.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Lahore Junction railway station|Lahore Railway Station]] in the 1880s]]
[[File:Sukh Niwas Palace, Bundi, circa 1900.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Bundi]], [[Rajputana Agency|Rajputana]], where Kipling was inspired to write ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'']]

The former, which was the newspaper Kipling was to call his "mistress and most true love",<ref name="autobio" /> appeared six days a week throughout the year, except for one-day breaks for Christmas and Easter. Stephen Wheeler, the editor, worked Kipling hard, but Kipling's need to write was unstoppable. In 1886, he published his first collection of verse, ''Departmental Ditties''. That year also brought a change of editors at the newspaper; [[E. Kay Robinson|Kay Robinson]], the new editor, allowed more creative freedom and Kipling was asked to contribute short stories to the newspaper.<ref name="plainsintro" />

In an article printed in the ''[[Chums (paper)|Chums]]'' boys' annual, an ex-colleague of Kipling's stated that "he never knew such a fellow for ink – he simply revelled in it, filling up his pen viciously, and then throwing the contents all over the office, so that it was almost dangerous to approach him."<ref>''Chums'', No. 256, Vol. V, 4 August 1897, p. 798.</ref> The anecdote continues: "In the hot weather when he (Kipling) wore only white trousers and a thin vest, he is said to have resembled a [[Dalmatian dog]] more than a human being, for he was spotted all over with ink in every direction."

In the summer of 1883, Kipling visited Simla (today's [[Shimla]]), a well-known [[hill station]] and the summer capital of British India. By then it was the practice for the [[Viceroy of India]] and government to move to Simla for six months, and the town became a "centre of power as well as pleasure".<ref name="plainsintro" /> Kipling's family became annual visitors to Simla, and Lockwood Kipling was asked to serve in [[Christ Church (Shimla)|Christ Church]] there. Rudyard Kipling returned to Simla for his annual leave each year from 1885 to 1888, and the town featured prominently in many stories he wrote for the ''Gazette''.<ref name="plainsintro" /> "My month's leave at Simla, or whatever Hill Station my people went to, was pure joy – every golden hour counted. It began in heat and discomfort, by rail and road. It ended in the cool evening, with a wood fire in one's bedroom, and next morn – thirty more of them ahead! – the early cup of tea, the Mother who brought it in, and the long talks of us all together again. One had leisure to work, too, at whatever play-work was in one's head, and that was usually full."<ref name="autobio" />

Back in Lahore, 39 of his stories appeared in the ''Gazette'' between November 1886 and June 1887. Kipling included most of them in ''[[Plain Tales from the Hills]]'', his first prose collection, published in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in January 1888, a month after his 22nd birthday. Kipling's time in Lahore, however, had come to an end. In November 1887, he was moved to the ''Gazette''{{'}}s larger sister newspaper, ''The Pioneer'', in [[Allahabad]] in the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]], where he worked as assistant editor and lived in Belvedere House from 1888 to 1889.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Neelam |first1=S |title=Rudyard Kipling's Allahabad bungalow in shambles |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/rudyard-kipling-s-allahabad-bungalow-in-shambles/article1-316198.aspx|access-date=7 August 2015 |work=Hindustan Times |date=8 June 2008}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kipling, Rudyard – 1865–1936 – Homes & haunts – India – Allahabad (from the collection of William Carpenter) |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2005696003/ |website=Library of Congress US |access-date=7 August 2015 |archive-date=18 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918234204/http://www.loc.gov/item/2005696003/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:John Lockwood Kipling és Rudyard Kipling.jpg|thumb|upright|Rudyard Kipling (right) with his father John Lockwood Kipling (left), c.&nbsp;1890]]
Kipling's writing continued at a frenetic pace. In 1888, he published six collections of short stories: ''[[Soldiers Three]]'', ''[[The Story of the Gadsbys]]'', ''[[In Black and White (short story collection)|In Black and White]]'', ''[[Under the Deodars]]'', ''[[The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales|The Phantom Rickshaw]]'', and ''[[Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories|Wee Willie Winkie]]''. These contain a total of 41 stories, some quite long. In addition, as ''The Pioneer''{{'}}s special correspondent in the western region of [[Rajputana Agency|Rajputana]], he wrote many sketches that were later collected in ''Letters of Marque'' and published in ''[[From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel]]''.<ref name="plainsintro" />

Kipling was discharged from ''The Pioneer'' in early 1889 after a dispute. By this time, he had been increasingly thinking of his future. He sold the rights to his six volumes of stories for £200 and a small royalty, and the ''Plain Tales'' for £50; in addition, he received six-months' salary from ''The Pioneer'', ''in lieu'' of notice.<ref name="autobio" />

===Return to London===
Kipling decided to use the money to move to London, the literary centre of the [[British Empire]]. On 9 March 1889, he left India, travelling first to San Francisco via [[Yangon|Rangoon]], Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Kipling was favourably impressed by Japan, calling its people and ways "gracious folk and fair manners".<ref name="auto1">[[#Scott|Scott]], p. 315.</ref> The [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]] committee cited Kipling's writing on the manners and customs of the Japanese when they awarded his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1 April 2021|title=The Nobel Prize committee cited Rudyard Kipling's writing on the manners and customs of the Japanese when they awarded him his Nobel prize in 1907|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/factbook/the-nobel-prize-committee-cited-rudyard-kiplings-writing-on-the-manners-and-customs-of-the-japanese-when-they-awarded-him-his-nobel-prize-in-1907/|access-date=15 April 2021|website=Red Circle Authors|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415100408/https://www.redcircleauthors.com/factbook/the-nobel-prize-committee-cited-rudyard-kiplings-writing-on-the-manners-and-customs-of-the-japanese-when-they-awarded-him-his-nobel-prize-in-1907/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kipling later wrote that he "had lost his heart" to a [[geisha]] whom he called O-Toyo, writing while in the United States during the same trip across the Pacific, "I had left the innocent East far behind.... Weeping softly for O-Toyo.... O-Toyo was a darling."<ref name="auto1" />  Kipling then travelled through the United States, writing articles for ''The Pioneer'' that were later published in ''[[From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel]]''.<ref name="pinney1">Pinney, Thomas (editor). ''Letters of Rudyard Kipling, volume 1''. Macmillan & Co., London and NY.</ref>

Starting his North American travels in San Francisco, Kipling went north to [[Portland, Oregon]], then [[Seattle]], Washington, up to [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]] and [[Vancouver]], British Columbia, through [[Medicine Hat]], Alberta, back into the US to [[Yellowstone National Park]], down to [[Salt Lake City]], then east to [[Omaha, Nebraska]] and on to Chicago, then to [[Beaver, Pennsylvania]] on the [[Ohio River]] to visit the Hill family -- Mrs. Edmonia 'Ted' Hill, "eight years older than [him, who had] become Kipling's closest confidante, friend and sometimes collaborator" in British India, and her husband, Professor S. A. Hill, who [had] taught Physical Science at Muir College in Alhallabad.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.bcpahistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/notablepeople/KiplingsBeaverConnection/KiplingsBeaverConnection.html|title=Rudyard Kipling's Beaver Connection|author-first= Roger|author-last= Applegate| journal=Milestones |volume=34 |issue=2 |access-date=6 August 2023|archive-date=6 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806165630/https://www.bcpahistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/notablepeople/KiplingsBeaverConnection/KiplingsBeaverConnection.html|url-status=live}}</ref> From Beaver, Kipling went to [[Chautauqua, New York|Chautauqua]] with Professor Hill, and later to [[Niagara Falls]], Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston.<ref name="pinney1" />

In the course of this journey he met [[Mark Twain]] in [[Elmira, New York]], and was deeply impressed. Kipling arrived unannounced at Twain's home, and later wrote that as he rang the doorbell, "It occurred to me for the first time that Mark Twain might possibly have other engagements other than the entertainment of escaped lunatics from India, be they ever so full of admiration."<ref name="auto2">{{cite journal |author=Hughes, James |title=Those Who Passed Through: Unusual Visits to Unlikely Places |pages=146–151 |journal=New York History |volume=91 |issue=2 |year=2010 |jstor=23185107}}</ref>

[[File:Collier 1891 rudyard-kipling.jpg|thumb|upright|A portrait of Kipling by [[John Collier (Pre-Raphaelite painter)|John Collier]], c.&nbsp;1891]]
[[File:Rudyard Kipling three quarter length portrait (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Rudyard Kipling, by the [[Bourne & Shepherd]] studio, Calcutta (1892)]]

As it was, Twain gladly welcomed Kipling and had a two-hour conversation with him on trends in Anglo-American literature and about what Twain was going to write in a sequel to ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|Tom Sawyer]]'', with Twain assuring Kipling that a sequel was coming, although he had not decided upon the ending: either Sawyer would be elected to Congress or he would be hanged.<ref name="auto2" /> Twain also passed along the literary advice that an author should "get your facts first and then you can distort 'em as much as you please."<ref name="auto2" /> Twain, who rather liked Kipling, later wrote of their meeting: "Between us, we cover all knowledge; he covers all that can be known and I cover the rest."<ref name="auto2" /> Kipling then crossed the [[Atlantic]] to [[Liverpool]] in October 1889. He soon made his début in the London literary world, to great acclaim.<ref name="rutherford" />

===London===
In London, Kipling had several stories accepted by magazines. He found a place to live for the next two years at [[Villiers Street]], near Charing Cross (in a building subsequently named Kipling House):

<blockquote>Meantime, I had found me quarters in [[Villiers Street]], [[Strand, London|Strand]], which forty-six years ago was primitive and passionate in its habits and population. My rooms were small, not over-clean or well-kept, but from my desk I could look out of my window through the [[fanlight]] of [[Charing Cross Music Hall|Gatti's Music-Hall]] entrance, across the street, almost on to its stage. The [[Charing Cross]] trains rumbled through my dreams on one side, the boom of the Strand on the other, while, before my windows, [[River Thames|Father Thames]] under the [[Shot tower]] walked up and down with his traffic.<ref>Kipling, Rudyard (1956). ''Kipling: A Selection of His Stories and Poems, Volume 2''. Doubleday. p. 349.</ref></blockquote>

In the next two years, he published a novel, ''[[The Light That Failed]]'', had a [[nervous breakdown]], and met an American writer and publishing agent, [[Wolcott Balestier]], with whom he collaborated on a novel, ''[[The Naulahka: A Story of West and East|The Naulahka]]'' (a title which he uncharacteristically misspelt; see below).<ref name="gilmour" /> In 1891, as advised by his doctors, Kipling took another sea voyage, to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and once again India.<ref name="gilmour" /> He cut short his plans to spend Christmas with his family in India when he heard of Balestier's sudden death from [[typhoid fever]] and decided to return to London immediately. Before his return, he had used the [[Telegraphy#Telegram services|telegram]] to propose to, and be accepted by, Wolcott's sister, [[Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling|Caroline Starr Balestier]] (1862–1939), called "Carrie", whom he had met a year earlier, and with whom he had apparently been having an intermittent romance.<ref name="gilmour" /> Meanwhile, late in 1891, a collection of his short stories on the British in India, ''Life's Handicap'', was published in London.<ref>Coates, John D. (1997). ''The Day's Work: Kipling and the Idea of Sacrifice''. Fairleigh University Press, p. 130. {{ISBN|083863754X}}.</ref>

On 18 January 1892, Carrie Balestier (aged 29) and Rudyard Kipling (aged 26) married in London, in the "thick of an influenza epidemic, when the undertakers had run out of black horses and the dead had to be content with brown ones."<ref name="autobio" /> The wedding was held at [[All Souls Church, Langham Place|All Souls Church]] in [[Langham Place, London|Langham Place]], central London. [[Henry James]] gave away the bride.<ref>{{cite news |title=A sensitive bounder |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-sensitive-bounder/ |access-date=21 July 2023 |work=Spectator |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721140630/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-sensitive-bounder/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===United States===
[[File:Rudyard Kipling in his study at Naulakha Dummerston VT circa 1895.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Kipling in his study at Naulakha, Vermont, US, 1895]]
Kipling and his wife settled upon a honeymoon that took them first to the United States (including a stop at the Balestier family estate near [[Brattleboro, Vermont]]) and then to Japan.<ref name="gilmour" /> On arriving in [[Yokohama]], they discovered that their bank, [[Oriental Bank Corporation|The New Oriental Banking Corporation]], had failed. Taking this loss in their stride, they returned to the U.S., back to Vermont – Carrie by this time was pregnant with their first child – and rented a small cottage on a farm near Brattleboro for $10 a month.<ref name="autobio" /> According to Kipling, "We furnished it with a simplicity that fore-ran the [[hire-purchase]] system. We bought, second or third hand, a huge, hot-air stove which we installed in the cellar. We cut generous holes in our thin floors for its eight-inch [20 cm] tin pipes (why we were not burned in our beds each week of the winter I never can understand) and we were extraordinarily and self-centredly content."<ref name="autobio" />

In this house, which they called ''Bliss Cottage'', their first child, Josephine, was born "in three-foot of snow on the night of 29th December, 1892. Her Mother's birthday being the 31st and mine the 30th of the same month, we congratulated her on her sense of the fitness of things..."<ref name="autobio" />

[[File:Kiplingseastcoast2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|''Rudyard Kipling's America 1892–1896, 1899'']]
It was also in this cottage that the first dawnings of ''[[The Jungle Book]]s'' came to Kipling: "The workroom in the Bliss Cottage was seven feet by eight, and from December to April, the snow lay level with its window-sill. It chanced that I had written a tale about Indian Forestry work which included a boy who had been brought up by wolves. In the stillness, and suspense, of the winter of '92 some memory of the [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] Lions of my childhood's magazine, and a phrase in [[Henry Rider Haggard|Haggard's]] ''[[Nada the Lily]]'', combined with the echo of this tale. After blocking out the main idea in my head, the pen took charge, and I watched it begin to write stories about [[Mowgli]] and animals, which later grew into the two ''Jungle Books''."<ref name="autobio" />

With Josephine's arrival, ''Bliss Cottage'' was felt to be congested, so eventually the couple bought land – {{convert|10|acre|ha}} on a rocky hillside overlooking the [[Connecticut River]] – from Carrie's brother Beatty Balestier and built their own house. Kipling named this [[Naulakha (Rudyard Kipling House)|Naulakha]], in honour of Wolcott and of their collaboration, and this time the name was spelt correctly.<ref name="gilmour" /> From his early years in [[Lahore]] (1882–87), Kipling had become enamoured with the [[Mughal architecture]],<ref>Kaplan, Robert D. (1989). [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFD91039F93AA15752C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Lahore as Kipling Knew It".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206165705/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFD91039F93AA15752C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |date=6 December 2008 }} ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 9 March 2008</ref> especially the [[Naulakha pavilion]] situated in [[Lahore Fort]], which eventually inspired the title of his novel as well as the house.<ref>Kipling, Rudyard (1996). ''Writings on Writing''. [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-521-44527-2}}, pp. 36 and 173.</ref> The house still stands on Kipling Road, {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} north of Brattleboro in [[Dummerston, Vermont]]: a big, secluded, dark-green house, with shingled roof and sides, which Kipling called his "ship", and which brought him "sunshine and a mind at ease".<ref name="gilmour" /> His seclusion in Vermont, combined with his healthy "sane clean life", made Kipling both inventive and prolific.

In a mere four years he produced, along with the ''Jungle Books'', a book of short stories (''[[The Day's Work]]''), a novel (''[[Captains Courageous]]''), and a profusion of poetry, including the volume ''[[The Seven Seas (poetry collection)|The Seven Seas]]''. The collection of ''[[Barrack-Room Ballads]]'' was issued in March 1892, first published individually for the most part in 1890, and contained his poems "[[Mandalay (poem)|Mandalay]]" and "[[Gunga Din]]". He especially enjoyed writing the ''Jungle Books'' and also corresponding with many children who wrote to him about them.<ref name="gilmour" />

====Life in New England====
[[File:Caroline Starr Balestier, Mrs Rudyard Kipling (1862-1939).jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Kipling's wife, Caroline Starr Balestier, by his cousin Sir [[Philip Burne-Jones]]]]
The writing life in ''Naulakha'' was occasionally interrupted by visitors, including [[John Lockwood Kipling|his father]], who visited soon after his retirement in 1893,<ref name="gilmour" /> and the British writer [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], who brought his golf clubs, stayed for two days, and gave Kipling an extended golf lesson.<ref name="mallett">Mallet, Phillip (2003). ''Rudyard Kipling: A Literary Life''. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. {{ISBN|0-333-55721-2}}</ref><ref name="ricketts">Ricketts, Harry (1999). ''Rudyard Kipling: A life''. Carroll and Graf Publishers Inc., New York. {{ISBN|0-7867-0711-9}}</ref> Kipling seemed to take to golf, occasionally practising with the local [[Congregational]] minister and even playing with red-painted balls when the ground was covered in snow.<ref name="carrington">[[C. E. Carrington|Carrington, C.E.]] ([http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/carrington.htm Charles Edmund] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813075823/http://firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/carrington.htm |date=13 August 2013 }}) (1955). ''Rudyard Kipling: His Life and Work''. Macmillan & Co.</ref><ref name="ricketts" /> However, winter golf was "not altogether a success because there were no limits to a drive; the ball might skid {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in}} down the long slope to [[Connecticut river]]."<ref name="carrington" />

Kipling loved the outdoors,<ref name="gilmour" /> not least of whose marvels in [[Vermont]] was the turning of the leaves each fall. He described this moment in a letter: "A little [[maple]] began it, flaming blood-red of a sudden where he stood against the dark green of a pine-belt. Next morning there was an answering signal from the swamp where the [[sumac]]s grow. Three days later, the hill-sides as fast as the eye could range were afire, and the roads paved, with crimson and gold. Then a wet wind blew, and ruined all the uniforms of that gorgeous army; and the [[oak]]s, who had held themselves in reserve, buckled on their dull and bronzed [[cuirass]]es and stood it out stiffly to the last blown leaf, till nothing remained but pencil-shadings of bare boughs, and one could see into the most private heart of the woods."<ref>Kipling, Rudyard (1920). ''Letters of Travel (1892–1920)''. Macmillan & Co.</ref>

[[File:Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Vanity Fair, 1894-06-07.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Caricature of Kipling in the London magazine ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 7 June 1894]]
In February 1896, [[Elsie Kipling]] was born, the couple's second daughter. By this time, according to several biographers, their marital relationship was no longer light-hearted and spontaneous.<ref name="carrie">[[Nicolson, Adam]] (2001). ''Carrie Kipling 1862–1939: The Hated Wife''. Faber & Faber, London. {{ISBN|0-571-20835-5}}</ref> Although they would always remain loyal to each other, they seemed now to have fallen into set roles.<ref name="gilmour" /> In a letter to a friend who had become engaged around this time, the 30‑year‑old Kipling offered this sombre counsel: marriage principally taught "the tougher virtues – such as humility, restraint, order, and forethought."<ref name="pinney">Pinney, Thomas (editor). ''Letters of Rudyard Kipling, volume 2''. Macmillan & Co.</ref> Later in the same year, he temporarily taught at [[Bishop's College School]] in [[Quebec]], [[Canada]].<ref>Bliss Carman, et al., eds. (1904). ''The World's Best Poetry'', Volume I. "Of Home: of Friendship".</ref>

[[File:Naulakha jsephne loggia.jpg|thumb|upright|The Kiplings' first daughter Josephine, 1895. She died of pneumonia in 1899 aged 7.]]
The Kiplings loved life in Vermont and might have lived out their lives there, were it not for two incidents – one of global politics, the other of family discord. By the early 1890s, the United Kingdom and [[Venezuela]] were in a border dispute involving [[British Guiana]]. The U.S. had made several offers to arbitrate, but in 1895, the new American Secretary of State [[Richard Olney]] upped the ante by arguing for the American "right" to arbitrate on grounds of sovereignty on the continent (see the [[Olney interpretation]] as an extension of the [[Monroe Doctrine]]).<ref name="gilmour" /> This raised hackles in Britain, and the situation grew into a major [[United Kingdom–United States relations#Venezuelan and Alaska border disputes|Anglo-American crisis]], with talk of war on both sides.

Although the crisis eased into greater United States–British co-operation, Kipling was bewildered by what he felt was persistent anti-British sentiment in the U.S., especially in the press.<ref name="gilmour" /> He wrote in a letter that it felt like being "aimed at with a decanter across a friendly dinner table."<ref name="pinney" /> By January 1896, he had decided<ref name="carrington" /> to end his family's "good wholesome life" in the U.S. and seek their fortunes elsewhere.

A family dispute became the final straw. For some time, relations between Carrie and her brother Beatty Balestier had been strained, owing to his drinking and insolvency. In May 1896, an inebriated Beatty encountered Kipling on the street and threatened him with physical harm.<ref name="gilmour" /> The incident led to Beatty's eventual arrest, but in the subsequent hearing and the resulting publicity, Kipling's privacy was destroyed, and he was left feeling miserable and exhausted. In July 1896, a week before the hearing was to resume, the Kiplings packed their belongings, left the United States and returned to England.<ref name="carrington" />

===Devon===
[[File:Rock House - geograph.org.uk - 1082515.jpg|thumb|Kipling's Torquay house, with a blue plaque on the wall]]
By September 1896, the Kiplings were in [[Torquay]], Devon, on the south-western coast of England, in a hillside home (Rock House, Maidencombe) overlooking the [[English Channel]]. Although Kipling did not much care for his new house, whose design, he claimed, left its occupants feeling dispirited and gloomy, he managed to remain productive and socially active.<ref name="gilmour" />

Kipling was now a famous man, and in the previous two or three years had increasingly been making political pronouncements in his writings. The Kiplings had welcomed their first son, [[John Kipling|John]], in August 1897. Kipling had begun work on two poems, "[[Recessional (poem)|Recessional]]" (1897) and "[[The White Man's Burden]]" (1899), which were to create controversy when published. Regarded by some as anthems for enlightened and duty-bound empire-building (capturing the mood of the [[Victorian era]]), the poems were seen by others as propaganda for brazen-faced [[imperialism]] and its attendant racial attitudes; still others saw irony in the poems and warnings of the perils of empire.<ref name="gilmour" />

<blockquote><poem>Take up the White Man's burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
—''The White Man's Burden''<ref name="wmb">Kipling, Rudyard (1899). ''The White Man's Burden''. Published simultaneously in ''The Times'', London, and ''McClure's Magazine'' (US) 12 February 1899</ref>
</poem></blockquote>

There was also foreboding in the poems, a sense that all could yet come to naught.<ref>Snodgrass, Chris (2002). ''A Companion to Victorian Poetry''. Blackwell, Oxford.</ref>

<blockquote><poem>Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with [[Nineveh]] and [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
—''Recessional''<ref>Kipling, Rudyard. (July 1897). "Recessional'". ''The Times'', London</ref></poem></blockquote>

A prolific writer during his time in Torquay, he also wrote ''Stalky & Co.'', a collection of [[school stories]] (born of his experience at the [[United Services College]] in [[Westward Ho!]]), whose juvenile protagonists display a know-it-all, cynical outlook on patriotism and authority. According to his family, Kipling enjoyed reading aloud stories from ''Stalky & Co.'' to them and often went into spasms of laughter over his own jokes.<ref name="gilmour" />

===Visits to South Africa===
[[File:Ralph, Landon, Gwynne and Kipling 1900-1901.jpg|thumb|upright|H.A. Gwynne, Julian Ralph, Perceval Landon, and Rudyard Kipling in South Africa, 1900–1901]]
In early 1898, the Kiplings travelled to South Africa for their winter holiday, so beginning an annual tradition which (except the following year) would last until 1908. They would stay in "The Woolsack", a house on [[Cecil Rhodes]]'s estate at [[Groote Schuur]] (now a student residence for the [[University of Cape Town]]), within walking distance of Rhodes' mansion.<ref>"Something of Myself", published 1935, South Africa Chapter</ref>

With his new reputation as ''Poet of the Empire'', Kipling was warmly received by some of the influential politicians of the [[Cape Colony]], including Rhodes, Sir [[Alfred Milner]], and [[Leander Starr Jameson]]. Kipling cultivated their friendship and came to admire the men and their politics. The period 1898–1910 was crucial in the history of South Africa and included the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902), the ensuing peace treaty, and the 1910 formation of the [[Union of South Africa]]. Back in England, Kipling wrote poetry in support of the British cause in the Boer War and on his next visit to South Africa in early 1900, became a correspondent for ''The Friend'' newspaper in [[Bloemfontein]], which had been commandeered by [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] for British troops.<ref>Reilly, Bernard F., Center for Research Libraries, Chicago, Illinois. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222132453/http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-afresearch&month=0612&week=b&msg=rGSqyFg7ajBdQWonA2aDgg&user=&pw email to Marion Wallace] ''The Friend newspaper'', Orange Free State, South Africa.</ref>

Although his journalistic stint was to last only two weeks, it was Kipling's first work on a newspaper staff since he left ''The Pioneer'' in [[Allahabad]] more than ten years before.<ref name="gilmour" /> At ''The Friend'', he made lifelong friendships with [[Perceval Landon]], [[Howell Arthur Gwynne|H. A. Gwynne]], and others.<ref>[[C. E. Carrington|Carrington, C. E.]] (1955). ''The life of Rudyard Kipling'', [[Doubleday & Co.]], Garden City, NY, p. 236.</ref> He also wrote articles published more widely expressing his views on the conflict.<ref name="NYT1900">{{cite news |last=Kipling |first=Rudyard |title=Kipling at Cape Town: Severe Arraignment of Treacherous Afrikanders and Demand for Condign Punishment By and By |work=The New York Times |page=21 |date=18 March 1900 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/03/18/101053848.pdf |access-date=13 June 2018 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225184303/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/03/18/101053848.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Kipling penned an inscription for the [[Honoured Dead Memorial]] in Kimberley.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aidin |first=Michael |date=2021-07-29 |title=Kipling and Memorials to the War Dead |url=https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_kent_aidin-2.htm |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=The Kipling Society |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Sussex===
[[File:Rudyard Kipling by Sir Philip Burne-Jones 1899.jpeg|thumb|upright|Kipling at his desk, 1899. Portrait by Burne-Jones.]]
In 1897, Kipling moved from [[Torquay]] to [[Rottingdean]], near [[Brighton]], East Sussex – first to North End House and then to the Elms.<ref>[http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_sussex2.htm "Kipling.s Sussex: The Elms"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202100000/http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_sussex2.htm |date=2 December 2012 }}. Kipling.org.</ref> In 1902, Kipling bought [[Bateman's]], a house built in 1634 and located in rural [[Burwash]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Batemans and adjoining land, Park House Watermill and part of Dudwell Farm, purchased by Rudyard Kipling on 28 Jul 1902 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0719dec7-4708-4d90-b3c2-c99aaaed3180#32-1 |website=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] |access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref>

Bateman's was Kipling's home from 1902 until his death in 1936.<ref name="nationaltrust1"/> The house and its surrounding buildings, the mill and {{convert|33|acre|ha}}, were bought for £9,300. It had no bathroom, no running water upstairs and no electricity, but Kipling loved it: "Behold us, lawful owners of a grey stone lichened house – A.D. 1634 over the door – beamed, panelled, with old oak staircase, and all untouched and unfaked. It is a good and peaceable place. We have loved it ever since our first sight of it" (from a November 1902 letter).<ref>[[C. E. Carrington|Carrington, C. E.]] (1955). ''The life of Rudyard Kipling'', p. 286.</ref><ref name="nationaltrust1">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/batemans/ |title=Bateman's |publisher=National Trust |access-date=23 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117171258/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/batemans/ |archive-date=17 January 2014}}</ref>

In the non-fiction realm, he became involved in the debate over the British response to the rise in German naval power known as the [[Tirpitz Plan]], to build a fleet to challenge the [[Royal Navy]], publishing a series of articles in 1898 collected as ''A Fleet in Being''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-08 |title=A Fleet in Being |url=https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_fleet_intro.htm |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=The Kipling Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> On a visit to the United States in 1899, Kipling and his daughter Josephine developed [[pneumonia]], from which she eventually died.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-03-07 |title=JOSEPHINE KIPLING DEAD; The Eldest Child of the Author Succumbs to Pneumonia. MR. KIPLING IS DOING FINELY He Has Not Been Told of His Loss, as the Physicians Fear the Shock Might Cause a Relapse. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1899/03/07/archives/josephine-kipling-dead-the-eldest-child-of-the-author-succumbs-to.html |access-date=2024-06-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
[[File:"Kim's Gun" in 1903 detail, from- Leisure and gossip by the old Zamzamah gun that roared in the Battle of Puniput (cropped).jpg|alt=|thumb|("Kim's Gun" as seen in 1903) "He sat in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun [[Zam-Zammeh]], on her old platform, opposite the old Ajaibgher, the Wonder House, as the natives called the [[Lahore Museum]]."<br />-''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'']]
In the wake of his daughter's death, Kipling concentrated on collecting material for what became ''[[Just So Stories]] for Little Children'', published in 1902, the year after ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]''.<ref name="Writers History – Kipling Rudyard">{{cite web |url=http://writershistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=41 |title=Writers History – Kipling Rudyard |work=writershistory.com |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425042047/http://writershistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=41 |archive-date=25 April 2015 }}</ref> The American art historian Janice Leoshko and the American literary scholar David Scott have argued that ''Kim'' disproves the claim by [[Edward Said]] that Kipling was a promoter of [[Orientalism]], since Kipling – who was deeply interested in Buddhism – presented Tibetan Buddhism in a fairly sympathetic light and aspects of the novel appeared to reflect a Buddhist understanding of the universe.<ref>[[#Scott|Scott]], pp. 318–319.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Leoshko |first=J. |year=2001 |title=What is in Kim? Rudyard Kipling and Tibetan Buddhist Traditions |journal=South Asia Research |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=51–75|doi=10.1177/026272800102100103 |s2cid=145694033 }}</ref> Kipling was offended by the German Emperor [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]]'s ''[[Hun speech]] ([[:de:Hunnenrede|Hunnenrede]])'' in 1900, urging German troops being sent to China to crush the [[Boxer Rebellion]] to behave like "Huns" and take no prisoners.<ref name="auto3">[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], p. 206.</ref>

In a 1902 poem, ''The Rowers'', Kipling attacked the Kaiser as a threat to Britain and made the first use of the term "[[List of terms used for Germans|Hun]]" as an anti-German insult, using Wilhelm's own words and the actions of German troops in China to portray Germans as essentially [[barbarian]].<ref name="auto3"/> In an interview with the French newspaper ''[[Le Figaro]]'', the Francophile Kipling called Germany a menace and called for an Anglo-French alliance to stop it.<ref name="auto3"/> In another letter at the same time, Kipling described the "''unfrei'' peoples of Central Europe" as living in "the Middle Ages with machine guns".<ref name="auto3"/>

====Speculative fiction====
[[File:William Strang The author Rudyard Kipling.jpg|thumb|upright|Kipling as seen in 1901 by [[William Strang]]]]
Kipling wrote a number of [[speculative fiction]] short stories, including "[[The Army of a Dream]]", in which he sought to show a more efficient and responsible army than the hereditary bureaucracy of England at the time, and two [[science fiction]] stories: "[[With the Night Mail]]" (1905) and "As Easy As A.B.C." (1912). Both were set in the 21st century in Kipling's [[Aerial Board of Control]] universe. They read like modern [[hard science fiction]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Bennett, Arnold |title=Books and Persons Being Comments on a Past Epoch 1908–1911 |location=London |publisher=Chatto & Windus |year=1917}}</ref> and introduced<ref>"[https://blog.archive.org/2007/07/30/airships-and-balloons/ Airships and Balloons]", archive.org, 30 July 2007.</ref> the literary technique known as [[indirect exposition]], which would later become one of science fiction writer [[Robert Heinlein]]'s hallmarks. This technique is one that Kipling picked up in India, and used to solve the problem of his English readers not understanding much about Indian society when writing ''The Jungle Book''.<ref name=lerner>{{cite web |url=http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/facts_scifi.htm |title=A Master of Our Art: Rudyard Kipling and modern Science Fiction |author=Fred Lerner |website=The Kipling Society |access-date=5 March 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221194333/http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/facts_scifi.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Nobel laureate and beyond====
{{see also|1907 Nobel Prize in Literature}}
In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, having been nominated in that year by [[Charles Oman]], professor at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=2474 "Nomination Database".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222092542/http://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=2474 |date=22 December 2016 }} ''Nobelprize.org''. Retrieved on 4 May 2017.</ref> The prize citation said it was "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author." Nobel prizes had been established in 1901 and Kipling was the first English-language recipient. At the award ceremony in [[Stockholm]] on 10 December 1907, the Permanent Secretary of the [[Swedish Academy]], [[Carl David af Wirsén]], praised both Kipling and three centuries of [[English literature]]:

<blockquote>The Swedish Academy, in awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature this year to Rudyard Kipling, desires to pay a tribute of homage to the literature of England, so rich in manifold glories, and to the greatest genius in the realm of narrative that that country has produced in our times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1907/press.html |title=Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 – presentation Speech |publisher=Nobelprize.org |access-date=28 September 2006 |archive-date=31 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131132108/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1907/press.html |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

To "book-end" this achievement came the publication of two connected poetry and story collections: ''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'' (1906), and ''[[Rewards and Fairies]]'' (1910). The latter contained the poem "[[If—]]". In a 1995 [[BBC]] opinion poll, it was voted the UK's favourite poem.<ref name="Jones">{{cite book |author=Jones, Emma |title=The Literary Companion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WELwa9Sds-EC&pg=PA25 |year=2004 |publisher=Robson |isbn=978-1-86105-798-3 |page=25}}</ref> This exhortation to self-control and stoicism is arguably Kipling's most famous poem.<ref name="Jones" />

Such was Kipling's popularity that he was asked by his friend [[Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook|Max Aitken]] to intervene in the [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911 Canadian election]] on behalf of the Conservatives.<ref name="MacKenzie, David page 211">MacKenzie, David & Dutil, Patrice (2011). ''Canada 1911: The Decisive Election that Shaped the Country''. Toronto: Dundurn, p. 211. {{ISBN|1554889472}}.</ref> In 1911, the major issue in Canada was a [[Reciprocity (Canadian politics)|reciprocity]] treaty with the United States signed by the Liberal Prime Minister Sir [[Wilfrid Laurier]] and vigorously opposed by the Conservatives under Sir [[Robert Borden]]. On 7 September 1911, the [[Montreal Star|''Montreal Daily Star'']] newspaper published a front-page appeal against the agreement by Kipling, who wrote: "It is her own soul that Canada risks today. Once that soul is pawned for any consideration, Canada must inevitably conform to the commercial, legal, financial, social, and ethical standards which will be imposed on her by the sheer admitted weight of the United States."<ref name="MacKenzie, David page 211" /> At the time, the ''Montreal Daily Star'' was Canada's most read newspaper. Over the next week, Kipling's appeal was reprinted in every English newspaper in Canada and is credited with helping to turn Canadian public opinion against the Liberal government.<ref name="MacKenzie, David page 211" />

Kipling sympathised with the anti-[[Government of Ireland Act 1914|Home Rule]] stance of [[Irish Unionists]], who opposed Irish autonomy. He was friends with [[Edward Carson]], the Dublin-born leader of [[Ulster Unionism]], who raised the [[Ulster Volunteers]] to prevent Home Rule in Ireland. Kipling wrote in a letter to a friend that Ireland was not a nation, and that before the English arrived in 1169, the Irish were a gang of cattle thieves living in savagery and killing each other while "writing dreary poems" about it all. In his view it was only British rule that allowed Ireland to advance.<ref>[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], p. 242.</ref> A visit to Ireland in 1911 confirmed Kipling's prejudices. He wrote that the Irish countryside was beautiful, but spoiled by what he called the ugly homes of Irish farmers, with Kipling adding that God had made the Irish into poets having "deprived them of love of line or knowledge of colour."<ref name="auto5">[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], p. 243.</ref> In contrast, Kipling had nothing but praise for the "decent folk" of the Protestant minority and Unionist Ulster, free from the threat of "constant mob violence".<ref name="auto5"/>

Kipling wrote the poem "''Ulster''" in 1912, reflecting his Unionist politics. Kipling often referred to the Irish Unionists as "our party".<ref>[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], p. 241.</ref> Kipling had no sympathy or understanding for [[Irish nationalism]], seeing Home Rule as an act of treason by the government of the Liberal Prime Minister [[H. H. Asquith]] that would plunge Ireland into the Dark Ages and allow the Irish Catholic majority to oppress the Protestant minority.<ref>[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], pp. 242–244.</ref> The scholar [[Sir David Gilmour, 4th Baronet|David Gilmour]] wrote that Kipling's lack of understanding of Ireland could be seen in his attack on [[John Redmond]] – the Anglophile leader of the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] who wanted Home Rule because he believed it was the best way of keeping the United Kingdom together – as a traitor working to break up the United Kingdom.<ref name="auto4">[[#Gilmour|Gilmour]], p. 244.</ref> ''Ulster'' was first publicly read at an Unionist rally in Belfast, where the largest Union Jack ever made was unfolded.<ref name="auto4"/> Kipling admitted it was meant to strike a "hard blow" against the Asquith government's Home Rule bill: "Rebellion, rapine, hate, Oppression, wrong and greed, Are loosed to rule our fate, By England's act and deed."<ref name="auto5"/> ''Ulster'' generated much controversy with the Conservative MP Sir [[Mark Sykes]] – who as a Unionist was opposed to the Home Rule bill – condemning ''Ulster'' in ''[[The Morning Post]]'' as a "direct appeal to ignorance and a deliberate attempt to foster religious hate."<ref name="auto4"/>

Kipling was a staunch opponent of [[Bolshevism]], a position which he shared with his friend [[Henry Rider Haggard]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1920-03-06 |title=The Times of Wednesday publishes a letter signed by Sir... |url=https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/6th-march-1920/2/the-times-of-wednesday-publishes-a-letter-signed-b |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kipling |first1=Rudyard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGhdPAAACAAJ |title=Rudyard Kipling to Rider Haggard: The Record of a Friendship |last2=Haggard |first2=Henry Rider |date=1965 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-6881-8 |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=Morton |pages=110–113 |language=en}}</ref> The two had bonded on Kipling's arrival in London in 1889, largely on the strength of their shared opinions, and remained lifelong friends.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leibfried |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xP5aAAAAMAAJ&q=RUDYARD%20KIPLING%20AND%20SIR%20HENRY%20RIDER%20HAGGARD%20ON%20SCREEN |title=Rudyard Kipling and Sir Henry Rider Haggard on Screen, Stage, Radio, and Television |date=2000 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0707-1 |pages= |language=en |chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kipling |first1=Rudyard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGhdPAAACAAJ |title=Rudyard Kipling to Rider Haggard: The Record of a Friendship |last2=Haggard |first2=Henry Rider |date=1965 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-6881-8 |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=Morton |language=en |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

===Freemasonry===
According to the English magazine ''Masonic Illustrated'', Kipling became a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] in about 1885, before the usual minimum age of 21,<ref name=Mackey>Mackey, Albert G. (1946). ''Encyclopedia of Freemasonry'', Vol. 1. Chicago: The Masonic History Co.</ref> being initiated into [[Masonic Temple (Lahore)|Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782]] in [[Lahore, Pakistan|Lahore]]. He later wrote to ''[[The Times]]'', "I was Secretary for some years of the Lodge... which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was entered [as an Apprentice] by a member from [[Brahmo Somaj]], a [[Hindu]], passed [to the degree of Fellow Craft] by a [[Mohammedan]], and raised [to the degree of Master Mason] by an Englishman. Our [[Tyler (Masonic)|Tyler]] was an [[Indian Jew]]." Kipling received not only the three degrees of Craft Masonry but also the side degrees of [[Mark Master Mason]] and Royal Ark Mariner.<ref>[http://albertpike.wordpress.com/kipling-mason/ Our brother Rudyard Kipling. Masonic lecture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308201720/http://albertpike.wordpress.com/kipling-mason/ |date=8 March 2012 }}. Albertpike.wordpress.com (7 October 2011). Retrieved on 4 May 2017.</ref>

Kipling so loved his Masonic experience that he memorialised its ideals in his poem "The Mother Lodge",<ref name=Mackey/> and used the fraternity and its symbols as vital plot devices in his novella ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hamiltondistrictcmasons.org/upload/lecture_file111.pdf |title=Official Visit to Meridian Lodge No. 687 |date=12 February 2014 |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915161025/http://www.hamiltondistrictcmasons.org/upload/lecture_file111.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>