On leaving college in 1882 he went to Lahore, India, where he became sub-editor of The Civil and Military Gazette. In 1887 he joined the editorial staff of The Allahabad Pioneer. To these papers he contributed many of the poems and short-stories soon collected in the volumes named "Departmental Ditties" (1886) and "Plain Tales from the Hills" (1888). All of these writings come near to actual occurrences, and give a fascinating glimpse of conditions in India. In the same year of 1888 he published in India six other volumes of tales.
Leaving India in 1889, he returned to Europe via China, Japan, and the United States, sending back to the two papers travel sketches which have since been collected under the title of "From Sea to Sea" (1899).
On reaching England he found himself a celebrated man. There he met in 1891 Wolcott Balestier, an American, to whom he dedicated "Barrack Room Ballads" (1892) in an introductory poem filled with glowing tribute. In the same year he made further journeys to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
He married Caroline Balestier in 1892, the year of publication of "The Naulahka," which had been written in collaboration with her brother. The travelling continued till they settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where their unique house was named appropriately "The Naulahka." The fruit of his American sojourn was, among other writings, "Captains Courageous" (1897), a story of the Atlantic fishing banks, full of American atmosphere and characters. In the meantime, in various periodicals had appeared short-stories and poems, which were quickly put into books. One of the stories is "A Walking Delegate," which is so wonderfully accurate in the local color of Vermont as to be worthy of special mention. It forms one of "The Day's Work" group (1898). In it is seen Kipling's power of observation, which he possesses to such a remarkable degree. To this period belong those famous collections, "The Jungle Book" (1894) and "The Second Jungle Book" (1895), containing the beast stories which seem so plausible, and a book of poems, "The Seven Seas" (1896).
In 1896 the Kiplings returned to England, taking a house at Rottingdean. While England has remained his permanent home, he has continued to take journeys. During a trip in 1899 he was seriously ill in New York with pneumonia. While ill, his condition was a constant source of anxiety to all classes of people. He recovered, but his little daughter Josephine died of the same disease. One cannot fail to note the intimate touches reminiscent of her in "They," published in "Traffics and Discoveries" (1904). Another trip, in 1900, was to South Africa, while the Boer War was in progress. The results are to be found in many poems and stories about the struggle.
In late years honors have come to him. The Nobel Prize of Literature and an honorary degree from Oxford were both awarded him in 1907. He has taken some part in politics, but he continues to write, though not so prolifically as before. His more recent books are: "Kim" (1902), a vivid panorama of India; "Puck of Pook's Hill" (1906), and "Rewards and Fairies" (1910), realistic reconstructions of English history; "Actions and Reactions" (1909), a series of stories, among them "An Habitation Enforced," a rare story of the charm of English country life; and "The Fringes of the Fleet" (1916), relating to the European War. His son John has had the misfortune to be captured in the present war.
One book, "The Day's Work," deserves particular mention, as it contains some of his best stories, such as "The Brushwood Boy," and exhibits especially the three cardinal points of his philosophy of life—"Work," "Don't whine," and "Don't be afraid."
REFERENCES
Biography
Clemens: A Ken of Kipling.
Knowles: A Kipling Primer.
Criticism
Le Gallienne: Rudyard Kipling, A Criticism.
Falls: Rudyard Kipling, A Critical Study.
Hooker: The Later Work of Rudyard Kipling, North American Review, May, 1911.