Customer Reviews

Rudyard Kipling: The Complete Verse (Poetry)

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Largely forgotten today, to many, Kipling is an outdated imperialist with racist and sexist views, and should be left to moulder on the shelves of public library back collections. To others, he is a great poet, with a sympathetic ear for dialogue and an uncanny ability to weave the atmosphere for any story or poem.

I side with the latter.

I've liked Kipling years back. He writes poetry as easily as he does his stories, with wit, snappy soundbites, and both the ability to make you laugh and cry.

Famous for his writings of the soldiers, for his fairy tales, he isn't much in demand these days, except maybe recommended for children, which is rather a shame, because he wrote many interesting works, be it in verse or novel.

Those who call him racist had probably not read past the first few lines. Even in more blatant works like "Gunga Din" or "Fuzzy Wuzzy", he writes with a certain respect for the natives. And even in his colonialist days he was more of its critic than its trumpet. Such an attitude is obvious in more obscure works like "We and They", or "Hadramauti", where an Arab voices his dislike for the Englishmen.

Also there are his historical pieces, like "the Dutch in the medway", describing the humiliating defeat of the British at sea, and "the Roman centurian's son", a very poignant piece about an Roman soldier being called back to Rome after decades in Britan. More whimsical and lively pieces (as well as the satire he was known for), like "The way through the woods", "Pagett, MP", his pieces for chapter headings, as well as inspiration poems like "If -".

Darker works like "the Storm come" shows that he is no warmonger; his "Recessional" predicts the dissolution of the empire which he nearly outlived, and his lament for his son in "the Children" is both moving and tragic.

I suppose there's not much to be said -the poetry is loud enough on its own, and I hope my cruddy penmanship doesn't affect your view on Kipling -or deter your from reading his works.

This is a treasury of verse for Kipling fans and anyone who enjoys poetry. It has it all, from "power of a dog" to "mulhollands contract", he was brilliant!