Questions tagged [rudyard-kipling]
For questions about the works of Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) and his life as a writer. His works include 'The Jungle Book' (1894), 'Kim' (1901), short stories such as 'The Man Who Would Be King' (1888), and poems such as 'The White Man's Burden' (1899), and 'If—' (1910).
19 questions
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What is the meter of these lines from 'If' by Rudyard Kipling?
The poem is in iambic pentameter and employs a feminine ending to the odd lines; but there are a few lines whose rhythm confounds me:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting
Twisted by knaves to ...
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Context of Kipling poem Dane-Geld
Kipling's poem Dane-Geld is a warning about submitting to blackmail. It makes the point that if you pay blackmail then the blackmailer will come back and demand more. Therefore you should never pay.
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What is the meaning of the final stanza of The Rabbi's Song by Rudyard Kipling?
The final stanza of The Rabbi's Song by Rudyard Kipling goes as follows:
Our lives, our tears, as water,
Are spilled upon the ground;
God giveth no man quarter,
Yet God a means hath found,...
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Is there any evidence to support the claim that Mowgli's character was inspired by Dina Sanichar?
In 1904, The World Wide Magazine ran an article with the following snappy intro:
It essentially says that the character Mowgli from The Jungle Book was probably inspired by the real-life 'feral child' ...
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Which Kipling poem is this an allusion to?
My great-grandfather wrote lots of poems, and among them a small verse called "Apologies to Rudyard Kipling". It seems that the verse is a travesty on, or reference to, a Kipling poem, but I ...
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Is there any known tune for the last two verses of Rudyard Kipling's Parade Song of the Camp Animals?
The last section of the Jungle Book is a song by the animals serving in the army in India, split into sections for each animal. For the first four sections the verses closely mirror well known tunes ...
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What is the meaning of cleaning the samovar in "To Be Held for Reference" by Rudyard Kipling?
From "To Be Held for Reference" by Rudyard Kipling:
“All things considered, I doubt whether you are the luckier. I do not refer to your extremely limited classical attainments, or your ...
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How does Irishness affect subject-formation and national identification in Kipling's *Kim* and Tagore's *Gora*?
Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) and Rabindranath Tagore's Gora (1910) have several parallels. Each is about an Irish orphan who passes for Indian. Each is also a Bildungsroman, portraying their ...
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An Indian man retires to become a hermit
I think this story was by Kipling -- it's set in India, during the British Empire.
Maybe a few dozen pages in length.
The plot --
An Indian man had had a successful career, as a ruler or a high ...
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Why the capitalization of "Heavens" in Rudyard Kipling's "The Secret of the Machines"?
In Rudyard Kipling's poem The Secret of the Machines the last stanza goes as follows:
Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again,
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What are the hand signals based on Kipling's books?
I'm listening to "Lucifer's Hammer" and more than once book mentions hand signals based on Kipling's books.
Something along the line of this: one person is manning a barricade, another man in a hide-...
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Explain "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you"
In Kipling's poem IF, there is this line:
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you
To achieve that, it seems you would have to be so closed off, insulated, and emotionally barricaded that you ...
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Are there elements of racial superiority in 1894's Jungle Book?
Rudyard Kipling is famous for The Jungle Book, and also infamous for the poem The White Man's Burden. As the former takes place in a British colony and given Kipling's attitude displayed in the latter,...
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Were the three slogans in Orwell's 1984 partly inspired by Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden"?
George Orwell did not like Kipling at all. I quote from this essay by Orwell:
Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting.
But this essay also shows that ...
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Why does Kipling's poem ‘The Three-Decker’ differ between editions?
Rudyard Kipling’s collection The Seven Seas (1896) contains the poem ‘The Three-Decker’, whose third verse is as follows:
By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of cook,
Per Fancy, ...