Published By: Nirtika Pandita

Rudyard Kipling books, poems, and short stories that you must read

His simple imagination and the knack for touching the lives of children in amazing

Born as Joseph Rudyard Kipling, he was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Since he was born in India that is what inspired much of his work, mostly children’s book like the Jungle Book and many other short stories. He is considered as an innovator in the art of the short story, so much so that following his death in 1936 his ashes were interred at Poets' Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. Here is a collection of some of the famous stories written by Rudyard Kipling.

The Jungle Book Since he was born in India, a reflection of which can be seen in this book as it is set in the forest of Madhya Pradesh. It is a collection of stories with most of the characters being animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear. The principal character of the story is a man-cub 'Mowgli', raised by wolves in the jungle and this story entirely follows his life.

The Man who would be King Written in 1888, it is the story of two British adventurers in British India became kings in Afghanistan. The story is narrated by an Indian journalist in 19th century India, which would be Kipling himself. And on his tour to some Indian states he meets two adventurers, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan. The story takes place from here as he agrees to help them and later goes on to regret his decision.

Kipling’s poems

‘If—’ Written in 1895 as a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson, this poem is said to be a literary example of Victorian-era stoicism. It was first published in Rewards and Fairies in 1910 and written in the form of paternal advice to the poet's son, John. Stoicism is largely seen in this Kipling poem – that one can’t always prevent bad things from happening but one can deal with them in a good way.

Gunga Din Another of Kipling’s best-known poems, it was first published in 1890 with the focus on an Indian water-bearer who saves the speaker’s life - a British soldier serving in India. The reason its final lines, ‘You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din’, are much remembered.

Kipling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was among the United Kingdom's most popular writers and the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, as the first English-language writer to receive the prize.