Rudyard Kipling – author, visionary, enigma


Batemans, Front Elevation

The more you read and study Rudyard Kipling, the more you become puzzled. The man is an enigma, some might call him the most Jingoistic of Victorian authors, yet here is someone who refused the post of Poet Laureate. I think that if you have never read any Kipling, you really shouldn’t begin with any of the Indian stories, but instead try two slim volumes, ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ and its sequel ‘Rewards & Fairies’, set in and around Bateman’s and his beloved Sussex. These are, as the author described them, ‘children’s tales written for adults’. Little slices of English history, linked by polished jewels of poems. Enjoy!

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