- Paperback: 756 pages
- Publisher: Kyle Cathie; Revised edition edition (16 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1856266699
- ISBN-13: 978-1856266697
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.8 x 5.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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- #93 in Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Literary Studies > 19th Century
- #95 in Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Literary Studies > 20th Century
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Product Description
This book is a fully revised and meticulously researched edition of Kipling's Complete Work, with an authoritative introduction from M. M. Kaye. When Kipling died in 1936, he was considered second to none as a poet. Years before, Tennyson had described 'young Kipling' as the 'only one with divine fire'; but in fact Kipling died in relative anonymity, his death overshadowed by that of George V and his reputation dented by a Britain that saw him as outdated and imperialist. On 23rd January King George was brought to lie in state in Westminster Hall, the same day as Kipling's ashes were quietly consigned to Poets' Corner. Kipling's poetry throughout the 750 pages of this edition captivates the reader, as varied as it is beautiful, bringing us characters such as Gunga Din, Judy O'Grady and the Colonel's Lady who have become enshrined in literature. Very often the most powerful and evocative poems are the most personal and humane; and together they form a compelling and deeply moving portrait of this poet.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you need Kipling, this is it.
No frills.
Just 700 pages of everything Kipling.
Great price too, even when not discounted by Amazon.
No frills.
Just 700 pages of everything Kipling.
Great price too, even when not discounted by Amazon.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Kipling's reputation as a jingoist and apologist for the British Empire is so tarnished that it may be impossible to reclaim, but it should be remembered that Tennyson thought him the only poet who mattered from the younger generation, while TS Eliot rated him enough to edit a selection of his poems. There's a difference between being an apologist and being a chronicler. Kipling was a great observer, and as such he gave voice to both the working class soldiers who did the dirty work of Empire and also to the many characters and aspects of India. He brought the realities of Empire, its truth and its pain, into smug and stuffy drawing rooms Back Home.
His poetry can't really be separated from his prose. Stories are often prefaced by poems and it's difficult to know which triggered the other. The poems are in an amazing variety of styles and metres and perhaps it's his facility which gives rise to this bluff image. However the very control gives the best poems, such as "Danny Deever", a force of ballad-like simp[licity which a more heart-on-sleeve poet could never achieve.
He lost both his children before their time - his daughter in childhood and his son during the First World War. Kipling felt an abiding sense of shame and remorse for being part of the generation that sent their children to their deaths, and his War Poems, for me, are both the best of his work and the best of their kind. Not only to their deaths, but also to their living hells when shell-shocked veterans returned to a shabby peace:
I have a dream - a dreadful dream -
A dream that is never done.
I watch a man go out of his mind
And he is My Mother's Son.
They pushed him into a Mental Home
And that is like the grave:
For they do not let you sleep upstairs
And you aren't allowed to shave.
And it was not disease or crime
Which got him landed there,
But because they laid on My Mother's Son
More than a man could bear.
What with noise, and fear of death,
Waking and wounds and cold,
They filled the cup of My Mother's Son
Fuller than it could hold.
They broke his body and his mind
And yet They made him live,
And They asked more of My Mother's Son
Than any man could give.
For, just because he had not died,
Nor been discharged nor sick,
They dragged it out with My Mother's Son
Longer than he could stick...
And no one knows when he'll get well -
So, there he'll have to be:
And, spite of the beard in the looking glass,
I know that man is me!
Maybe you don't need a complete Kipling, but you certainly need some, and why deny yourself the pleasure of wandering these extraordinarily varied and talented byways for such a paltry cost?
His poetry can't really be separated from his prose. Stories are often prefaced by poems and it's difficult to know which triggered the other. The poems are in an amazing variety of styles and metres and perhaps it's his facility which gives rise to this bluff image. However the very control gives the best poems, such as "Danny Deever", a force of ballad-like simp[licity which a more heart-on-sleeve poet could never achieve.
He lost both his children before their time - his daughter in childhood and his son during the First World War. Kipling felt an abiding sense of shame and remorse for being part of the generation that sent their children to their deaths, and his War Poems, for me, are both the best of his work and the best of their kind. Not only to their deaths, but also to their living hells when shell-shocked veterans returned to a shabby peace:
I have a dream - a dreadful dream -
A dream that is never done.
I watch a man go out of his mind
And he is My Mother's Son.
They pushed him into a Mental Home
And that is like the grave:
For they do not let you sleep upstairs
And you aren't allowed to shave.
And it was not disease or crime
Which got him landed there,
But because they laid on My Mother's Son
More than a man could bear.
What with noise, and fear of death,
Waking and wounds and cold,
They filled the cup of My Mother's Son
Fuller than it could hold.
They broke his body and his mind
And yet They made him live,
And They asked more of My Mother's Son
Than any man could give.
For, just because he had not died,
Nor been discharged nor sick,
They dragged it out with My Mother's Son
Longer than he could stick...
And no one knows when he'll get well -
So, there he'll have to be:
And, spite of the beard in the looking glass,
I know that man is me!
Maybe you don't need a complete Kipling, but you certainly need some, and why deny yourself the pleasure of wandering these extraordinarily varied and talented byways for such a paltry cost?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
gorgeous!
10 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
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.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
the complete genius
26 Sep 2005
Format:Paperback
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!
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