(December 30, 1865–January 18, 1936), was a British novelist. He was born in Bombay, educated in England, and in 1882 returned to India as a journalist. In 1889 Kipling arrived back in England, where his popularity as a writer grew tremendously. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize for literature. He works include: Wee Willie Winkie and Other Children’s Stories, 1888; Barrack Room Ballads, 1892–93; The Jungle Book, 1894; Kim, 1901.
In Gunga Din, 1892, Rudyard Kipling penned:
Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,
By the livin’ Gawd that made you,
You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.3151
Kipling wrote his noblest poem, 2 in 1899, in honor of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. In it he admonished:
Be careful lest thou forget the Lord thy God … and say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swear unto thy fathers, as it is this day—Deuteronomy 8:11, 17, 18.3152
God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle-line—
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over pal and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands thine ancient Sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Far called, our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boasting as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust
And guarding calls not Thee to guard—
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on thy people, Lord!
—Amen.3153
In his Ballad of East and West, 1889, Rudyard Kipling penned:
Oh, East is East, and West is West,
And never the twain shall meet,
Till earth and sky stand presently
At God’s great judgement seat.3154
In The Glory of the Garden, 1911, Rudyard Kipling wrote:
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener’s work is done upon his knees.3155