Selected Poems

Rudyard Kipling's reputation as Britain's unofficial Poet Laureate has obscured the true nature of his achievement. Far from being an Establishment figure, he was a fiercely independent poet, opposed to the dominant political and literary leanings of his age. His poems range from exhilarating celebrations of British expansion, through vivid character sketches of soldiers and seamen, to political invective, artistic manifestos, and enchanting poems for children. In this new selection, Kipling's poems are presented in chronological order to reveal the scope and development, as well as the originality, of his work. Opening with Kipling's satirization of the British in India, it closes with his warning against the rise of Nazi Germany.