Review (PDF) Kipling: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
Beloved for his fanciful and engrossing children’s literature, controversial for his enthusiasm for British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling remains one of the most widely read writers of Victorian and modern English literature. In addition to writing more than two dozen works of fiction, including Kim and The Jungle Book, Kipling was a prolific poet, composing verse in every classical form from the epigram to the ode. Kipling’s most distinctive gift was for ballads and narrative poems in which he drew vivid characters in universal situations, articulating profound truths in plain language. Yet he was also a subtle, affecting anatomist of the human heart, and his deep feeling for the natural world was exquisitely expressed in his verse. He was shattered by World War I, in which he lost his only son, and his work darkened in later years but never lost its extraordinary vitality. All of these aspects of Kipling’s poetry are represented in this selection, which ranges from such well-known compositions as “Mandalay” and “If” to the less-familiar, emotionally powerful, and personal epigrams he wrote in response to the war.
Series: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Everyman's Library; Poc edition (October 16, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307267113
ISBN-13: 978-0307267115
Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.7 x 6.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #70,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #70 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Poetry #166 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European
Rudyard Kipling was an Anglo-Indian during the reign of Queen Victoria and the high tide of the British Empire. His poems about life in India and the lives of soldiers are profound, humorous and sometimes borderline seditious but always entertaining. I enjoyed this book immensely in my first reading and will enjoy it many times in the future I'm sure. It has my favorite poem, "Tommy," and before this book I didn't even HAVE a favorite poem!
This was great, and when it got to "If" I left a little note to my son as a test to see if he'd got that afr. It ended up pretty moving, and it was a great great gift, so good job publisher for making something accesible, affordable and compact enough to be carried around,.
A concise little book of the poems written by Kipling. Great pride in the British Empire when many of the poems were written. Great insight into his life and his losing his son.
Very unique and exquisite and that is to my interest. I think it's a book that can go to a lot of people's interest
I love the neat little hard-covered books in the Everyman's Library published by Alfred A. Knopf. This one is a disappointment in that it dashes my childhood view that Kipling was a great poet. The four poems I thought were wonderful as a child were "Gentlemen Rankers," "Gunga-Din," "Mandalay" and "The Law of the Jungle." As an adult reading this book's 103 poems, I thought the same four and eight others were excellent with the others just OK or pedestrian. Twelve of 103 does not shout "Great Poet." Some of Kipling's weakest poems are downright annoying because he pollutes them with his failure to project the intended cuteness of dialects. You don't need to look far to find an example. Let's try the first poem of the 103:When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre,ahe'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea;An' what he thought 'e might require,'E went an' took-the same as me.Keats jumps back and forth between normal English and this junk too often for my tastes. Try a different book in the series.
I love this pocket sized book of poetry. Kipling is one of my favorites I only wish more of the great romantic poets had pocket sized. Books.
The book includes a few typos, but the selection is solid and the book is physically attractive.
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