Nearly 80 years after his death, manuscripts containing 50 new poems by Rudyard Kipling have been discovered by a US scholar, and will be published this month. An exciting time for fans and scholars alike, these new texts will trigger a critical revision of the British Victorian writer, already celebrated for his short story collections. Famous for The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, as well as his poems, which have remained popular for the last century.
For contemporary literary critics interested the cultural legacies of colonial expansion, the major debate surrounding Kipling lies with his relationship with British Imperialism in India. Born in Bombay in 1865, Kipling’s work largely deals with imperialist issues, and as a result Kipling has often been neglected or condemned by scholars for his imperialist political views. In addition to this he was described as the ‘prophet of British imperialism’ by George Orwell, influencing perceptions of his work, and the place that they hold in literary history.
More recently, however, Kipling’s treatment of British colonialism has been seen as problematic . He was not simply a supporter of British Imperial rule, but also as an interpreter and a man who recognised the inherent tensions and contradictions of colonialism with anxiety. There is hope that this new body of poetry will add to this debate concerning Kipling’s place in literary and cultural history.