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Rudyard Kipling [1865-1936] ENG
Ranked #36 in the top 380 poets
Votes 78%: 2505 up, 687 down

"We have to defend Kipling against the charge of excessive lucidity," "the charge of being a 'journalist' appealing only to the commonest collective emotion," and "the charge of writing jingles."

Rudyard Kipling  was born in Bombay on December 30th, son of John Lockwood Kipling, an artist and teacher of architectural sculpture and his wife Alice. His mother was one of the talented and beautiful Macdonald sisters, four of whom married remarkable men: Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Poynter, Alfred Baldwin and John Lockwood Kipling himself. Young Rudyard`s earliest years were blissfully happy in an India full of exotic sights and sounds. But at the tender age of five he was sent back to England to stay with a foster family in Southsea, where he was desperately unhappy. The experience would colour some of his later writing.  

When he was twelve he went to the United Services College at Westward Ho! near Bideford, where the Headmaster, Cormell Price, a friend of his father and uncles, fostered his literary ability. Stalky & Co ., based on those schooldays, has been much relished by generations of schoolboys. Despite poor eyesight which handicapped him on the games field, he began to blossom.  In 1882, aged sixteen, he returned to Lahore, where his parents now lived, to work on the Civil and Military Gazette , and later on its sister paper the Pioneer in Allahabad. In his limited spare time he wrote many remarkable poems and stories which were published alongside his reporting. When these were collected and published as books, they formed the basis of his early fame.   

Returning to England in 1889, Kipling won instant success with Barrack-Room Ballads which were followed by some more brilliant short stories. After the death of an American friend and literary collaborator, Wolcott Balestier, he married Wolcott`s sister Carrie in 1892.  After a world trip, he returned with Carrie to her family home in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA, with the aim of settling down there. It was in Brattleboro, deep in New England, that he wrote Captains Courageous and The Jungle Books , and where their first two children, Josephine and Elsie, were born.  

A quarrel with Rudyard`s brother-in-law drove the Kiplings back to England in 1896, and the following year they moved to Rottingdean in Sussex, the county which he adopted as his own. Their son John was born in North End House, the holiday home of Rudyard`s aunt, Georgiana Burne-Jones, and soon they moved into The Elms. 

Life was content and fulfilling until, tragically, Josephine died while the family were on a visit to the United States in early 1899. 

By now Kipling had come to be regarded as the People`s Laureate and the poet of Empire, and he produced some of his most memorable poems and stories in Rottingdean, including Kim, Stalky & Co ., and Just So Stories. 

Life was never the same again after Josephine`s death, and living so close to Brighton Kipling had become a tourist attraction. So in 1902 he sought the seclusion of a lovely seventeenth century house called Bateman`s near Burwash, nearby in Sussex, where he spent his remaining years.  Puck of Pook`s Hill and Rewards and Fairies , which included the poem "If-" , and other well-known volumes of stories, were written there, and express Kipling`s deep sense of the ancient continuity of place and people in the English countryside.  

Kipling`s poem, "The Absent-Minded Beggar" had raised vast sums of money for the benefit of British soldiers in the Boer war. 

Alfred Harmsworth, at whose request he had written for the fund, introduced him to the joys and frustrations of the pioneer motorist. 

Kipling was a friend of Cecil Rhodes, of Lord Milner, and of Dr Jameson, on whose qualities the poem "If- " is said to have been based. Kipling had written for the Army`s newspaper in South Africa, rediscovering the familiar routines of journalism, and spent many winters thereafter in a house near Capetown.  

Kipling foresaw the First World war, and tried to alert the nation to the need for preparedness. The Kiplings were to suffer a second bereavement with the death of their son John, at the age of 18, in the Battle of Loos in 1915. 

But Kipling continued to write, and some of the post-war stories (for instance in Debits and Credits ) are counted among his finest.

He was also much involved in the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and King George V became a personal friend. The Kiplings travelled a great deal, and at the outset of one of their visits, in January 1936, Rudyard died, just three days before his King. He had declined most of the many honours which had been offered him, including a knighthood, the Poet Laureateship, and the Order of Merit, but in 1907 he had accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Rudyard Kipling`s reputation grew from phenomenal early critical success to international celebrity, then faded for a time as his conservative views were held by some to be old-fashioned. The balance is now being restored.  More and more people are coming to appreciate his mastery of poetry and prose, and the sheer range of his work. His autobiography Something of Myself was written in 1936, the last year of his life and was published posthumously.

Children, Didactism, Freemasons, Modernism, Neoromanticism, Nonsense, Victorian, War

YearsCountryPoetInteraction
1812-1889
ENG
Robert Browning
→ influenced Rudyard Kipling
1888-1965
USA/ENG
Thomas Stearns Eliot
→ praised Rudyard Kipling
1899-1986
ARG
Jorge Luis Borges
→ translated Rudyard Kipling
1849-1902
ENG
William Ernest Henley
← friend of Rudyard Kipling
1850-1894
SCO
Robert Louis Stevenson
← praised by Rudyard Kipling
1874-1958
CAN
Robert W Service
← influenced by Rudyard Kipling
1878-1967
ENG
John Masefield
← influenced by Rudyard Kipling
1916-1990
ENG
Roald Dahl
← influenced by Rudyard Kipling


WorkLangRating
If....
eng
149
Boots
eng
59
The Way Through The Woods
eng
46
Fuzzy-Wuzzy
eng
26
The Camels Hump
eng
22
Gunga Din
eng
18
The Young British Soldier
eng
17
The Law Of The Jungle
eng
15
Mandalay
eng
13
When Earth`s Last Picture Is Painted
eng
13
Sussex
eng
12
A Child`s Garden
eng
9
His Apologies
eng
9
A Smuggler`s Song
eng
8
Arithmetic on the Frontier
eng
8
The Last of the Light Brigade
eng
8
The Absent-Minde
eng
7
Have You News of my Boy Jack?
eng
6
Dirge Of The Dead Sisters
eng
5
Recessional (A Victorian Ode)
eng
5
The Betrothed
eng
5
The Landau
eng
5
The Vampire
eng
5
The Female of the Species
eng
4
To The City Of Bombay
eng
4
Tommy
eng
4
A Ballad of Burial
eng
3
A Bank Fraud
eng
3
Big Steamers
eng
3
Danny Deever
eng
3
For All We Have and Are
eng
3
Old Fighting-Men
eng
3
The Appeal
eng
3
The Gods of the Copybook Headings
eng
3
The Three-Decker
eng
3
"Back To The Army Again"
eng
2
A Pilgrim`s Way
eng
2
A Servant When He Reigneth
eng
2
Cells
eng
2
Ford O` Kabul River
eng
2
Gethsemane
eng
2
I Keep Six Honest Serving Men
eng
2
Mother o` Mine
eng
2
The Ballad Of East And West
eng
2
The Birthright
eng
2
The Prayer of Miriam Cohen
eng
2
The Runes of Weland`s Sword
eng
2
To The True Romance
eng
2
`Angutivaun Taina`
eng
2
"The City of Brass"
eng
1
A Carol
eng
1
A Code of Morals
eng
1
A Pict Song
eng
1
A Song Of The English
eng
1
Anchor Song
eng
1
Beast and Man in India
eng
1
Birds of Prey March
eng
1
Chant-Pagan
eng
1
Cold Iron
eng
1
Common Form
eng
1
Death of a Believer
eng
1
Dinah in Heaven
eng
1
Doctors
eng
1
Eddi`s Service
eng
1
Et Dona Ferentes
eng
1
Farewell and adieu....
eng
1
Follow Me `Ome
eng
1
Giffen`s Debt
eng
1
Gods of the East
eng
1
Harp Song of the Dane Women
eng
1
Heriot`s Ford
eng
1
In Springtime
eng
1
London Stone
eng
1
Merrow Down
eng
1
My Rival
eng
1
M`Andrew`s Hymn
eng
1
Norman and Saxon
eng
1
Oonts
eng
1
Our Fathers Also
eng
1
Puck`s Song
eng
1
Soldier, Soldier
eng
1
Song of the Galley Slaves
eng
1
Song of the Red War-Boat
eng
1
The Absent Minded Beggar
eng
1
The American Rebellion
eng
1
The Ballad of Fisher`s Boarding-House
eng
1
The Ballad of Minepit Shaw
eng
1
The Beginning Of The Armadilloes
eng
1
The Burden
eng
1
The City of Sleep
eng
1
The English Flag
eng
1
The Files
eng
1
The Grave of the Hundred Heads
eng
1
The Hyaenas
eng
1
The King`s Job
eng
1
The King`s Pilgrimage
eng
1
The Ladies
eng
1
The Liner She`s A Lady
eng
1
The Mare`s Nest
eng
1
The Mary Gloster
eng
1
The Prayer
eng
1
The River`s Tale
eng
1
The Secret of the Machinery
eng
1
The Story Of Ung
eng
1
The White Man`s Burden
eng
1
Tiger--Tiger
eng
1
A Boy Scouts` Patrol Song
eng
0
A British-Roma
eng
0
A Charm
eng
0
A Counting-Out
eng
0
A Dead Statesman
eng
0
A Death-Bed
eng
0
A Dedication
eng
0
A Dedication to Soldiers Three
eng
0
A Departure
eng
0
A General Summary
eng
0
A Legend of Truth
eng
0
A Lover`s Journey
eng
0
A Nativity
eng
0
A Pageant of Elizabeth
eng
0
A Preface
eng
0
A Recantation
eng
0
A Rector`s Memory
eng
0
A Ripple Song
eng
0
A School Song
eng
0
A Son
eng
0
A Song in Storm
eng
0
A Song of Kabir
eng
0
Alnaschar and the Oxen
eng
0
An American
eng
0
An Astrologer`s
eng
0
An Imperial Rescript
eng
0
An Old Song
eng
0
Army Headquarters
eng
0
Arterial
eng
0
As the Bell Clinks
eng
0
At His Execution
eng
0
Azrael`s Count
eng
0
Banquet Night
eng
0
Barrack-Room Ballads
eng
0
Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm
eng
0
Belts
eng
0
Bill `Awkins
eng
0
Blue Roses
eng
0
Bobs
eng
0
Bridge-Guard in the Karroo
eng
0
Brookland Road
eng
0
Brown Bess
eng
0
Buddha at Kamakura
eng
0
Butterflies
eng
0
By the Hoof of the Wild Goat
eng
0
By Word of Mouth
eng
0
Cain and Abel
eng
0
Carmen Circulare
eng
0
Certain Maxims of Hafiz
eng
0
Cholera Camp
eng
0
Christmas in India
eng
0
Cities and Thrones and Powers
eng
0
Cleared
eng
0
Columns
eng
0
Contradictio
eng
0
Cruisers
eng
0
Cuckoo Song
eng
0
Cupid`s Arrows
eng
0
Dane-Geld
eng
0
Darzee`s Chaunt
eng
0
Dedication
eng
0
Deep Sea Cables
eng
0
Delilah
eng
0
Divided Destinies
eng
0
Edgehill Fight
eng
0
En-dor
eng
0
England`s Answer
eng
0
Evarra And His Gods
eng
0
Evil Land
eng
0
False Dawn
eng
0
Fastness
eng
0
For To Admire
eng
0
Four-Feet
eng
0
Fox-Hunting
eng
0
France
eng
0
Frankie`s Trade
eng
0
Gallio`s Song
eng
0
Gehazi
eng
0
General Joubert
eng
0
Gentleman-Rankers
eng
0
Gertrude`s Prayer
eng
0
Gipsy Vans
eng
0
Great-Heart
eng
0
Hadramauti
eng
0
Half-Ballad of Waterval
eng
0
Helen All Alone
eng
0
His Wedded Wife
eng
0
How Fear Came
eng
0
How It All Began
eng
0
How the Leopard Got His Spots
eng
0
How the Rhinoceros got His Skin
eng
0
How the Whale Got His Throat
eng
0
Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack
eng
0
Hymn Before Action
eng
0
In Error
eng
0
In the House of Suddhoo
eng
0
In the Matter of One Compass
eng
0
In The Neolithic Age
eng
0
James I
eng
0
Jane`s Marriage
eng
0
Jubal and Tubal Cain
eng
0
Justice
eng
0
Kaa’s Hunting
eng
0
Kim
eng
0
Kitchener`s School
eng
0
La Nuit Blanche
eng
0
Lady Geraldine`s Hardship
eng
0
Late Came the God
eng
0
Letting in the Jungle
eng
0
Lichtenberg
eng
0
Lispeth
eng
0
Loot!
eng
0
Lord Roberts
eng
0
Lukannon
eng
0
L`envoi
eng
0
Macdonough`s Song
eng
0
Many Inventions
eng
0
Mary, Pity Women!
eng
0
Mary`s Son
eng
0
Memories
eng
0
Mesopotamia
eng
0
Mowgli`s Brothers
eng
0
Mowgli`s Song
eng
0
Mowgli`s Song Against People
eng
0
Mulholland`s Contract
eng
0
Municipal
eng
0
My Father`s Chair
eng
0
My Lady`s Law
eng
0
Natural Theology
eng
0
Neighbours
eng
0
Old Mother Laidinwool
eng
0
One Viceroy Resigns
eng
0
Our Fathers of Old
eng
0
Outsong in the Jungle
eng
0
Pagett, M.P.
eng
0
Pan in Vermont
eng
0
Parade-Song of the Camp-Animals
eng
0
Pharaoh and the Sergeant
eng
0
Philadelphia
eng
0
Pig
eng
0
Pink Dominoes
eng
0
Poor Honest Men
eng
0
Poseidon`s Law
eng
0
Possibilitie
eng
0
Prelude
eng
0
Prophets at Home
eng
0
Public Waste
eng
0
Quiquern
eng
0
Rebirth
eng
0
Red Dog
eng
0
Ride to Kandahar
eng
0
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
eng
0
Rimini
eng
0
Rimmon
eng
0
Road Song of the Bandar-Log
eng
0
Romulus and Remus
eng
0
Route Marchin`
eng
0
Russia to the Pacifists
eng
0
Sappers
eng
0
Screw-Guns
eng
0
Sepulchral
eng
0
Sestina Of The Tramp-Royal
eng
0
Seven Watchmen
eng
0
Shillin` A Day
eng
0
Sir Richard`s Song
eng
0
Snarleyow
eng
0
Soldier An` Sailor Too
eng
0
Song of the Fifth River
eng
0
Tarrant Moss
eng
0
That Day
eng
0
The Ballad of Jakko Hill
eng
0
The Advertisemen
eng
0
The Answer
eng
0
The Anvil
eng
0
The Ballad of Ahmed Shah
eng
0
The Ballad Of Boh Da Thone
eng
0
The Ballad of the Cars
eng
0
The Ballad of the Clampherdown
eng
0
The Ballad Of The King`s Jest
eng
0
The Ballad Of The King`s Mercy
eng
0
The Ballad of the Red Earl
eng
0
The Ballad of `Bolivar`
eng
0
The Bee-Boy`s Song
eng
0
The Bees and Flies
eng
0
The Beginner
eng
0
The Beginnings
eng
0
The Bell Buoy
eng
0
The Bells and Queen Victoria
eng
0
The Benefactors
eng
0
The Bother
eng
0
The Braggart
eng
0
The Broken Men
eng
0
The Bronckhurst Divorce Case
eng
0
The Burial
eng
0
The Butterfly That Stamped
eng
0
The Captive
eng
0
The Cat That Walked by Himself
eng
0
The Centaurs
eng
0
The Changelings
eng
0
The Children
eng
0
The Children`s Song
eng
0
The Choice (The American Spirit Speaks)
eng
0
The Coastwise Lights
eng
0
The Coiner
eng
0
The Comforters
eng
0
The Conundrum Of The Workshops
eng
0
The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin
eng
0
The Covenant
eng
0
The Crab That Played with the Sea
eng
0
The Craftsman
eng
0
The Cure
eng
0
The Dawn Wind
eng
0
The Dead King
eng
0
The Declaration of London
eng
0
The Decline of the West
eng
0
The Derelict
eng
0
The Destroyers
eng
0
The Disciple
eng
0
The Dove of Dacca
eng
0
The Dutch in the Medway
eng
0
The Dying Chauffeur
eng
0
The Dykes
eng
0
The Egg-Shell
eng
0
The English Way
eng
0
The Exiles` Line
eng
0
The Expert
eng
0
The Explanation
eng
0
The Explorer
eng
0
The Fabulists
eng
0
The Fairies` Siege
eng
0
The Fall of Jock Gillespie
eng
0
The Feet of the Young Men
eng
0
The Fires
eng
0
The First Chantey
eng
0
The Flight
eng
0
The Floods
eng
0
The Flowers
eng
0
The Four Angels
eng
0
The Four Points
eng
0
The French Wars
eng
0
The Galley-Slave
eng
0
The Gift Of The Sea
eng
0
The Gipsy Trail
eng
0
The Glory of the Garden
eng
0
The Greek National Anthem
eng
0
The Heritage
eng
0
The Holy War
eng
0
The Hour of the Angel
eng
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The Houses
eng
0
The Hymn to Physical Pain
eng
0
The Idiot Boy
eng
0
The Instructor
eng
0
The Inventor
eng
0
The Irish Guards
eng
0
The Jacket
eng
0
The Jester
eng
0
The Juggler`s Song
eng
0
The Junk and the Dhow
eng
0
The Justice`s Tale
eng
0
The King
eng
0
The King and the Sea
eng
0
The Kingdom
eng
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The King`s Ankus
eng
0
The King`s Task
eng
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The Lament OF The Border Cattle Thief
eng
0
The Land
eng
0
The Last Chantey
eng
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The Last Department
eng
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The Last Lap
eng
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The Last Ode
eng
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The Last Rhyme Of True Thomas
eng
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The Last Suttee
eng
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The Legend Of Evil
eng
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The Legend of Mirth
eng
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The Legend of the Foreign Office
eng
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The Lesson
eng
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The Light That Failed
eng
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The Long Trail
eng
0
The Lost Legion
eng
0
The Love Song of Har Dyal
eng
0
The Lovers` Litany
eng
0
The Lowestoft Boat
eng
0
The Man Who Could Write
eng
0
The Married Man
eng
0
The Masque of Plenty
eng
0
The Master-Cook
eng
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The Men That Fought at Minden
eng
0
The Merchantmen
eng
0
The Mine-Sweeper
eng
0
The Mine-Sweepers
eng
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The Miracle of Purun Bhagat
eng
0
The Miracles
eng
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The Moon of Other Days
eng
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The Morning Song of the Jungle
eng
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The Mother-Lodge
eng
0
The Mother`s Son
eng
0
The Native-Born
eng
0
The Naulahka
eng
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The Necessitaria
eng
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The New Knighthood
eng
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The North Sea Patrol
eng
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The Nursing Sister
eng
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The Old Issue
eng
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The Old M en
eng
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The Oldest Song
eng
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The Only Son
eng
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The Other Man
eng
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The Outlaws
eng
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The Overland Mail
eng
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The Palace
eng
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The Peace of Dives
eng
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The Penalty
eng
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The Pirates in England
eng
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The Playmate
eng
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The Plea of the Simla Dancers
eng
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The Portent
eng
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The Post That Fitted
eng
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The Power of the Dog
eng
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The Prairie
eng
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The Press
eng
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The Pro-Consuls
eng
0
The Prodigal Son
eng
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The Progress of the Spark
eng
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The Puzzler
eng
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The Queen of Fairy Land
eng
0
The Queen`s Men
eng
0
The Question
eng
0
The Rabbi`s Song
eng
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The Recall
eng
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The Reeds of Runnymede
eng
0
The Reformers
eng
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The Return
eng
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The Return of the Children
eng
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The Rhyme Of The Three Captains
eng
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The Rhyme Of The Three Sealers
eng
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The Roman Centurion`s Song
eng
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The Rout of the White Hussars
eng
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The Rowers
eng
0
The Run of the Downs
eng
0
The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal`vin
eng
0
The Sacrifice Of Er-Heb
eng
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The Sea and the Hills
eng
0
The Sea-Wife
eng
0
The Second Voyage
eng
0
The Sergeant`s Weddin`
eng
0
The Settler
eng
0
The Ship That Found Herself
eng
0
The Shut-Eye Sentry
eng
0
The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo
eng
0
The Song at Cock-Crow
eng
0
The Song of Diego Valdez
eng
0
The Song Of The Banjo
eng
0
The Song Of The Cities
eng
0
The Song Of The Dead
eng
0
The Song of the Little Hunter
eng
0
The Song OF The Sons
eng
0
The Sons of Martha
eng
0
The Spring Running
eng
0
The Storm Cone
eng
0
The Ubique
eng
0
The Undertaker`s Horse..
eng
0
The Verdicts [Jutland]
eng
0
The Voortrekker
eng
0
The Watcher
eng
0
The White Seal
eng
0
The Widow At Windsor
eng
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The Widow`s Party
eng
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The `Eathen
eng
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Thorkild’s Song
eng
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Three Friends
eng
0
Thrown Away
eng
0
To T. A.
eng
0
To The Companions
eng
0
To: Thomas Atkins
eng
0
Tod`s Amendment
eng
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Tomlinson
eng
0
Toomai of the Elephants
eng
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Troopin`
eng
0
Ulster 1912
eng
0
We and They
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With Scindia To Delhi
eng
0
Yet At the Last
eng
0
Zion
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“For All We Have and Are”
eng
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