Actions and Reactions

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 42, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined. Extract: An Habitation EnforcedMy friend, if cause doth wrest thee, Ere folly hath much oppressedthee, Far from acquaintance kest thee Where country may digest thee . . . Thank God that so hath blessed thee, And sit down, Robin, and restthee. THOMAS TUSSER. It came without warning, at the very hour his hand was outstretched tocrumple the Holz and Gunsberg Combine. The New York doctors called itoverwork, and he lay in a darkened room, one ankle crossed above theother, tongue pressed into palate, wondering whether the next brain-surgeof prickly fires would drive his soul from all anchorages. At last they gavejudgment. With care he might in two years return to the arena, but for thepresent he must go across the water and do no work whatever. He acceptedthe terms. It was capitulation; but the Combine that had shivered beneathhis knife gave him all the honours of war: Gunsberg himself, full ofcondolences, came to the steamer and filled the Chapins' suite of cabinswith overwhelming flower-works."Smilax," said George Chapin when he saw them. "Fitz is right. I'mdead; only I don't see why he left out the 'In Memoriam' on the ribbons!""Nonsense!" his wife answered, and poured him his tincture. "You'll beback before you can think."