Kipling is journalistic in all his writings. Oftentimes his material is
very thin, flippant, and sensational, but he always is interesting, for
he possesses the expert reporter's unerring judgment for choosing the
essentials of his situation, character, or description, that catch and
hold the reader's attention. In his earlier writings, like _Plain Tales
from the Hills_ or _The Jungle Books_, the radical racial differences
between his characters and readers, and the background of primitive,
mysterious India caught the reading world and instantly established
Kipling's fame.
His technique is brilliant, his wit keen, and his energy of the bold
and dashing military type. This audacious energy leads him very often
into sprawling situations, a worship of imperialism, and reckless
statements concerning moral and spiritual laws. Unlike Bret Harte, who
was in many respects one of Kipling's ideals, he leaves his bad and
coarse characters disreputable to the end. This is due in a large
measure to the lack of warmth and light in his writings. In
contradiction to this type of his works his _William the Conqueror_ and
_An Habitation Enforced_ are filled with a gentle-human sympathy that
causes us to forget and forgive any vulgarity he may have used in his
more primitive and coarse characters. Even Kipling partisans must
sometimes wish that Kipling's vision were not so dimmed by the British
flag and that he might forget for a time the British soldier he loves
so ardently.
His writings since 1899 are much more mechanical than his earlier
works. He seems, at times, to resort to the orator's superficial tricks
in his attempts to attract readers. The _Athenaeum_, a friendly organ,
says of his later work: "In his new part—the missionary of Empire—Mr.
Kipling is living the strenuous life. He has frankly abandoned story
telling, and is using his complete and powerful armory in the interests
of patriotic zeal."
Whatever may be the final judgment of the world concerning Kipling's
claim to literary genius, the young student may rest assured that there
is no one in England who can compare with this strenuous and versatile
writer. He is original and powerful, interesting and realistic. He is a
lover of the men who earn their bread by the sweat of their faces and a
despiser of "flannelled fools." He lacks the day-dreams of Stevenson
and preaches from every housetop the gospel of virile, acting morality.
Many of his readers have criticised adversely his spiritual teachings,
because of the furious energy with which he denounces an apathetic
religion and eulogizes the person who works with all his might, day
after day, for the highest he knows and never fears the day of death
and judgment.