Kipling

I don’t know if the works of Rudyard Kipling are still taught in the classroom these days, but his is one of the names I remember from my school years.

Long before the internet, and in the early days of television, we read books. Someone decided whose works were important enough to be widely distributed and Rudyard Kipling made the cut. I often wonder if he would be relevant in our new technological age if his writings had not already been deemed to be important.

As a young student, I remember this joke:

“Do you enjoy Kipling?”

“I don’t know – I’ve never kippled.”

Kipling’s star may be fading, though. In this age of Harry Potter novels, I wonder how many young people could even tell you who he was. After all, he died almost 75 years ago.

And when was the last time you hear of parents naming their child Rudyard?