Including the juvenilia and unpublished poems written in England and India, researched in the 1980s by Andrew Rutherford, and now included in the comprehensive Cambridge Edition of 2013 edited by Thomas Pinney. For the published verse we have relied on the Definitive Edition (1940), and for the early unpublished verse on Rutherford (1986). We have not included various verse fragments and later uncollected poems written after 1889, which are to be found in Pinney, nor have we tracked variations between Pinney’s authoritative text and earlier editions.
This list shows Kipling’s Poems. View a list of the associated notes
Click here for a list of poems, with details of publication or source, in date order from 1878 to 1940.
Click here for a list arranged by publication or – for unpublished poems – he source.
- The Absent-minded Beggar
- The Advertisement
- After the Fever(1882)
- After the Fever
- After the Promise
- Akbar’s Bridge
- All the World over ...
- An Almanac of Twelve Sports
- Alnaschar
- Alnaschar and the Oxen
- An Amateur
- Amour de Voyage
- Les Amours de Voyage
- Les Amours Faciles
- An American
- An Auto da Fé
- The American Rebellion
- Anchor Song
- “And some are sulky…”
- Angutivaun Taina
- The Answer
- The Anvil
- The Appeal
- Appropriate Verses on an Elegant Landscape
- Arithmetic on the Frontier
- Army Headquarters
- Arterial
- An Astrologer’s Song
- As far as the East is set from the West
- As the Bell Clinks
- At the Bar
- At the Distance
- At the End of a Year
- “At the hole where he went in…”
- At his Execution
- The Attainment
- “Au Revoir”
- Ave Imperatrix
- Azrael’s Count
- “Back to the Army again”
- The Ballad of Ahmed Shah
- A Ballad of Bitterness
- The Ballad of Boh Da Thone
- A Ballad of Burial
- The Ballad of East and West
- The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House
- The Ballad of the ‘Bolivar’
- The Ballad of the Cars
- The Ballad of the ‘Clampherdown’
- The Ballad of the King’s Daughter
- The Ballad of the King’s Jest
- The Ballad of the King’s Mercy
- The Ballad of Minepit Shaw
- The Ballad of the Red Earl
- A Ballade of Bad Entertainment
- “A Ballade of Indian Tea”
- A Ballade of Jakko Hill
- A Ballade of Photographs
- “Banquet Night”
- “The Battle of Assaye”
- “The beasts are very wise…”
- “Beat off ?”
- “Because I sought it”
- The Beginner
- “Before my Spring”
- The Beginnings
- The Bee Boy’s Song
- The Bees and the Flies
- A Beleaguered City
- The Bell Buoy
- The Bells and Queen Victoria
- Belts
- The Benefactors
- The Betrothed
- “Between the gum pot and the shears”
- “Between the waving tufts…”
- “Beware the man”
- Big Steamers
- Bill ‘Awkins
- “Birds of Prey” March
- The Birthright
- The Blind Bug
- Blue Roses
- The Boar of the Year
- The Bonfires
- ‘Bobs’
- Bombaystes Furioso
- Boots
- The Bother
- A Boy Scout’s Patrol Song
- The Braggart
- Bridge-Guard in the Karroo
- Brighton Beach
- A British-Roman Song
- Brookland Road
- The Broken Men
- “Brown Bess”
- Buddha at Kamakura
- A Budget Estimate
- The Burden
- The Burial
- The Buttercup
- Butterflies
- By Honours
- By the Hoof of the Wild Goat
- Cain and Abel
- The Camel’s Hump
- The Captive
- Caret
- Carmen Circulare
- Carmen Simlaense
- A Carol
- Caroline Taylor
- Cavaliere servente
- Cave
- Cells
- The Centaurs
- Certain Maxims of Hafiz
- Change
- The Changelings
- A Chant of Hate towards England
- Chant Pagan
- Chapter Headings – The Jungle Books
- A Charm
- Chartres Windows
- The Children
- The Children’s Song
- A Child’s Garden
- Chil’s Song
- “China-going P & Os”
- The Choice
- Chivalry
- Cholera Camp
- Christmas in India
- Cities and Thrones and Powers
- “The City of Brass”
- The City of Sleep
- The City of the Heart
- ‘Cleared’
- The Clerks and the Bells
- The Coastwise Lights
- A Code of Morals
- The Coiner
- Cold Iron
- Columns
- The Comforters
- Commonplaces
- The Common Room
- The Compliments of the Season
- Concerning a Jawab
- Confession
- The Consolations of Memory
- Conspiracy
- Contradictions
- The Conundrum of the Workshops
- Conventionality
- A Counting Out Song
- A Cousin’s Christmas Card
- The Covenant
- The Craftsman
- A Craven
- Credat Judaeus
- Crossing the Rubicon
- Cruisers
- Cry “Murder”
- Cuckoo Song
- Cupid’s Department
- The Curé
- The Cursing of Stephen
- Danny Deever
- Dane-geld
- “Dark children of the mere…”
- Darzee’s Chaunt
- The Dawn Wind
- de Profundis
- The Dead King
- Dear Auntie, your parboiled nephew
- A Death-Bed
- The Declaration of London
- A Dedication (1882)
- Dedication (from Barrack-Room Ballads)
- Dedication (The Five Nations)
- A Dedication To Soldiers Three
- Dedication (The Seven Seas)
- Dedication (The Years Between)
- The Deep Sea Cables
- Dekho! Look here!
- Delilah
- A Departure
- The Derelict
- The Descent of the Punkah
- The Destroyers
- Dinah in Heaven
- Dirge of Dead Sisters
- Dirge of the Langurs
- Diana of Ephesus
- Disappointment
- The Disciple
- Discovery
- Distress in the Himalayas
- Divided Allegiance
- Divided Destinies
- Doctors
- A Dominant Power
- Donec Gratus Eram
- “The doors were wide…”
- The Dove of Dacca
- Duet from the ‘Pinafore’
- The Dusky Crew
- The Dutch in the Medway
- The Dying Chauffeur
- The Dykes
- The Earth gave up her dead
- The ‘eathen
- An Echo
- Eddi’s Service
- Edgehill Fight
- “The Earth gave up her dead…”
- The Egg-shell
- El Dorado
- The Elephant
- An Ending
- En-Dor
- England’s Answer
- The English Flag
- The English Way
- Envy, Hatred, and Malice
- Epigraph for ‘Echoes’
- Epitaphs of the War
- Escaped!
- Estunt the Griff
- Et Dona Ferentes
- Evarra and his Gods
- Exchange
- The Excursion
- The Exiles’ Line
- The Expert
- The Explanation
- The Explorer
- The Fabulists
- Failure
- Fair Mistress, to my Lasting Sorrow
- Fair Play
- The Faithful Soul
- The Fairies’ Siege
- The Fall of Jock Gillespie
- Fastness
- The Feet of the Young Men
- The Female of the Species
- The Fifth River
- Fifty North and Forty West
- The Files
- The Fires
- The First Chantey
- The First Day Back
- The Flight
- The Flight of the Bucket
- The Floods
- The Flowers
- Follow me ‘ome
- For a Picture
- “For all we have and are”
- Ford o’ Kabul River
- “For our white and our excellent nights…””
- “For the Women”
- “For to Admire”
- The Four Angels
- Four Feet
- The Four Points
- Fox-hunting
- France
- Frankie’s Trade
- The French Wars
- The Friends
- From the Hills
- From the Wings
- The Front Door
- Further Information
- Fuzzy-Wuzzy
- The Galley-Slave
- Gallio’s Song
- Gehazi
- General Joubert
- General Summary
- Gentlemen-rankers
- Gertrude’s Prayer
- Gethsemane
- Giffen’s Debt
- The Gift of the Sea
- Gipsy Vans
- The Gipsy Trail
- The Glories
- The Glory of the Garden
- “Go, stalk the red deer…”
- The Gods of the Copybook Headings
- The Goat
- Good Luck …
- Gow’s Watch
- The Grave of the Hundred Head
- Great-Heart
- The Greek National Anthem
- Greenwich Ladies (Harwich Ladies)
- Greeting
- Gunga Din
- Hadramauti
- Half-Ballad(e) of Waterval
- Hans Breitmann as an Administrator
- Harp Song of the Dane Women
- Harwich Ladies (Greenwich Ladies)
- Haste
- “He drank strong waters”
- Helen all alone
- Heriot’s Ford
- The Heritage
- Himalayan
- “His Apologies”
- His Consolation
- His Consolation (Their Consolation)
- The Holy War
- The Hour of the Angel
- The Houses
- How Breitmann became President on the Bicycle Ticket
- How it seemed to us
- How the Day Broke
- How the Goddess Awakened
- Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack
- Hymn before Action
- The Hyaenas
- Hymn of Breaking Strain
- Hymn to Physical Pain
- Hymn of the Triumphant Airman
- “I am the Most Wise Baviaan…”
- I believe
- “I have a thousand men”
- “I keep six honest serving men…”
- “I sit in the midst of my study…”
- “I thank you, Mrs Colvin”
- “I will remember what I was…”
- Ichabod
- If—
- “If I have taken the common clay”
- “I’ve never sailed the Amazon…”
- The Idiot Boy
- Illusion, Disillusion, Allusion
- An Imperial Rescript
- Imperious Wool-booted Sage
- In Memoriam July-August 1883
- In Partibus
- In the beginning
- In the case of Rukhmibhaio
- In the City of Berlin
- “In the daytime …”
- “In the Matter of a Prologue”
- In the Matter of One Compass
- In the Neolithic Age
- In Springtime
- Index Malorum
- Inscription in Copy of In Black and Whitepresented to Mrs Hill
- Inscription in Copy of Wee Willie Winkiepresented to Mrs Hill
- The Indian Delegates
- The Indian Farmer at Home
- An Indignant Protest
- The Instructor
- The Inventor
- The Irish Conspiracy
- The Irish Guards
- The Islanders
- “It was not in the open fight”
- “Itu and his God”
- The Jacket
- James I
- The Jam-pot
- Jane’s Marriage
- Jane Smith
- The Jester
- A Job Lot
- Job’s Wife
- Jobson’s Amen
- The Juggler’s Song
- The Junk and the Dhow
- Jubal and Tubal Cain
- Justice
- The Justice’s Tale
- Kaspar’s Song in ‘Varda’
- The King
- The King and the Sea
- The King’s Job
- The King’s Pilgrimage
- The King’s Task (first version)
- The King’s Task
- King Henry VII and the Shipwrights
- King Solomon’s Horses
- The Kingdom
- The Kingdom of Bombay
- Kitchener’s School
- The Knight Errant
- Kopra-Brahm
- The Ladies
- Lady Geraldine’s Hardship
- Laid Low
- The Land
- The Landau
- Landbound
- The Lament of the Border Cattle Thief
- Laocoon
- “The lark will make her hymn”
- The Last Chantey
- The Last Department
- The Last Lap
- The Last Ode
- The Last of the Light Brigade
- The Last Rhyme of True Thomas
- The Last Suttee
- “Late Came the God”
- “The Law of Libel”
- “The Law of the Jungle”
- A Legend of Devonshire
- The Legend of Evil
- A Legend of the Foreign Office
- The Legend of Mirth
- The Legend of the Pill
- A Legend of Truth
- L’Envoi (to Barrack Room Ballads)
- L’Envoi (to Departmental Ditties)
- L’Envoi (o The Seven Seas)
- L’Envoi (to The Story of the Gadsbys)
- L’Envoi (1881)
- Les Amours de Voyage
- Les Amours Faciles
- The Lesson
- The Lesson (Schoolboy Lyrics)
- ‘Less you want your toes trod off
- The Letter of Halim the Potter
- The Letter Written Up in the Attic
- A Levee in the Plains
- Liberavi Animam Meam
- Lichtenberg
- The Liner, she’s a lady…
- “Little blind fish”
- “Little Tin Gods”
- A Locked Way
- A Logical Extension
- Lollius
- London Stone
- London Town
- The Long Trail
- “Look, you have cast out Love!”
- The Looking-Glass
- Lo!As a little child
- Loot
- L-rd D-ff-r-n’s Clôture
- Lord Ripon’s Reverie
- Lord Roberts
- A Lost Leader
- The Lost Legion
- The Love that Died
- The Lovers’ Litany
- The love-song of Har Dyal
- The Lowestoft Boat
- Lucifer
- “Lukannon”
- M.I.
- MacDonough’s Song
- The Maid of the Meerschaum
- The Man and the Shadow
- “Man goes to Man”
- The Man who could Write
- Mandalay
- The Mare’s Nest
- The Married Man
- McAndrew’s Hymn
- The Marrèd Drives of Windsor
- The “Mary Gloster”
- “Mary, Pity Women!”
- Mary’s Son
- The Masque of Plenty
- The Master-Cook
- Max Desmarets, his Valentine
- Maxims of Baloo
- The May Voyage
- Memories
- The Merchantmen
- Merrow Down
- “The Men that Fought at Minden”
- Mesopotamia
- The Message
- Mine Sweepers
- The Miracles
- Missed
- A Missing Word
- A Mistake
- Mon Accident!
- The Moon of Other Days
- The Moral
- A Morning Ride
- Morning Song in the Jungle
- The Mother Lodge
- Mother o’ Mine
- The Mother’s Son
- Mowgli’s Song
- Mowgli’s Song against People
- Mulholland’s Contract
- Mulvaney’s Regrets
- Municipal
- A Murder in the Compound
- Music for the Middle-aged
- My Boy Jack
- My Father’s Chair
- My Hat
- My Lady’s Law
- My Lord the Elephant
- My New-cut Ashlar
- My Rival
-
- Naaman’s Song
- The Native-Born
- A Nativity
- Natural Theology
- Natural Theology in a Doolie
- The Necessitarian
- Neighbours
- A new Auld Lang Syne
- A New Departure
- The New Knighthood
- New Lamps for Old
- New Songs and Old
- New Year Resolutions
- The Night Before
- The Nightof Power
- Night Song in the Jungle
- “The night we felt the earth would move”
- “A Nightmare of Names”
- “Non Nobis Domine”
- Norman and Saxon
- The North Sea Patrol
- “Not though you die tonight…”
- “Now it is not good…”
- La Nuit Blanche
- Nursery Idyls
- Nursery Rhymes for Little Anglo-Indians
- The Nurses
- The Nursing Sister
- O Baal, Hear Us!
- Ode, Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance
- Of Birthdays
- Of Pigs and Buffaloes
- Oh ! hush thee my baby …”
- “Oh ! What will your Majesty please to wear—”
- The Old Issue
- Old Man Kangaroo
- The Old Men
- Old Mother Laidinwool
- An Old Song
- The Oldest Song
- On a Recent Appointment
- On a Recent Memorial
- One Viceroy resigns
- On Fort Duty
- The Only Son
- Oonts
- The Open Door
- The Ornamental Beasts
- “Our Fathers Also”
- “Our Fathers of Old”
- Our Lady of Many Dreams
- Our Lady of Many Dreams (new style)
- Our Lady of Rest
- Our Lady of the Sackcloth
- Our Lady of the Snows
- Out of Sight
- The Outlaws
- Outsong in the Jungle
- Over the Khud
- Overheard
- The Overland Mail
- The Owl
- The Oxen
- A Pageant of Elizabeth
- The Page’s Message
- The Page’s Song
- Pagett, M.P.
- The Palace
- Pan in Vermont
- Parade Song of the Camp Animals
- A Parallel
- Parting
- Parting (In the Hall)
- The Parting of the Columns
- Parturiunt Montes
- The Peace of Dives
- The Penalty
- “The People of the Eastern Ice..”
- “Personal Responsibilities”
- Pharaoh and the Sergeant
- Philadelphia
- A Pict Song
- Piet
- A Pilgrim’s Way
- The Pillow Fight
- Pink Dominoes
- The Pious Sub’s Creed
- The Pirates in England
- “Pit where the buffalo cooled his hide…”
- Pity poor fighting men
- The Plaint of the Junior Civilian
- Placetne, Domini?
- The Playmate
- The Plea of the Simla Dancers
- Pleasant it is…”
- Poison of Asps
- Poor Honest Men
- The Post that Fitted
- The Portent
- Poseidon’s Law
- Possibilities
- The Power of the Dog
- The Prairie
- The Prayer
- The Prayer of Miriam Cohen
- Preadmonisheth Ye Ghoste of Desmarets
- Preface to Land and Sea Tales
- Prelude (to Departmental Ditties)
- The Press
- Private Ortheris’s Song
- Pro Tem
- The Pro-Consuls
- The Prodigal Son
- A Profession of Faith
- The Progress of the Spark
- A Prologue
- Prologue to the Master-Cook’s Tale
- A Promise
- Prophets at Home
- Public Waste
- Puck’s Song
- “Pussy can sit by the fire…”
- “Put forth to watch…”
- The Puzzler
- Quaeritur
- Quantities of ’em
- The Queen’s Men
- The Quest (1896)
- The Quest (1882)
- A Question
- The Question
- The Question of Givens
- The Quid Pro Quo
- Quiquern(Heading)
- The Rabbi’s Song
- Rahere
- Rather than this
- Reading the Will
- The Reaping
- Rebirth
- The Recall
- A Recantation
- Recessional
- Reckoning
- The Reeds of Runnymede
- A Rector’s Memory
- Rejection
- Requiescat in pace
- The Reformers
- Resolve
- The Return
- The Return of the Children
- Revenge—A Ballad of the Fleeter
- The Rhodes Memorial, Table Mountain
- The Rhyme of the Three Captains
- The Rhyme of the Three Sealers
- The Riddle
- “Ride with an idle whip …”
- Rikki Tikki Tavi
- “Rimini”
- Rimmon
- A Ripple Song
- The River’s Tale
- Road-Song of the Bandar-Log
- Rolling Down to Rio
- The Roman Centurion’s Song
- Romance and Reality
- Romulus and Remus
- Roses
- “Rosicrucian subtleties”
- Route Marchin’
- The Rowers
- The Run of the Downs
- The Runes on Weland’s Sword
- The Runners
- The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal’vin
- Russia to the Pacifists
- The Sack of the Gods
- The Sacrifice of Er-Heb
- A St Helena Lullaby
- Saint Valentine His Day
- Samuel Pepys
- Sappers
- Satiety
- The Scholars
- A School Song
- Screw-guns
- The Sea and the Hills
- The Sea-Wife
- The Second Voyage
- The Second Wooing
- The Secret of the Machines
- Sepulchral
- The Sergeant’s Weddin’
- “A Servant when he Reigneth”
- The Service Man
- Sestina of the Tramp-Royal
- The Settler
- The Seven Nights of Creation(uncollected)
- The Seven Nights of Creation(Schoolboy Lyrics)
- Severance (Woking Necropolis)
- Seven Watchmen
- Shillin’ a Day
- Shiv and the Grasshopper
- The Shut-eye Sentry
- The Sign of the Flower
- Sir Galahad
- Sir Richard’s Song
- “The sky is lead…”
- A Smuggler’s Song
- Snarleyow
- “So we loosed a bloomin’ volley…”
- “So we settled it…”
- Soldier an’ Sailor too
- Soldier, Soldier
- Solus cum Sola
- Song (For Two Voices)
- Song for Two Voices (For Music)
- The Song of an Outsider
- A Song of Bananas
- The Song of the Banjo
- The Song of the Cities
- A Song at Cockcrow
- The Song of Diego Valdez
- The Song of the Dead
- A Song in the Desert
- A Song of Addresses
- The Song of the Dancer
- Song of the Dynamo
- Song of the Engines
- A Song of the English
- The Song of the Exiles
- Song of the Fifth River
- A Song of French Roads
- Song of the Galley-slaves
- A Song of Kabir
- The Song of the Lathes
- The Song of the Little Hunter
- Song of the Men’s Side
- A Song to Mithras
- Song of the Old Guard
- Song of the Red War-Boat
- The Song of Seven Cities
- Song of Seventy Horses
- The Song of the Sons
- The Song of the Sufferer
- A Song of the White Men
- Song of the Wise Children
- The Song of the Women
- A Song in Storm
- A Song of Travel
- Sonnet
- The Sons of Martha
- The Sons of the Suburbs
- South Africa (1903)
- South Africa (1906)
- The Spies’ March
- Stationary
- Stellenbosch
- “Stopped, in the straight..”
- “The Stream is Shrunk—”
- “A stone’s throw out …”
- The Storm Cone
- The Story of Paul Vaugel
- The Story of Tommy
- The Story of Ung
- The Story of Uriah
- The Stranger
- The stream is shrunk
- Struck Ile
- Study of an Elevation
- The stumbling block…
- Such as in Ships
- The Sudder Bazaar
- The Supplication of the Black Aberdeen
- The Supplication of Kerr Cross, Missionary
- The Supports
- The Survival
- Sussex
- “Taking a Hint”
- A Tale of Two Cities
- The Tale of Two Suits
- A Tale of Yesterday’s Ten Thousand Years
- Tarrant Moss
- That Day
- Then a pile of heads, he laid…
- “Then we brought the lances”
- “There is a tide…”>
- “There is pleasure in the wet, wet clay”
- “There once were four people at Euchre”
- “There was never a Queen like Balkis”
- “There was a strife ‘twixt man and maid”
- “There were three friends”
- “There’s a convict more…”
- “These are the Four…”
- “They burnt a corpse…”
- Things and the Man
- “This I saw”
- This is the mouth-filling song
- This side the Styx
- This uninhabited island
- “The torn boughs trailing…”
- The Thousandth Man
- Thorkild’s Song
- The Three-Decker
- A Three-part Song
- The Threshold
- “Thrown Away” (heading)
- “Thus, for a season…”
- “Tin Fish”
- To a Lady Persuading Her to a Car
- To A.M.
- To Edith Macdonald
- To Evelyn Welford
- To Flo Garrard
- To James Whitcomb Riley
- To Margaret Burne-Jones
- To Motorists
- To Mrs Tavenor Perry
- To Save Trouble
- To the Address of W.W.H
- To the City of Bombay
- To the Common-room
- To the Companions
- To the Ladies of Warwick Gardens
- To the True Romance
- To the Unknown Goddess
- To These People
- To Thomas Atkins
- The Threshold
- To You
- Tobacco
- Together
- “Told in the Dormitory”
- Tomlinson
- Tommy
- “Tonight, God knows…”
- The Totem
- “The torn boughs trailing…”
- The Tour
- The Trade
- A Tragedy of Teeth
- A Translation
- A Tree Song
- Trial by Judge
- Troopin’
- The trouble of Curtiss who Lived in the Basement
- The Truce of the Bear
- A Truthful Song
- A Tryst
- The Two Cousins
- Two Kopjes
- Two Limericks on the Madras Scandals
- Two Lives
- Two Months
- Two Players
- Two Races
- The Two-Sided Man
- Two Sides of the Medal
- Ubique
- Ulster
- Understanding
- The Undertaker’s Horse
- Unpublished Fragment of Pope
- Unpublished Fragment of Shelley
- Untimely
- “Unto whose use…”
- The Vampire
- The Vanishing Figure
- “Veil them, cover them …”
- Venus Meretrix
- The Verdicts
- “Verse Fragments and Limericks”
- “Verse letter to Sidney Low”
- “Verses from letter to Andrew Lang”
- Verses on the Charleville Hotel, Mussoorie
- Verses on fruit plates
- “Very many People”
- The Veterans
- The Vindication of Grant Duff
- The Vineyard
- Virginibus Puerisque
- The Virginity
- The Vision of Hamid Ali
- A Vision of India
- The Voortrekker
- A Voyage
- The Wage-slaves
- The Waster
- The Way Av Ut
- ‘Way Down the Ravi River
- The Way through the Woods
- Waytinge (1)
- Waytinge (2)
- We and They
- “We be the Gods”
- “We meet in an evil land”
- “We, now held in captivity”
- “A Weed, one weed, and only one had I”
- The Wet Litany
- What Happened
- “What of the Hunting,,,”
- What the People Said
- What the young man’s heart said to him
- “When a Lover hies abroad”
- When Earth’s last Picture is Painted
- ‘When ‘Omer smote ‘is Blooming Lyre
- When the cabin portholes are dark and green…
- “When the earth was sick,,,”>
- When the Great Ark…
- When the Journey was Intended to the City
- “When ye say to Tabaqui, “My Brother…”
- Where the Shoe Pinches
- “While the snaffle holds …”
- White Horses
- The White Man’s Burden
- The Widow at Windsor
- The Widow’s Party
- The Widower
- ‘Wilful-Missing’
- The Winners
- The Wishing Caps
- The Witching of Teddy O’Neal
- With a Fan to the Mother
- With a Locket
- With a Study Chair to the Pater
- With Drake in the Tropics
- With Scindia to Delhi
- The Wooing of the Sword
- “The wolf-cub at even”
- The Wop of Asia
- “The World hath set…”