Hardy's style is clear, simple,
direct, and abounds in Biblical allusions and phrases. In nature study
Hardy's novels are a liberal education, for beyond any other author of
the last century he has brought out the beauty and the significance of
tree and flower, heath and mountain. They may be read many times, and
at each perusal new beauties will be discovered to reward the reader.
KIPLING'S BEST SHORT STORIES AND POEMS
TALES OF EAST INDIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER--IDEAL TRAINING OF THE
GENIUS THAT HAS PRODUCED SOME OF THE BEST LITERARY WORK OF OUR
DAY.
Rudyard Kipling cannot be classified with any writer of his own age or
of any literary age in the past. His tremendous strength, his visual
faculty, even his mannerisms, are his own. He has written too much for
his own fame, but although the next century will discard nine-tenths
of his work, it will hold fast to the other tenth as among the best
short stories and poems that our age produced. Kipling is essentially
a short-story writer; not one of his longer novels has any real plot
or the power to hold the reader's interest to the end. _Kim_, the best
of his long works, is merely a series of panoramic views of Indian
life and character, which could be split up into a dozen short stories
and sketches.
[Illustration: RUDYARD KIPLING A STRIKING LIKENESS OF THE AUTHOR
IN A CHARACTERISTIC POSE]
But in the domain of the short story Kipling is easily the first great
creative artist of his time.
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