Later Period
As he grew older in the last two decades of his life barring the exception of a few poems he produced poetry of diminishing quality though still retaining his wit and versification genius. In the one exception of this period , "The Female of the Species", Kipling coined another one of his phrases used frequently thereafter in English Language - "the female of the species is more deadly than the male". This poem displays the immense ability of observation with which God blessed Kipling and the vast knowledge of animals that Kipling retained. In this poem, he compares the male and female in the Himalayan bear, in the King Cobra and even in humans and every time aggressiveness and fearlessness characterizes the female of the species. He informs us that the "she-bear fights" and the "[she] cobra bites" their enemies. He also depicts the woman as the one who "commands" and "enthral(s)" ma, and that man comes out as nothing but puppets in women’s hands. This poem has no undertone and like many of his other poems displays the lack of subtlety that plagues his poems and produces doubts about his poetic abilities. But nevertheless the choice of the topic itself displays his wit and the rhyme used in the poem intensifies the effect of his verse. As he grew older his poetry began to depict his preoccupation with disease and sufferings (Page, Norman). Two of his poems "Hymn of Physical pain" and "Hymn of Breaking Strain" depict Kipling’s preoccupation with strain, breakdown, and recovery (Page, Norman). In the "Hymn of Physical Pain" he displays his weariness of the "forgetfulness" that accompanies old age. The thought of "pains of Hell" make him afraid and he desperately wants to keep away from them. Here he depicts the woes that accompany old age and expresses his fear of death. In "Hymn of Breaking Strain" he divulges his disbelief in the mercy of God. He has the impression that God has no emotional attachment of "justice towards mankind" and that God has no "laid course" for our lives. He asserts that the Almighty tends to lay on us more pressures than we can bear and so we break down under trying circumstances. But he restores his faith in God in the later part of the poem and justifies the actions of God by explaining them as the only way that men can get a chance to rise again and build a new life. This relates to the cycle of life and death. In both these hymns, Kipling once again displays his versification abilities through lines like "Dread Mother of Forgetfulness Who, when Thy reign begins", "Instant upon the false release - The Worm and Fire renew" and "Oh, veiled and secret Power Whose paths we seek in vein". Thus both these hymn display Kipling’s obsession with death that marred his later life. In this way we can conclude that though in the later part of his life Kipling did not produce any great works he did contribute significantly to poetry and its development.