The Female of the Species (poem)

"The Female of the Species" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling originally published in 1911.^[1] The title and refrain has been used as a title for at least three other works (see The Female of the Species (disambiguation)).

Analysis

It begins with illustrations of the greater deadliness of the females of different species, the Himalayan bear, the cobra and the Native American, who frightened the Jesuits more than the men. It continues with the general thought that women, "must be deadlier than the male", as she is formed for the one purpose - motherhood. Woman, says Kipling, has the greater determination - the greater courage and single-mindedness in the pursuit of the important in life.

References in other media

"The Female of the Species" and its refrain have been used as a catchphrase in other works. In 1928 the Bulldog Drummond story "The Female of the Species" may have lifted the title. This story was adapted as the 1967 European spy movie Deadlier Than the Male. Scott Walker of The Walker Brothers wrote and performed the accompanying musical theme and scored a minor hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1966. In 1996 the English pop group Space released "Female of the Species". The title was again lifted in 2006 for Joanna Murray-Smith's satirical play The Female of the Species. A 1946 novel by James Hadley Chase was titled More Deadly Than The Male.

In 1984, Off Centaur Publications released an audio tape cassette album titled The Horse-Tamer's Daughter featuring a song based on the poem, set to music by Leslie Fish and performed by Julia Ecklar.^[2] In 1998, the song was nominated for a Pegasus Award for "Best Adaptation" by a ballot of science fiction and fantasy fans, conducted by the committee of the annual Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF), a filk music convention.^[3]

It is recited by the character of Denis Thatcher, played by Jim Broadbent, in the The Iron Lady (2011).

It is referenced by the character of Col. Mustard, played by Martin Mull, in the 1985 film Clue.

P. G. Wodehouse, with comedic abbreviation, notes in Right Ho, Jeeves that ″Old Pop Kipling never said a truer word than when he made that crack about the f. of the s. being more d. than the m."

References

↑ "The Female of the Species". Poetry Lovers' Page. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
↑ "The Horse-Tamer's Daughter (album)". Fanlore. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
↑ "Pegasus Awards - Female of the Species". Ohio Valley Filk Fest. Ohio Valley Filk Fest, Inc. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

Rudyard Kipling

Novels	The Light that Failed (1891) Captains Courageous (1896) Kim (1901)

Collections	Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) Soldiers Three (1888) The Story of the Gadsbys (1888) In Black and White (1888) The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales (1888) Under the Deodars (1888) Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (1888) From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel (1889) Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, poetry) The Jungle Book (1894) "Mowgli's Brothers" "Kaa's Hunting" "Tiger! Tiger!" "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" The Second Jungle Book (1895) "Letting in the Jungle" "Red Dog" All the Mowgli Stories (c. 1895) The Seven Seas (1896, poetry) The Day's Work (1898) Stalky & Co. (1899) Just So Stories (1902) Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) Rewards and Fairies (1910) The Fringes of the Fleet (1915, non-fiction) Debits and Credits (1926) Limits and Renewals (1932) Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (1940)

Poems	"The Absent-Minded Beggar" "The Ballad of the "Clampherdown"" "The Ballad of East and West" "The Bell Buoy" "The Betrothed" "Big Steamers" "Cold Iron" "Danny Deever" "The Female of the Species" "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" "Gentleman ranker" "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" "Gunga Din" "Hymn Before Action" "If—" "In the Neolithic Age" "The King's Pilgrimage" "The Last of the Light Brigade" "The Lowestoft Boat" "Mandalay" "My Boy Jack" "Recessional" "A Song in Storm" "Sons of Martha" "Submarines" "The Sweepers" "Tommy" "Ubique" "The White Man's Burden" "The Widow at Windsor"

Short stories	".007" "The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly" "Baa Baa, Black Sheep" "Bread upon the Waters" "The Broken Link Handicap" "The Butterfly that Stamped" "Consequences" "The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin" "Cupid's Arrows" "The Devil and the Deep Sea" "The Drums of the Fore and Aft" "Fairy-Kist" "False Dawn" "A Germ-Destroyer" "His Chance in Life" "His Wedded Wife" "In the House of Suddhoo" "Kidnapped" "Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris" "Lispeth" "The Man Who Would Be King" "A Matter of Fact" "Miss Youghal's Sais" "The Mother Hive" "Ortheris" "The Other Man" "The Rescue of Pluffles" "The Ship that Found Herself" "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo" "The Taking of Lungtungpen" "Three and – an Extra" "The Three Musketeers" "Thrown Away" "Toomai of the Elephants" "Watches of the Night" "Wireless" "Yoked with an Unbeliever"

Related	Bibliography Bateman's home Indian Railway Library Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer Iron Ring Law of the jungle Aerial Board of Control My Boy Jack (1997 play) Rudyard Kipling: A Remembrance Tale (2006 documentary) My Boy Jack (2007 film)

Family	Elsie Bambridge (daughter) John Kipling (son) John Lockwood Kipling (father) MacDonald sisters (mother's family) Stanley Baldwin (cousin) Edward Burne-Jones (uncle) Edward Poynter (uncle) Alfred Baldwin (uncle)

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