A US academic has uncovered 50 unpublished poems by British writer Rudyard Kipling in a New York house and among the papers of a former cruise-line owner, it was revealed Tuesday.

Thomas Pinney, a professor of English at the University of California, said the discoveries marked a "tremendously exciting time for scholars and fans."

The poems will be published in a new edition of Kipling's verse March 7.

The Indian-born author is best known for short stories like The Jungle Book and poems "Mandalay" and "If," but fell out of favor with many academics over his views on imperialism.

The trove includes poems from World War I and a diatribe against the press. It reads:

Had you friend a secret

Sorrow, shame or vice

Have you promised not to tell

What's your lowest price?

All the housemaid fancied

All the butler guessed

Tell it to the public press

And we will do the rest.