Together with Jan F. E. Celliers and J. D. du Toit, he was one of the leading figures in the poetry of the Second Afrikaans Movement.

Apart from poetry, Leipoldt wrote novels, plays, stories, children's books, cookbooks and a travel diary.

Between 1902 and 1907, with funding from the botanist Harry Bolus,[2] he read medicine at Guy's Hospital in London and travelled in Europe, America and the East Indies.

D Harvey)[5] Leipoldt wrote much about nature in general and in particular about the landscapes and legends of his beloved Hantam.

His poetry also deals with the suffering caused by the Second Boer War and the culture and values of the Cape Malays.

A review of the book concluded that its chapter on diet and disease is "useless both to the doctor and to the layman, and abounds in statements for which there is no scientific justification.

In 1927, botanist L.Bolus published a genus of flowering plants from Namibia and the Cape Provinces, belonging to the family Aizoaceae, as Leipoldtia in his honour.