“IF”
By: Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
(Dec. 1865-Jan 1936)
o Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was born in Bombay, but educated in England at the
United Services College, Westward Ho, Bideford. In 1882 he returned to India, where he
worked for Anglo-Indian newspapers
o His literary career began with Departmental Ditties (1886), but subsequently he
became chiefly known as a writer of short stories
o A prolific writer, he achieved fame quickly
o Kipling was the poet of the British Empire and its yeoman, the common soldier,
whom he glorified in many of his works, in particular Plain Tales from the Hills(1888)
and Soldiers Three (1888), collections of short stories with roughly and affectionately
drawn soldier portraits
o His Barrack Room Ballads(1892) were written for, as much as about, the
common soldier
o In 1894 appeared his Jungle Book, which became a children’s classic all over the
world. Kim (1901), the story of Kimball O’Hara and his adventures in the Himalayas, is
perhaps his most felicitous work
o Other works include The Second Jungle Book (1895), The Seven
Seas (1896), Captains Courageous (1897), The Day’s Work(1898), Stalky and
Co. (1899), Just So Stories (1902), Trafficks and Discoveries (1904), Puck of Pook’s
Hill (1906), Actions and Reactions (1909), Debits and Credits (1926), Thy Servant a
Dog(1930), and Limits and Renewals (1932)
o During the First World War Kipling wrote some propaganda books. His collected
poems appeared in 1933
o Kipling was the recipient of many honorary degrees and other awards. In 1926 he
received the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, which only Scott, Meredith,
and Hardy had been awarded before him
o Died: 18-Jan-1936
o Cause of death: Cerebral Hemorrhage
o Location of death: London, England
o Remains: Buried, Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, England
Disaster
This project could be a possible disaster.
It was the biggest human disaster.
Foes
They haven't settled down just because their old foe is gone.
The wolf showed himself, and at once the Irish wolf dog sprang upon his foe.
Heap
There was a big heap of stones in the road.
A heap of old clothes was lying in the corner.
Impostor
This is not Doctor Malcolm, he is an impostor.
The nurse was soon discovered to be an impostor.
Sinew
My son feels long and stringy now, all sinew, veins and bone.
He had the body of an athlete, every sinew honed down to perfection, but he wasn't brainless.
Triumph
Winning the championship is a great personal triumph .
In every triumph, there's a lot of try.
If—
Rudyard Kipling, 1865 - 1936
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can
trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can
wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or, being hated, don’t
give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts
your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two impostors just the
same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for
fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with
wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And
lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can
force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold
on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings—nor lose the common
touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too
much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run— Yours is
the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise…”
o In these lines, the speaker is telling the reader to have patience. In addition, he
informs the reader that even if he or she is lied about, he or she should not stoop to the
level of a liar. If he or she is hated, he or she must not become hateful, and finally, the
reader should not appear to be better than he or she actually is, nor should he or she talk
in a manner that does not reflect who they are morally or spiritually.
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;If you can think—and not make thoughts
your aim,
o Here, Kipling urges his reader to dream and think, but to not get so caught up in
dreams and thoughts that the reader loses his grasp on reality. Kipling uses personification
in his next two lines:
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
o Kipling’s diction here is also worth mentioning. The word impostor suggests a
pretense or disguise. Perhaps he uses this word to showcase the fleeting nature of both:
success never stays, nor does disaster. Additionally, he could possibly be suggesting that
with these two words often comes a disruption or change. In any case, the reader should
not dwell too much on either triumph or disaster because they will soon disappear.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
o The speaker informs the reader that he or she must be able to endure hearing his
or her words being twisted by dishonest and harmful people in order to serve their own
agendas
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools,
o The speaker demonstrates in these lines the importance of being able to pick
oneself up and start again if they fail—even if the thing they’ve failed at has taken all of
their life to attempt. The reader must always be prepared to start again
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss…
o The theme in these lines is very similar to the one in the last two lines of the
previous stanza: if you lose everything, you must be willing to begin again. Not only that,
but you must also be willing to forget about the loss and not dwell on it.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on where there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!
o These lines are particularly powerful. The speaker is imploring the reader to
endure, even if that feels both physically (sinew) and emotionally (heart and nerve)
impossible. It is also worth noting the capitalization of “Will.” Perhaps Kipling wanted to
emphasize the resilience of the human spirit here by making it a power that is separate
from the person who possesses it.
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
o It should not matter with whom the reader is walking; he or she needs to treat
the lowest of the low and the highest in society exactly the same: with kindness.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
o Kipling is reminding his reader that is important to be able to bounce back from
disappointment or pain. One must not dwell on his enemies or the hurt a loved one could
potentially cause.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
o He is telling his reader to never give up or waste even a single second of time. If
you are given a minute, make sure you use all sixty seconds of it. Finally, in the last two
lines, the outcome of abiding by all of these tidbits is revealed:
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
o If one is able to keep all of these things in check, one will have the world at one’s
fingertips
