“If” by Rudyard Kipling
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 worn-out 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!
This poem seems to center on trying to teach somone morals and values by saying that if you are to do something than do it with self-confidence and shows that, in being confident, a person must have the courage to do whatever they want even in the face of people who disagree. This stanza also says that overconfidence is just as inhbiting as not having any confidence because it doesn’t allow for open-mindness for other views or beliefs. It seems that each line is a quality that each person should ascribe to. Lines 3 and 4 say to not get offended by doubt from others but also not to let doubt about yourself creep in. Line 5 is about patience, line 6 about honesty. Line 7 talks about having strength of character to keep going no matter what. The poem is written in four stanzas of eight rhyming lines, according to the pattern abab cdcd. It seems the poem is addressing on a general level then it shows that is has been directed to male. I don’t know if he is talking to his actual son or if it is a term used for the general male readers of his work.
I really Liked this poem because i think really subtly its showing that not everyone is the same and not everyone is perfect. I like how it will talk about both extremes like being patient and impatient, a dreamer, and someone completely in touch with reality. It is almost as if the poem is telling you how to be a good person. I also love how strong the poem feels when you read it which does make the reader think of a masculine speaker and a masculine audience. Great job!
alwaysrambling said this on October 20, 2008 at 3:01 am
This poem is probably going to be entered into my top 5 poems and this is my first time seeing it so thank you for the post. Its funny because I know exactly what he means but I can’t wrap my head around it and definitivly reiterate what he is saying in my own words. He is clearly telling his son or largely male audience to be a leader and to be confident, however, he warns of being too confident or too controlling of a leader. The part I really like though is when he talks of loosing everything. He says that we need to be able to loose everything and “never breathe a word” about it. I think this is the greatest advice you can really give someone because there are so many let downs in life. Things almost never work out how they are supposed to, but the important thing is that you continue to work hard and try your best in everything you do. Anyways, I really enjoyed this poem and thank you once again for posting it.
nightwrighter said this on November 3, 2008 at 4:17 am
nice comments
poetryprof said this on November 4, 2008 at 6:40 pm