The Poem If by Rudyard Kipling Summery and Analysis.

 

POEM

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!

 

                                           Summary

The poet in his poem is providing an inspirational insight for the readers to remain humble, soft, and tender and avoid the extremes and live up to all the opportunities of life wherever one can muster any joys of life. It is important to remain humble and live with pride.

As per the poet, it is important to live with your head up when you are winning no matter others are losing. It is important to maintain the calm and cool if the losers who are unable to keep their heads up blames upon you for their loss. One should also keep no place for doubts in our endeavors no matter others are pointing the fingers of doubt.

However, just ignoring their notion of doubt is not the solution. One should also think and analyze the causes of those disbelieves which others pin point. One should also have patience in life and know how to wait since patience is the virtue of success.

One should be truthful and not indulge in the game of blames and lies. No matter one is welcomed with hatred, but one should try not to give hate in return, and even be good to others so that others should not get any opportunity to hate. It is important to be humble, doubt free, keep patience, truthful and shower love, but in order to achieve these attributes, do not do show off. Do not try to look too good or too wise, means do not force upon yourself what you are not. Just be yourself and be humble.

The poet then explains that it is important for one to dream in life, since life is meaningless without dreams, but do not get governed by them. One should work towards achieving and fulfill your dreams but do not become a slave of your dreams.

Moreover, it is good to think, one should think before doing anything since it is wise to be thoughtful. But do not make those thoughts your only goals or objectives since they can lead you to wrong paths. The goals and objectives should be aimed after considering other vital factors along with one’s thoughts. Both success and failure are the part and parcel of life, but one should not become too happy with success and too sad with failures. One should treat both these extreme situations with a moderate emotion.

The poet details the audiences that one should not be led by the extremities. One should not just be truthful, but if any dishonest person twists those words in order to fool you, you should have the ability to listen to those bitter truths. It is also important not to forget one’s past, the way one travels the journey from ground and sky, since it involves lots of hardships and lessons learnt.

The poem then talks about being daring, where you risk all your achievements in life for a single calculated move. In life, the events of losses and profits do come. If in that one game, you lose all your money, all your achievements, and you have to start from the very beginning. All the struggles which you did in order to undertake those earnings, you land up at the beginning of that struggle. But still, you should become humble enough not to cry about the big loss you suffered. One should have self control and patience so that one builds stamina and will power. It is the will power which can derive your success.

In the last stanza, the poet inspires to maintain the virtue in oneself. No matter you talk with lots of people, but not try to goof up with them to build a false value or to impress someone. You should maintain the good quality in you, and not led by others when you interact with them. You should also maintain your simplicity, no matter you are surrounded by the company of hi-fi people. You should be modest and not influenced by anyone, neither by your friends nor by your enemies. Be yourself even if you are among the crowd. You should keep forgiving nature and if you keep all imbibe all these attributes in your life, you will be the king of yourself, untouched by any harms. You will be the winner of all the powers on this mother earth. You will become a real man of virtue.

 

 

 

Analysis                                                                                     The poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling is a bundle of suggestions from father to his son. In the poem, the poet tells his son how to cope with different situations in the life ahead.

The poem is divided into four stanzas having eight lines each. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB. We will discuss each stanza in detail below.

 

Stanza 1

The poet tells his son that he should keep calm and patient when others do fail and put the blames on him. He should trust himself when all others doubt him. However, he should also make a room for their doubts and try understanding what made them doubt him.

In the fifth line, the poet says that one should wait patiently for success and should never be tired by waiting because success comes to those who work hard and remain patient.

Next, the poet tells his son that other people will often tell him lies. However, he should never lie in his life and always remain truthful. Others will hate him. But he should never hate them back and rather spread love.

In the last line, the poet advises him to neither look too good, nor talk too wise because if he acts upon all the advises the poet gave above, he (his son) will look too good and wise among the common people.

 

Stanza 2

The poet says that he should dream big but never make the dreams his master. Similarly, he should think good (about goals, future, etc ) but never make thoughts his aim because in order to succeed in life one has to work hard.

Mere dreaming and thinking will never lead one to the path of success. Hence one should dream of goals and think of a better future and at the same time should work hard to achieve them.

In the 3rd line, the poet says that one should meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same. Note that the first letters “triumph and disaster” have been capitalized.

These are the two extremes of life. The poet calls them impostors i.e. fake. They either make one extremely happy or miserable. However, they are not long-lasting and hence one should not take them seriously.

In the fifth line, the poet says that one should only speak the truth and should also have the courage to face it when it is misused by others to mislead others.

He should also have the courage to see the things build by him in broken conditions and try rebuilding them with worn-out tools i.e. with what energy or skills you have.

Stanza 3

The poet says that one should make one heap of all the achievements one has made and then take big risks. In other words, one should never be afraid of doing things that can either make one successful or ruin everything (pitch-and-toss).

If one fails after taking big risks, he should start again from the beginning without thinking or saying anything about the loss to others. One should try again and again until one succeeds.

In the fifth line, the poet says that one should use his heart and nerve and sinew i.e. courage when one becomes tired or fails. When nothing is left in life, one should have strong will power which may encourage one to “Hold on!”

 

Stanza 4

The poet says that while among the common people one must keep his virtues (and never behave like them) while among the kings (i.e. big personalities) one should never have pride and ego. In other words, the poet is saying that when one is poor, he should keep his virtues and when he becomes rich, he should never ego.

Next, the poet says that neither foes (enemies) nor loving friends can hurt one because of what principles and ideals one hold. One should never give up them.

People will often remain dependent on him but he should never allow them to remain completely dependent on him. The poet may also be saying that one should never give other too much importance or else he will get emotionally attached to them which will hurt him in the future.

In the next line, the poet talks about the importance of time. According to him, time is precious and will never come back. Hence one should start utilizing each and every second of life.

In the final two lines, the poet tells his son if he (his son) acts upon all the advice he gave above, he will be able to achieve whatever he likes and he will be a Man i.e. a true human.