The message presented in the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling

The theme of my research is “The message presented in the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling.” I’ve chosen it as I enjoy poetry.

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I was always inspired by the masterpieces of great Russian poets: Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Mikhail Yurjevich Lermontov, Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev.

At our English lessons we knew about Shakespeare’s poetry. His sonnets are beautiful. At our meetings we studied the works of great English writers Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling.

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It was revelation for me that Kipling was a poet. Our head suggested us to analyze his famous poem “If.”

While working at my research I used different sources: authentic texts, scientific literature, the Internet-published works both in English and in Russian. At first I investigated Kipling’s biography as life and creation of any author are inseparably connected.

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Joseph Rudyard Kipling is an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
He was one of the most popular writers in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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His most famous poem “If” is devoted to his son John died in the First World War at age 18.

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Kipling’s wonderful poem “If” was named "Britain's favourite poem."

It teaches us to live an honorable, successful life.  Written in 1895, it’s actual nowadays.

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The poem has four stanzas with only two sentences. Each stanza has eight lines. The use of “you” makes the poem seem as though it is addressed directly to the reader.

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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:

The first stanza focuses on self-confidence. Trust in one’s own abilities. A person may be blamed and doubted; it does not matter if the person knows the truth. Do not listen to those who do not tell the truth.  Hate must never be a part of a man’s life.  And you never try to show off or be arrogant in talking to others.  

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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 imposters 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;

In the second stanza is said that a man should dream, but he can’t live on just his dreams. He must act. Thoughts and thinking are important as well; but there is more to life.

Winning is easy.  Losing is hard. Both aspects of life are faced by a person. A man must learn how to handle both situations with grace and go on with his life. 

Sometimes a person learns that people will twist what a person has said and use it against him.  A man may also have something that he has built torn down by fools.  The only thing to do is to kneel down and rebuild what has been broken.

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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!"

The third stanza tells that risk and loss are a part of life. And sometimes people lose somebody or something. But it’s never give up and never discuss the loss with anyone.  It is only the individual’s business.

A person sometimes has to work beyond his physical capabilities.  It is his responsibility to work until the goal is gained.

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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!

It the fourth stanza Kipling writes that when a man talks in the midst of men, he should not give up his integrity. Anyway he must never forget who he is. Pride and conceit are sins.  A man will have friends and enemies, but he must never allow them to harm him.  Other people should be an important part of a man’s life, but never depend on any one too much.

Time must never be wasted.  Every minute of every day is important. Never be idle and squander  time. If a person can live the life prescribed, everything that a person wants will come to him. And a person will be hailed as a true and good man.

"If" contains characteristics of an ideal man. A man must be patient and truthful, he must continue to have faith in himself when others doubt him.

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The virtues expressed in "If-" are devoid of showiness or glamour; it is notable that Kipling says nothing of heroic deeds or great wealth or fame. For him the true measure of a man is his humility and his stoicism. To my mind the poem one of the writer's finest and notes in 2016 that "If-" is absolutely valuable even in the complicated postmodern world. In these straitened times, the old-fashioned virtues of fortitude, responsibilities and resolution, as articulated in 'If-', become ever more important.

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“Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!”

Rudyard Kipling

If

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 imposters 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!