Children’s Literature of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

“If” was initially published as part of the children’s story collection, Rewards and Fairies. Writing expressly for children is a relatively modern development, emerging as recently as the early 1800s. Kipling was renowned for his works aimed at children, many of which featured fantastical worlds and talking animals that captivated young imaginations, similar to other children's literature of the time. However, the primary purpose of children's literature was not merely to entertain but also to educate in societal morals and manners. Rewards and Fairies includes poems that extract lessons from its various stories. “If,” with its instructive format, is one such poem, providing guidance on the virtues and qualities of an exemplary public figure.

Women in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

As indicated by its concluding line, “If” is addressed specifically to a boy who would become “a Man.” The poem links the achievement of true manhood with the skills and virtues of a genuine leader—a connection that inherently excludes girls and women.

This exclusion of women from public leadership roles mirrors the political climate at the time of the poem’s release. In the late 1800s, American and British societies viewed a woman’s role as strictly private. While a husband’s duty was to provide for the family, thus engaging in public life through employment, a wife’s role—especially that of a middle-class wife—was confined to the home. Women were responsible for managing household affairs and raising their children morally. This confinement to domestic duties prevented women from participating in public life, including voting, holding public office, owning property, or pursuing higher education. Women were treated as second-class citizens.

By 1910, the year “If” was published, women had gradually been granted several rights—thanks to the efforts of middle-class feminists—including, in some cases, the right to own property and pursue higher education. However, by 1910, women still had not secured the right to vote. In Great Britain, a militant suffragist movement led by Emmeline Pankhurst emerged, employing violent tactics such as hunger strikes and smashing department store windows to campaign for women’s voting rights.

World War I (1914–1918) marked a significant turning point in the advancement of women's rights. As the war raged on, gender roles shifted dramatically, with women stepping into roles left vacant by men who had gone to fight. This shift in social dynamics made women a crucial part of the workforce. The war and the essential contributions of women played a key role in breaking down the barriers between women and public life, ultimately leading to the recognition of their right to vote. In 1918, the United Kingdom granted full voting rights to women aged thirty and above.

Iambic Pentameter and Rhyme

Rudyard Kipling's poem “If” is written in iambic pentameter, a familiar form for those who have read Shakespeare, as the bard frequently employed this style. Iambic pentameter consists of lines with five "feet" (units of two syllables), where the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed, much like in the word "because." Each line contains eleven syllables, ending with an additional unstressed syllable.

The poem is organized into four stanzas, each containing eight rhyming lines that follow the pattern abab cdcd. The title “If” is derived from the repeated use of the word “if” at the beginning of the “a” and “c” lines, which each have eleven syllables. The “b” and “d” lines, on the other hand, consist of ten syllables.

Didacticism

The primary purpose of “If” is to instruct a young man on what Kipling views as the virtues of ideal leadership and exemplary manhood. To achieve this instructive goal, the poem employs a “didactic” tone, similar to that of a sermon. The structure of the poem is a list of short pieces of advice of varying lengths, reminiscent of the didactic literature found in the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. This similarity reinforces the poem’s message of righteousness.

Paradox

A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory but reveals a deeper truth. “If” is rich with paradoxes, often advising the reader to embrace two opposing behaviors. For instance, the fourth stanza encourages the ability to “walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch” and to let “all men count with you, but none too much.” The most striking paradox appears in the third stanza, where it calls for the ability to relinquish all possessions and achievements without attachment, while simultaneously having the “Will” to “Hold on!” Kipling uses these extreme pairings to highlight the complexity involved in virtuous behavior and exemplary leadership. The apparent impossibility of embodying both extremes underscores the true challenge of becoming what Kipling calls “a Man”—an exemplary human being.

Colloquialism

The tone of “If” is marked by its use of everyday language and slang, giving it a colloquial (conversational, informal) feel. The opening lines use the common expression “keep your head”; line 16 uses “‘em” instead of “them”; and the poem culminates in the almost crudely simple phrase, “You’ll be a Man.” This choice of diction is fitting for addressing a boy or a young man, the intended audience as indicated in the final line, and aligns with the poem's original publication in a collection of children’s stories. More importantly, this informal language reflects the advice in line 26 to not “lose the common touch.”

1910: Women in the United States and Europe are afforded few rights and are treated as second-class citizens. Specifically, they are prohibited from working outside the home, owning property, receiving higher education, and holding public office or voting. The feminist movement, predominantly backed by middle- and upper-class women, strives for greater equality. Activists like Emmeline Pankhurst even resort to violent tactics, such as property damage and notable hunger strikes, to draw attention to their cause.

Today: Women in the Western world enjoy significantly more freedoms than they did at the beginning of the twentieth century. They can lead lives independent of men, owning property and pursuing careers. Women play substantial roles in public life and politics. While the United States has not yet elected a female president, Great Britain has had a female prime minister, the U.S. has seen several female governors, and some states are represented in the Senate by all-female delegations.

1910: The British Empire stands as the largest and most powerful empire in history. The phrase “The sun never sets on the British Empire” highlights its extensive global influence. This vast empire positions Britain as the preeminent power of the pre–World War I era.

Today: The twentieth century witnesses the decline of the British Empire, a consequence of two devastating world wars and the empire’s diminishing control over its colonies. India, its most valuable colony, gains independence in 1947. Although Britain remains a significant player in global politics today, it has relinquished its dominant status to the United States.

1910: In the years leading up to World War II, poetry is primarily composed with strict adherence to meter and rhyme, as seen in the works of Rudyard Kipling and his contemporaries.

Today: The literary landscape post–World War II undergoes a profound transformation in poetic form, partly in response to the atrocities of modern warfare and influenced by other artistic movements like jazz. Poets move away from rigid meter, embracing free verse, a hallmark of the Beat movement. Advances in technology and computers further allow poets to experiment with language through hypertext.

SOURCES

Carrington, C. E., “If You Can Bring Fresh Eyes to Read These Verses,” in the Kipling Journal, December 1982, pp. 20–27.

Eliot, T. S., “Introduction,” in A Choice of Kipling's Verse, edited by T. S. Eliot, Faber and Faber, 1941.

Embree, Ainslie T., Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1, Columbia University Press, 1988.

Harrison, James, Rudyard Kipling, Twayne, 1982.

Orwell, George, “Rudyard Kipling,” in A Collection of Essays, 1946, reprint, Harcourt Brace, 1981, pp. 116–31.

Parry, Ann, The Poetry of Rudyard Kipling: Rousing the Nation, Open University Press, 1992.

Perkins, David, A History of Modern Poetry: From the 1890s to the High Modernist Mode, Harvard University Press, 1976.

Wilson, Angus, The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling: His Life and Works, Viking Press, 1977.

FURTHER READING

Forster, E. M., A Passage to India, reprint, Harvest Books, 1965.

Originally published in 1924, this novel delves into the experiences of three English newcomers in India. Written during the period of British rule, it examines the cultural tensions between the East and the West. Forster (1879–1970), like Kipling, had a deep interest in India.

Gilmour, David, The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003.

Kipling’s legacy has faced much criticism over the years, but this biography offers a renewed, early-twenty-first-century viewpoint on his life and beliefs.

Mallett, Phillip, Rudyard Kipling: A Literary Life, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Mallett focuses on Kipling’s career as a writer and his personal life.

Yeats, William Butler, The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Vol. 1, The Poems, revised 2nd edition, Scribner, 1996.

Yeats, who won the Nobel Prize in 1923, was a contemporary of Kipling but a very different poet. Although Kipling was more widely read during their lifetimes, Yeats’s poetry is now considered far superior.