An Explication of the poem "If" written by: Alan Ware Tuesday,
November 2, 1999 English II (H) 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 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 breath 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! Rudyard Kipling’s life, style, and writing are very interesting and
it’ll be remembered for a long period of time, much longer into the 20th
century. On December 30, 1865, Rudyard Joseph Kipling was born in Bombay, India.
Kipling wrote 19th century in his short stories, novels, and poems. He used
little symbolism in his work. Kipling wrote adventure and with a didactic mind,
which showed in his works. "The survival of the fittest" was in
Kipling’s vision of impearilism and British Life, and in his eyes, the love of
animals was the law of the jungle. He mostly wrote on a defensive side. In 1936,
Kipling’s poor health was reported throughout the whole world foreshadowing
his death. Kipling died from a fatal hemmorrhage two days after King George. His
ashes were buried in poets’ Corner in West Minister Abbey. Rudyard Kipling was
overall an outstanding figure in the 19th centrury. Even though his style has
"dropped out of modern literature" his stories and novels are still
heard today. In the poem "If" there are thirty-two lines or verses,
and four stanzas. The metrical pattern alternates from trochaic pentameter to
iambic pentameter from one line to the other. The rhyme sceme is ABAB except for
the first four lines which all rhyme. Examples of sound devices include
aliteration. There is aliteration in line six, "Or being lied about,
don’t deal in lies", line eight, "And yet don’t look too good, nor
talk too wise", and line twelve "And treat those two imposters just
the same." Other signs of aliteraion are found in lines fourteen, eighteen,
twenty-four, twenty-six, thirty, and in line thirty-two. Another example of a
sound device is assonance. Assonance can be found in line one, "If you can
keep your head when all about you", line sixteen, "And stoop and build
‘em up with worn-out tools", and line eighteen, "And risk it on one
turn of pitch- and-toss". Other signs of assonance is seen in lines twelve,
thirteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-seven, and twenty-three. There is no
onomatopoeia in the poem "If". There is few signs of literal language.
In line nine it says, "If you can dream—and not make dreams your
master," there is a sense of being in a dream world. In line thirteeen,
"Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build
‘em up with worn-out tools," a picture of someone working with old tools
runs through the mind. In line twenty-five, "If you can talk with crowds
and keep your virtue," this line lets the reader imagine talking to a group
of people. In line thirty, "With sixty seconds’ worth of distance
run," the reader imagines running down a track. In the poem "If"
figurative language is shown rarely. In line eleven, "If you can meet with
Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same," there is
personification. In line twenty-four, "Except the Will which says to them:
"Hold on!" In his poem, Rudyard Kipling tries to set forth his ideas
of what a real man should be like. He states many morals and advice that people
can use in there everyday life. He tells the reader how not to let the reader
let the real world bring you down, and not to be self-conceited with yourself
our thoughts. The poem can apply not only to men but also to women and the
entire world. His thoughts and morals can always be found in any of the poems he
writes.