IN A NUTSHELL

South Africa, December 29, 1895: a group of British mercenaries enters a

Boer-controlled and administered territory known as the Transvaal Republic.
"Boer" was the name given to the descendants of South Africa's early Dutch
settlers, but the mercenaries were attempting to take control of Johannesburg
for Great Britain. Through a series of mishaps (the invaders failed to cut all the
appropriate telegraph lines, for example, and the Boer government was thus
able to halt their advance), the invasion ultimately stalled.
The raid was led by one Sir Leander Starr Jameson, and has thus become
known as the Jameson Raid. While initially only a small blip on the radar, the
raid ultimately had a number of profound effects on the later history of South
Africa (which was not yet a unified nation in 1895). The whole deal was part of
an unauthorized British plan to gain control over the Transvaal and its recently
discovered gold and diamond deposits.
The basic plan had been this: foreigners living in Johannesburg (called
"Uitlanders") would be encouraged to revolt against unfair Boer government
practices. Thenpoof, the invaders would enter, quell the uprising, take
control of the city and thus the nearby gold mines. It was an elaborate plan, to
be sure, and one that depended on everybody doing their part (the Uitlanders
revolting, Jameson's crew cutting the right telegraph lines, etc.). Clearly, things
went well, awry.
And two things happened as a result of the Jameson Raid. (Well, lots of things
happened, but there are two big ones that we need to talk about.) First, things
only got worse between the British and the Boers in South Africa. In fact,
things got so bad that the two groups decided to duke it out on the battlefield
in a conflict that has become known as the Second Boer War (1899-1902). At
the end of the war, nearly 100,000 people died, both on the battlefield and
in British concentration camps. The Brits got the lands they wanted, though,
and ultimately incorporated them into the Empire.
The other important consequence of the Jameson Raid was Rudyard Kipling's
poem "If." While Kipling is best known these days for the Jungle Book (1894),
he wrote lots of poems, stories, and even a novelall works that are not as
widely read as they once were. (And, yes, this is the same Jungle Book that was
the basis for the Disney movie. You can read what we have to say about one of
the stories in Kipling's famous short story collection here.)
Kipling was inspired by Jameson's leadership and bravado. While written
shortly after the raid in 1896, Kipling didn't publish the poem until 1910,
when it appeared in a collection of short stories and poems called Rewards and
Fairies. The poem is often described as a near perfect description of Victorian
Stoicism, or the stiff upper lip, philosophical outlook and attitude that

champions strength and endurance even in times of immense struggle.

"Unblinking fortitude even in the face of adversity and hardship," as the BBC
describes it.
If anything is definitively British, it is this outlook, this stiff upper lip. It is for
this reason that, ever since its publication, the poem has been very dear to the
British people. Lines from the poem show up all over the place, such as in the
tunnel entrance to center court at the All England Club (where Wimbledon
tennis tournament is held every year). You can read more about the Victorian
period here and still more about Kipling's poem here.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
In the 2000 hit movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix encounter
each other in a computer-generated version of the Roman Coliseum. Maximus
(Crowe), a general-turned-gladiator, finds himself taunted by the Emperor
Commodus (Phoenix), who tries to enrage him with details about how his son
and wife were killed at Commodus's orders. Maximus, who must be seething
with anger, maintains composure. The only visible signs of his pain are a brief
swallow and, maybe, a choked back tear.
Most people would have lashed out at the evil Commodus and attempted to
dispatch him immediately. Maximus has been deceived, betrayed, enslaved,
forced to fightin short, he's lost everything, largely at the hands of
Commodus. He's a general, however, and knows better. He remains strong,
waiting for the time when he will rise again. He is, in short, the definition of
stoicism.
Stoic? Yes, "stoic": an adjective that means enduring pain, hardship,
misfortune, but not showing any emotion. The word is used loosely nowadays,
but it used to refer to a very specific school of philosophy, pioneered by one
Zeno of Citium. You can read more about the movement right here.
It is a word that is often used to describe people like Maximus, who manage to
be strong (or appear that way) despite staring misfortune right in the face.
Somebody could have recited Rudyard Kipling's "If" at some point in Gladiator,
and it would have fit in just perfectly.
This is because "If" is a poem about stoicism, about being strong in the face of
pain, sadness, bad luck, hard times, etc. and continuing to move forward
without throwing a fit or acting up. It is about being patient, about finding a
happy medium between extremes of emotion. The speaker of Kipling's poem, for
example, talks about losing everything but starting over without crying about
it, about watching other people lie and hate and choosing to not stoop to their
level, about not letting friends or enemies hurt you, and many other things.

To put it simply, "If" is a kind of primer, 32 lines of advice about how to be stoic.
In fact, you could say it's a poem about how to become a gladiator in the
coliseum of life.

ANALYSIS: SETTING
Well, we don't get a lot in the way of setting in this poem. There are suggestions
here and there (references to a gambling game, descriptions of interacting with
common people and kings), but overall this poem doesn't really describe
really any specific places.
Nonetheless, there are two places that, although not technically in the poem,
are nevertheless a really big part of its identity. If you imagine a giant pot of
soup cooking on the stove, the poem itself would be the soup, but the
ingredients that gave the soup flavor would be the poem's historical
background. To put it another way, there are two major settings that influenced
the poem "If." You can't cook soup without a few ingredients, right?
The first bit of background would be late nineteenth-century South Africa. If
you've read our "In a Nutshell" section, you know this poem was inspired by the
exploits of a dude named Sir Leander Starr Jameson, who led a failed invasion
into an area of South Africa called the Transvaal. The Jameson raid was part of
an unauthorized attempt to gain control of the Transvaal, and its recently
discovered gold and diamond deposits. At the time, South Africa wasn't South
Africa. It was a collection of colonies and territoriessome British, others run
by the descendants of the original Dutch settlers (called "Boers"), such as the
Transvaal. (Check out a map of 1895 South Africa right here.)
The British really wanted control of the whole area, especially some of the Boercontrolled areas. For their part, the Boers were fed up with British intervention
and began moving away from the British, only to see the British come after
them. The 1890s in South Africa, then, was a time of conflict, yet another
battleground between European powers that was nowhere near European soil.
The British and the Boers would eventually fight a few wars, the second of

which, called the Second Boer War, ultimately resulted in the British
annexation of most of the area.
"If" also very much belongs to the late Victorian period, an era known for its
relative uptightness and conservatism. If you take a look at this site, you can
get an idea of what we mean by that. Read more about the Victorian
period here and more about Queen Victoria herself right here.
The Victorian period was also the great age of British Imperialism. And by
great, we do mean great. By 1900, Great Britain controlled nearly a quarter of
the world's land, and governed almost 400 million people (some more strictly
than others). Australia, New Zealand, large chunks of Asia (primarily India and
Pakistan), and even larger chunks of Africa (Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan,
Kenya, Malawi, and others)not to mention Canadawere all part of the
Empire.
The British saw themselves as partaking in a civilizing mission on the one
hand (non-Europeans were less evolved, and couldn't govern themselves, the
theory went), but also as improving their own country. British expansion gave
the country greater accesses to resources unavailable back home (tea and
sugar, for example) and opened up other opportunities (such as trade routes).
While we could go on for days about the British Empire, for now you can read
more about it here if you like.
So, while the actual setting of Kipling's poem is not well-defined for us, the
historical and cultural settings in which "If" appeared are pretty clear: Britain
was branching out all over the world, and it took a certain kind of personality
to lead that charge. What kind, you might ask? Well, look no further than the
instructions provided by the poem itself.

ANALYSIS: SPEAKER
If one thing is for certain, it is that the speaker of this poem loves the word "If."
He loves it so much he uses it 13 times. In a poem that's only 32 lines, that's
nearly every two lines. Now the speaker doesn't use this word a million times
because he has some kind of problem or anything like thatfar from it. By the
end of the poem, we learn that the speaker is talking to his son and the poem

is partly instructional. The speaker, then, is not just a father, but a father who
is putting his parent-as-teacher cap on for all to see.
Lots of parents, when they're in teacher mode, have this way of appearing very
wise, and the speaker of "If" is no exception. The very fact that he is able to list
off all the different things his son must do if he wants to become a man tells us
that he has been around the block a few times and is familiar with just about
every roadblock his young child will have to negotiate in his journey through
life.
Now, even though the speaker definitely resembles your incredibly smart father,
or your very wise grandpa, he also comes across like a sage counselor of sorts,
the quiet guy in the corner that is usually reserved, but every once in a while
decides to speak just to show that he knows more than all the blabbermouths
in the room. Just think of a guy like Maester Aemon from Game of Thrones and
you'll have an idea of what we mean.
Again, we get this vibe from the speaker because, well, he gives such detailed
explanations about every possible little situation. We can't help feeling that the
speaker doesn't just know about stuff, but has seen so much of it that he
knows exactly how things will play out: truths will be twisted by knaves to
make traps for fools, men will lie like crazy to get ahead, the things one has
spent one's whole life building will collapse you get the idea. In short, this
guy has seen it all, and lived to tell the tale.
ANALYSIS: TITLE

"If": a simple, two-letter title, and one that does and does not tell us a
whole lot about the poem. When we come across this simple little title,
our immediate reaction is naturally, "If what?" This is because "if" is one
of those words that really needs a friend, some other words to go with it.
If you just walk into a room and go "if," people might look at you like
you're from Mars (or Jupiter, or even Pluto). Right off the bat, then, the
poem's title puzzles us. It is enigmatic, to say the least. (Note: this does
not mean Kipling is from Mars.)

Here's the other thing about the word "if." It usually describes something
that isn't real, or isn't real yet. It points to something could potentially
happen, or potentially exist. Think of it like this: if somebody says to you
"if you go to the store, you can buy soda," they are saying "hey, you
haven't gone to the store, and you might not go to the store, but if you do

go, then you can get some soda." So, the word "if" usually describes
something that doesn't yet exist (you haven't gone to the store yet), but
also implies that some other things will happen: you will be able to get
soda once you're there. (We're going somewhere with all thisjust bear
with us.)

This is the basic idea of Kipling's poem. It is 32 lines of things that the
speaker's listener hasn't done yet (learned to be strong, patient, wise,
etc.).If he does them, but only if, then he will basically have possession of
the entire world (a metaphor for power, a fulfilling life, and other things).
What's more, the listener will be a man. In short, the title tells us that
"If" is a poem about how certain things must be done. Only if those
things are done, will certain other things happen.

And here's one more little thing to consider: We never find out what will
happen if the speaker's addressee does everything he's supposed to,
unless we read to the end of the poem. In other words, only if we read all
32 lines do we learn what will happen if the listener does everything he's
supposed to do. Like the poem's addressee, we too have to do our part if
we want answers.

IF THEMES
IF THEME OF PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWPOINTS: STOICISM
You could summarize this poem in one word by just saying "stoicism." That's
sto-i-ciz-um. Stoicism was originally a philosophical movement that taught that
true sages did not experience emotions like fear and anger, that the truly wise
man would be impervious to misfortune. "If" is a poem all about this
philosophy. The speaker tells his listener not to tell anybody when he loses all
his money, not to give in to hate, not to allow his friends or enemies to hurt
him, and so on. It is a poem that essentially says that it is only by being stoic
(by having a "stiff upper lip") that a boy can become a man, and that a man can
master the universe. Okay, so the poem is a little rigid, and maybe a little
unrealistic at times, but the basic premisethat success is based on one's
ability to master negative emotions and to maintain balance in one's liferings
only too true.

Questions About Philosophical Viewpoints: Stoicism

1. Is there anything cold about this poem's outlook and/or advice? Why
might this attitude be in the poem?
2. Why do you think the word "stoicism" is never directly mentioned in this
poem?
3. Does the speaker lose anything (personality-wise) by being so stoic? If so,
what?
4. What is the effect of the poem's form on the theme of stoicism anyway?
Are the rhymes, meter, etc. in any way "stoic"? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
You got this. Stoicism is about being in complete controlof one's emotions, of
one's feelings, and of just about anything else that might distract us from the
tasks at hand.
Sheesh, stoicism is a difficult philosophy to adhere to. It is almost inhuman to
expect people to not experience negative emotions when they lose things or
when they're defeated.
IF THEME OF MEN AND MASCULINITY
Have you ever the heard the term "boy's club"? Yeah, well, this is a boy's poem.
No women are in hereanywhere. Not a single one. This is a poem about
manhood, about how to become and act like a "man." It is clearly spoken by a
father (or father figure) to his son, and it celebrates typically masculine virtues
(strength, for example). In this day and age, that might seem odd. Women can
be strong, too, that's for sure. In Kipling's day, however, gender roles were, well,
a little more segregated let's just say. While the poem does offer some good
advice, it is kind of a problem that the advice really only applies to the fellas.
Questions About Men and Masculinity
1. Is it possible that this poem could be for women too and that Kipling just
said "son" because, say, he happened to have a son?
2. Does this poem's macho-madness make it irrelevant for modern readers?
Or are these ideas of what it takes to be a "man" still floating around
today? Why do you think so?
3. Is there anything "manly" about this poem's form? Why or why not?
4. What parts of this poem might apply to women today? Why do you think
so?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

Something just isn't right about this poem. Whatever ideas it expresses are
cheapened by the fact that they are limited to only men.
It's sad, but to be manly is to be unemotional. The speaker tells his listener
that, to conquer the world and to be a man, he has to be able to "watch"
crummy things happen and simply fix them, without "breathing" a word about
it.
IF THEME OF DEFEAT
This poem isn't just how about how to be a stoic, about how to handle
misfortune. It is also about misfortune itself, about defeat. Just think about all
the different kinds of loss mentioned in this poem: money, the things one has
dedicated one's life to, one's character. Defeat, lossthese are part of life, and
there's simply no getting around that. The poem makes that very clear. The
speaker, for example, doesn't bewail misfortune, or spout lines about how
unfair life is, but rather makes us understand that this is just the way things
are.
Questions About Defeat
1. Do we get any explanation in the poem for why defeat is such a pervasive
part of life?
2. How do you think the poem's form (its rhyme, meter, and structure)
relates to the themes of defeat and loss? Do they reinforce them?
Undermine them? How?
3. If defeat is so common in life, what is with all the references to success
(rebuilding things that are broken, for example)?
4. It's interesting that this poem was inspired by a defeat (the failed
Jameson Raid). Is it odd that this poem is so triumphant, even though
Kipling wrote it in response to a botched invasion? Or is defeat necessary
for this kind of poem? Why do you think so?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
This poem really stresses the importance of not having a defeatist attitude. In
fact, a defeatist attitude is the quickest way to not get possession of the earth
and everything in it. So, turn that frown upside down, future world dominator
dude.
Defeats don't have to be permanent. If this poem says one thing, it says that
defeat can be overcome, that losses can be turned back into wins.
IF THEME OF POLITICS

In a poem that was inspired by a major political event (the Jameson Raid, an
attempt to colonize South Africa further) you'd think there would be more
politics in there. Despite the fact that there isn't a lot of obvious political
business going on, however, this really is a political poemjust think of that
reference to kings, crowds, and common people, or the whole business about
taking control of the earth. Whether it seems to be or not, "If" is a poem about
all kinds of different political issues (leadership, control of land, gender roles,
etc.).
Questions About Politics
1. Okay, so why do you think Kipling left out any specific references to the
Jameson Raid, in this poem?
2. Are there any lessons to be learned from this poem that could apply to
modern politics? How?
3. How useful is the advice here to, say, the President of the United States?
Would you want that person to follow the speaker's lead? Why or why
not?
4. Does this seem like a politically correct poem to you? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
Politics is all about striking out a middle course, being able to talk to kings and
commoners and remaining immune to harm from one's friends and enemies.
This stuff is terrible advice for a politician. After all, their first job should be to
communicate with their people, not bottle everything up inside in order to
portray some invented ideal of how to act.
Bring on the tough stuff - theres not just one right answer.
1. What do you think of this poem's ideas? Are they relevant to the
contemporary world, to being a student? Why or why not?
2. Does it bug you that we have to wait until the very end of the poem to
find out what happens if the listener does everything the speaker
advises? What is the effect of this delayed gratification?
3. The speaker is addressing his son, but does this poem really resemble a
father-son chat? If not, why not?
4. Why do you think there is no mention of women anywhere in this poem?
Was this poem meant only for boys?
5. "If" is one of the most famous poems ever. The British absolutely,
1,000,000% adore it. Why do you think this is so?

6. "If" is often discussed alongside another famous poem, William Ernest

Henley's "Invictus". What do the poems have in common? How are they
different? Which do you like better?