Analysis

Kipling was an English writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, on 30 December 1865. His father was an
artist and teacher.
In 1870, Kipling was taken back to England. In 1882, he returned to India and
worked as a journalist, writing poetry and fiction in his spare time.
His works include "The Jungle Book", "The Seven Seas", "The Day's Work",
"Just So Stories", "Actions and Reactions", and "Limits and Renewals".
In 1926 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, which
only Scott, Meredith, and Hardy had been awarded before him.
“If” is one of the most famous poems by R. Kipling, written in 1895 and
published in 1910 in the book “Rewards and Fairies”. Kipling said that his poem “IF”
was written under the impression of the personality of Leander Jameson, who led a
British Raid against the Boers in 1895.
Kipling represents the image of an ideal person with a strong will, a hardened
character. In each line, the author indicates the virtue or personality trait of the "Man".
The text of the poem is a single statement and contains thirty conditions on the way to
achieving the goal.
The poem is written in an affirming key, with each line the expression increases.
In a certain sense, the poem "if" is an interpretation of God's 10 commandments.
The author uses repetition, which only increases this similarity. In addition, the author
calls for getting rid of deadly sins from the first stanza: “If you can keep your head
when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…” Here the author
means despondency as a deadly sin. He says that you shouldn’t become dispirited
when others go off on you.
Then Kipling says that you should follow your heart, consider others’ opinion,
but not trust it inviolately: “you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make
allowance for their doubting too…” The author mentions the ninth commandment
“don’t bear false witness” and uses an antithesis to compare virtues and vices: “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”. Kipling says that if a person feels the mark of
other people's vices, he should not become similar to them, he should be above all this.
In the last line «And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise» the author uses
assonance to create sonority and melodiousness of the poem, increasing the similarity
with the Church hymn.

The second stanza starts with words “If you can dream - and not make dreams
your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim”, here the author
implies the second commandment “don’t make for yourself an idol in the form of
anything”. The author says that dreams and thoughts should not become the main goal
in life.
Then the author uses personification “Triumph and Disaster” and calls them
“two impostors” to highlight their inconstancy and relativity. Kipling mentions the
Pride, he means that a person shouldn’t fixate on success and also failure.
The second part of the second stanza and the first part of the third stanza have
the similar theme: the author warns that there are people who can use your words to
deceive others, and who can destroy everything you created. But you should find the
strength to accept it as a life experience, to start all over again, to endure all the trials
with dignity.
Further, the author speaks of the will as a human power that can subdue the
body and soul of a person. He uses a zeugma “force your heart, nerve and sinew”:
heart is a soul, nerve and sinew are body.) and also personification “the Will”, “the
Will says” to assign the significance of this human ability.
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!»

Further, the author writes that it is necessary to behave towards people

independently of their status. Kipling distinguishes respect for rank a Vice: If you can
talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common
touch. The author means that it’s too important to be kind to any people.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
Here Kipling says that we should be so strong physically and mentally body that
neither our enemies nor our closest friends can hurt us and deprive us of harmony of
mind.
In the following lines, the author talks about the transience of time and its
importance. He calls it “unforgiving”, because time has no use for being wasted.
Kipling means that it is necessary to fill in every second with meaning, so as not to
regret the lost time. The author uses alliteration “with sixty seconds’ worth of
distance run”, specifically voiceless sound “s” to reduce the expressivity before the
main final point.
In the last two lines, the author concluded the main idea – the result that a
person will achieve if he follows all the rules. Kipling says that we will be able to
conquer the whole world if we become a" man " – a perfect man, perfect in everything
with a strong will, a strong heart and a strong body.
This poem was written by Kipling for his son, he wanted to show him the right
way to be a leader. This poem has inspired people around the world for many years.
Excerpts from it are used as mottos, famous phrases.

I am sure that it is impossible to become an ideal person. But by following these rules,
to my mind, we can get closer to this ideal.