The White Mans Burden

Rudyard Kipling
1899

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden-Send forth the best ye breed-Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild-Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden-In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden-The savage wars of peace-Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden-No iron rule of kings,

But toil of serf and sweeper-The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden,

And reap his old reward-The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard-The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:-"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden-Ye dare not stoop to less-Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.

The White Mans Burden

By Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden!

Have done with childish days-The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.

Interpretations
A straightforward analysis of the poem may conclude that
Kipling presents a Eurocentric view of the world, in which nonEuropean cultures are seen as childlike and demonic. This view
proposes that white people consequently have an obligation to
rule over, and encourage the cultural development of, people
from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they can take
their place in the world by fully adopting Western ways. The
term "the white man's burden" can be interpreted simply as
racist, or taken as a metaphor for a condescending view of nonWestern national culture and economic traditions, identified as
a sense of European ascendancy which has been called "cultural
imperialism". A parallel can also be drawn with the philanthropic
view, common in Kipling's formative years, that the rich have a
moral duty and obligation to help the poor "better" themselves
whether the poor want the help or not.

Interpretations
Within a historical context, the poem makes clear the
prevalent attitudes that allowed colonialism to proceed.
Although a belief in the "virtues of empire" was wide-spread at
the time, there were also many dissenters; the publication of
the poem caused a flurry of arguments from both sides, most
notably from Mark Twain and Henry James. Much of Kipling's
other writing does suggest that he genuinely believed in the
"beneficent role" which the introduction of Western ideas
could play in lifting non-Western peoples out of "poverty and
ignorance." Lines 3-5, and other parts of the poem suggest that
it is not just the native people who are enslaved, but also the
"functionaries of empire," who are caught in colonial service.
This theme may also be contrasted with the Christian
missionary movement, which was also quite active at the time in
Africa, India, and other British and European colonies (e.g. the
Christian and Missionary Alliance).

Interpretations
Some commentators point to Kipling's
history of satirical writing, and
suggest that "The White Man's
Burden" is in fact meant to satirically
undermine imperialism.