RUDYARD KIPLING’S

“IF”

BA 2nd YEAR english

(Compulsory)
ENG CE201
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RUDYARD KIPLING(1865-1936)
• Born in Bombay, India, but gained most of his education in England
• Returned to India to work for a newspaper as a journalist
• Became chiefly known for his short stories
• Achieved fame quickly
• Kipling married Caroline Starr Balestier
• Very popular with common readers“
• Prophet of British imperialism.
• "Nobel Prize in Literature
 FIRST STANZA
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:
• STAY FOCUSED, POISED, USE SELF CONTROL EVEN IF OTHERS AROUND YOU SEEM TO BE LOSING IT
• TRUST YOUR INTUITIONS BUT DON'T IGNORE OTHERS

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;
• HAVE PATIENCE AND RISE ABOVE RUMOURS AND LIES
• DON'T LET HATE GET TO YOU
• RISE ABOVE BUT STAY HUMBLE
SECOND STANZA
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 impostors just the same:

• DREAMS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT MAKE SURE NOT TO LOSE SIGHT OF REALITY
DON'T BE CHANGED BY VICTORY OR FAILURE, THEY AREN'T ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM
YOUR WORDS MAY BE TWISTED, BUT STRENGTH LIE IN GETTING PAST THE TRAPS

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 worn-out tools;
• DON'T BE DISHEARTENED BY UNEXPECTED FAILURE, JUST STAND TALL AND FIX WHAT YOU CAN
THIRD STANZA
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 breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
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!"

• DON'T BE TOO CAREFUL EITHER,

• TAKE CHANCES IF YOU DON'T SUCCEED,
• TRY AGAIN WITHOUT BEING DISCOURAGED OR FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF
• DON'T GIVE UP, PUSH THROUGH DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES YOU MAY FACE
RECAP
• Speaker?
A father addressing his son
• Subject?
Being the best person you can be
• Tone?
Informative and didactic
• Mood?
Philosophic and reflective
LITERART DEVICES AND TECHNIQUES
• Repetition: "If" is repeated to illustrate each action that should or
should not be done to achieve manhood in the speaker's eyes
• Paradox: throughout the poem, Kipling combines seemingly
contradicting ideas which ultimately balance each other and express a
truth(1st stanza, lines 3 & 4)
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too
THEME
• The theme of the poem is manhood and leadership.
• The poem offers a lesson in the characteristics necessary to excel as a
model of integrity and leadership.
THANK YOU!