If—

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1910

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“If—” consists of four stanzas of eight lines or octaves. These stanzas form one long sentence (or conditional clause). The poem uses iambic pentameter, with five feet consisting of an unstressed and then a stressed syllable, to create a syntax that combines oratorical and conversational language.

A typical two-line unit in “If—” scans like this (stressed syllables in bold):

If you | can keep | your head | when all | about you

Are los | ing theirs | and blam | ing it | on you (Lines 1-2).

The stanzas’ rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, except for the first stanza, which scans as AAAABCBC.

Kipling’s meter is in keeping with traditional English poetry and verse drama, which uses iambic pentameter, the most common meter in English poetry such as in the work of Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare.

Masculine and Feminine Rhymes

Poets create masculine rhymes by utilizing stressed single syllables at the end of words. A feminine rhyme matches two or more syllables, with the last syllable being unstressed:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, [feminine]

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, [masculine]

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, [feminine]

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise [masculine] (Lines 5-8).

The poem alternates masculine and feminine rhymes to stress the importance of pairs. “If—” is about consequences: The completion of x will bring about y. This is Kipling’s way of making the rhyme and meter of the poem mimic the meaning of the poem. The use of pairs also stresses the importance of balance.

The Title

The use of the em dash (or em rule in Kipling’s British) in the title suggests that the protasis (the clause expressing the condition in a conditional sentence) “if” will be followed by an apodosis (the clause expressing the condition in a conditional sentence). In this poem, 13 protases culminate in the apodosis: “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, / And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!” (Lines 31-32).

Repetition and Anaphora

Repetition is an important device for understanding meaning. Repetition utilizes rhythm to create patterns. This applies to all rhetorical situations including speeches, in which repetition bolsters the persuasive element at play. The repetition of the word “if” is most obvious and deliberate use of repetition in Kipling’s poem.

When poets successively repeat words or phrases at the beginning of clauses, they are using anaphora. As mentioned above, the word “if” expresses the condition at the beginning of each conditional clause throughout the poem and is therefore an example of anaphora.

Caesura

Caesura takes place when a pause that utilizes either punctuation or meter interrupts the line: “If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; / If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim” (Lines 9-10). These lines, for instance, use an em dash to create a pause. Like repetition and anaphora, the use of caesura adds to the mantra-like feeling of the poem that lends itself to motivational and inspirational tropes.

Enjambment

Another device used in Kipling’s “If—” is enjambment. Enjambment takes place when a sentence or phrase ends before a natural stopping point. Enjambment occurs in every stanza of the poem. For example: “If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you” (Lines 1-2). The idea of detachment, evoked with the use of enjambment, is a fundamental stoic idea and is essential to the poem. The stoic should not be deceived into believing that either triumph or disaster is decisive.