'If-' Rudyard Kipling
- Created by: H_Coveney
- Created on: 10-12-17 11:25
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- 'If-' Rudyard Kipling
- STOICISM ('stiff upper lip' philosophy)
- iambic pentameter - strict structure represents stoic nature.
- every other line is hyper-catalectic.
- the alternating metrical scheme emphasises the importance of the two pairs of lines to show the consequences of the reader's actions.
- every other line is hyper-catalectic.
- 'never breathe a word about your loss' idea of a 'stiff upper lip'
- 1st stanza shows a slight change in the rhyme scheme but is constant throughout the rest of the poem.
- the balanced, fixed form, with 4 octets shows the reader he 'well-balanced' and well rounded in their own lives.
- iambic pentameter - strict structure represents stoic nature.
- DEFEAT
- initially appears to be triumphant.
- 'To lose one's head' is a metaphor for going crazy.
- 'Triumph and Disaster' is personi-fication; both successes and faliures are dangerous. It can be easy to get carried away with the emotions they cause.
- ' If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
- 'twisted' is a metaphor for mis-interpreting one's words in order to deceive or 'trap' others.
- 'Or watch the things you gave your life, to broken'
- 'broken' is a metaphor for things changing and not going quite to plan.
- initially appears to be triumphant.
- POLITICS
- reference to kings, queens and common people.
- If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch.
- juxtaposition of opposites convey that we are all equal.
- A good leader must be able to get along with people from opposite ends of the social spectrum ("Kings" and "crowds").
- The idea of talking with crowds is associated with political speeches.
- Walking with kings suggests passing with social elites.
- If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch.
- 'And yet don't look too good, nor talk to wise'
- The poet Rudyard Kipling introduces the political theme, implying that too much of anything is not good.
- reference to kings, queens and common people.
- MEN AND MASCULNITY
- he had an imperialist attitude which may in this time be seen as sexist but at the time when Kipling wrote it, gender roles were much more. segregated.
- 'you'll be a Man, my son!'
- perhaps directs it to a child not an adult as it is harder to change and adults ways and they're already making mistakes.
- extended tension released in the last line as we realise who he is writing to.
- don't know that he is talking about a man until the end of the poem.
- 'you'll be a Man, my son!'
- he had an imperialist attitude which may in this time be seen as sexist but at the time when Kipling wrote it, gender roles were much more. segregated.
- STOICISM ('stiff upper lip' philosophy)
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