“If—” Summary

“If—” Themes

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  Composure and Self-Restraint

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  Manhood and Masculinity

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “If—”

• Lines 1-4

  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:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  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;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  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:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  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;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  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:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  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!”

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
      Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
  If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
      If all men count with you, but none too much:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-32

  If you can fill the unforgiving minute
      With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
  Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
      And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

  

  

  

  

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“If—” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Polyptoton

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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“If—” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Allowance
• Talk Too Wise
• Aim
• Triumph
• Impostors
• Knaves
• Heap
• Pitch-and-Toss
• Sinew
• Virtue
• The Common Touch
• Foes

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “If—”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“If—” Speaker

“If—” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “If—”

More “If—” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Reading of the Poem — Hear a reading of "If—."

  • The Author's Life — Read more about Rudyard Kipling in this brief overview of his life and work.

  • Stoicism — For more information about the Stoic philosophy that informs this poem, check out this entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

  • The Stiff Upper Lip — "If—" is often associated with the stereotypical British "stiff upper lip"; read more about that expression and what it means here.

  • Kipling's Influence — Read an interesting essay about Kipling's influence in the United States and, more broadly, the lasting popularity of "If—."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Rudyard Kipling

  • The Sea and the Hills

  • The White Man's Burden