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'{{Other uses|If (disambiguation)}} {{stack| {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}} }} {{Infobox poem |name = |image = Kipling If (Doubleday 1910).jpg |image_size = |caption = A [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page & Co.]] edition from 1910 |first = ''[[Rewards and Fairies]]'' |author = [[Rudyard Kipling]] |publication_date = {{Start date and age|1910|paren=yes}} |publisher = [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page & Company]] }} "'''If—'''" is a [[poem]] by [[English people|English]] [[Nobel Laureate in Literature|Nobel laureate]] [[Rudyard Kipling]], written circa 1895<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poems007.com/poem/if.html|title=If by Rudyard Kipling : If, poem by Rudyard Kipling : Poems 007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210080229/http://www.poems007.com/poem/if.html|archive-date=2017-02-10|deadurl=yes|access-date=2018-07-25}}</ref> as a tribute to [[Leander Starr Jameson]]. It is a literary example of [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] [[stoicism]].<ref name="gradesaver">{{cite web|url=http://www.gradesaver.com/rudyard-kipling-poems/study-guide/section2/|title=Rudyard Kipling: Poems Study Guide: Summary and Analysis of "If—"|last=Osborne|first=Kristen|date=28 April 2013|editor-last=McKeever|editor-first=Christine|publisher=GradeSaver|accessdate=29 May 2013}}</ref> The poem, first published in ''[[Rewards and Fairies]]'' (1910), is written in the form of paternal advice to the poet's son, [[John Kipling|John]].<ref name=wansell2009>{{cite web|last=Wansell|first=Geoffrey|title=The remarkable story behind Rudyard Kipling's 'If' – and the swashbuckling renegade who inspired it|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1146109/The-remarkable-story-Rudyard-Kiplings-If--swashbuckling-renegade-inspired-it.html |work=[[Mail Online]] |publisher=Associated Newspapers|date=20 February 2009 |accessdate=29 May 2013}}</ref> ==Publication== "If—" first appeared in the "Brother Square Toes" chapter of the book ''[[Rewards and Fairies]]'', a collection of Kipling's poetry and short-story fiction, published in 1910. In his posthumously published autobiography, ''Something of Myself'' (1937), Kipling said that, in writing the poem, he was inspired by the military actions of [[Leander Starr Jameson]],<ref>Kipling, Rudyard. "Something of Myself." ''Rudyard Kipling: Something of Myself and Other Autobiographical Writings''. Ed. Thomas Pinney. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. 111. Print.</ref> leader of the failed [[Jameson Raid]] against the [[Transvaal Republic]] to overthrow the Boer Government of [[Paul Kruger]]. The failure of that [[mercenary]] ''[[Coup d'état|coup d’état]]'' aggravated the political tensions between Great Britain and the Boers, which led to the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902).<ref>"The New Britannica Encyclopædia", 15th Edition, volume 6, pp. 489–90.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Halsall|first=Paul |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kipling-if.html|title=Rudyard Kipling: If |work=[[Internet History Sourcebooks Project]] |publisher=Fordham University|date=July 1998 |accessdate=6 November 2011}}</ref> ==Text== {{quote| <poem> 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. 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: 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; 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: If you can make a 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 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!" 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; 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! </poem>}} ==Reception== As an evocation of Victorian-era stoicism—the "[[stiff upper lip]]" self-discipline, which popular culture rendered into a British national [[virtue]] and character trait, "If—" remains a cultural touchstone.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spartans and Stoics – Stiff Upper Lip |url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/stiff-upper-lip/biography/spartans-and-stoics-with-stiff-upper-lips |work=ICONS of England |publisher=Culture24 |accessdate=20 February 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212030541/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/stiff-upper-lip/biography/spartans-and-stoics-with-stiff-upper-lips |archivedate=12 December 2009 }}</ref> The British cultural-artefact status of the poem is evidenced by the [[parody|parodies]] of the poem, and by its popularity among Britons.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Emma|title=The Literary Companion|url=https://books.google.com/?id=WELwa9Sds-EC&pg=PA25|year=2004|publisher=Robson|isbn=978-1-86105-798-3|page=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Mike|title=Literature and Tourism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePsxlk3tTOsC&pg=PA61 |page=61 |year=2002|publisher=The Thomson Corporation|isbn=1-84480-074-1}}</ref> [[T. S. Eliot]] included the poem in his 1941 collection ''[[A Choice of Kipling's Verse]]''. In India, a framed copy of the poem was affixed to the wall before the study desk in the cabins of the officer cadets at the [[National Defence Academy]] at [[Pune]], and [[Indian Naval Academy]] at Ezhimala.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mishra|first1=Piyush|last2=(India Interrupted Blog)|first2=Anshuman|title=If - Rudyard Kipling|url=https://mishrapiyush.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/if-an-inspiration/if-by-rudyard-kipling/|website=mishrapiyush.wordpress.com|publisher=Word Press|accessdate=15 December 2015}}</ref> In Britain, the third and fourth lines of the second stanza of the poem: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / and treat those two impostors just the same" are written on the wall of the players' entrance to the [[Centre Court]] at the [[All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club]], where the [[Wimbledon Championships]] are held.<ref name=wansell2009 /> (These same lines appear at the [[West Side Tennis Club]] in [[Forest Hills, Queens|Forest Hills, New York]], where the [[US Open (tennis)|US Open]] was played.)<ref>{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Liz|title=Round One At Forest Hills|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1966/08/29/609062/round-one-at-forest-hills|accessdate=31 December 2017|work=Sports Illustrated|issue=Volume 25, No. 9|publisher=Time Inc.|date=August 29, 1966}}</ref> The first verse is set, in granite setts, into the pavement of the promenade in [[Westward Ho!]] in Devon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prolandscapermagazine.com/sureset-if-by-rudyard-kipling-for-westward-ho/|title=SureSet: "If" by Rudyard Kipling for Westward Ho! - Pro Landscaper - The industry's number 1 news source|author=|date=|website=prolandscapermagazine.com}}</ref> The Indian writer [[Khushwant Singh]] considered the poem "the essence of the message of ''[[Bhagavad Gita|The Gita]]'' in English."<ref>[[Khushwant Singh]], [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211656 Review of ''The Book of Prayer'' by Renuka Narayanan], 2001</ref> ==In popular culture== In 1914 the ''New Zealand School Journal'' published the poem without asking permission following the outbreak of World War I. The [[Department of Education (New Zealand)|Education Department]] wrote to the publishers and offered to pay a "reasonable fee". Kipling, who routinely turned down requests to publish "If—", asked for £50 to settle the matter. The Solicitor-General said that the Crown was not bound by the New Zealand Copyright Act of 1913, and could reprint the whole of Kipling's works if it chose.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/100418822/flashback-wronged-kipling-chases-nz-government-for-50--for-publication-of-poem-in-school-journal |title= Wronged Kipling seeks £50 |publisher= Stuff (Fairfax) |date=13 January 2018}}</ref> There is a classical translation in French by [[André Maurois]], who was an interpreter with the British Army during the First World War. It was published in "Les silences du colonel Bramble" (1921), chap. XIV (Collection Poche, pp.&nbsp;93s.).{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} On 21 September 1938 Czech journal ''[[Přítomnost]]'' published the poem in the place of editorial (as a reaction on the situation before the [[Munich Dictate|Munich dictate]])<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peroutka|first=František|date=September 21, 1938|title=Jestliže …|url=http://www.pritomnost.cz/archiv/cz/1938/1938_21_9.pdf#page=3|journal=Přítomnost|volume=year 15, volume 38|pages=593|via=}}</ref> The cab driver character Alex ([[Judd Hirsch]]) begins the poem and it's finished by the unlikely character Jim ([[Christopher Lloyd]]) in season 2 episode 22 of the television show ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]''. In ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', when "The Photojournalist" played by ''[[Dennis Hopper]]'' meets Capt Willard, played by ''[[Martin Sheen]]'', he spouts a few lines of the first stanza during his drug-fueled, frenzied greeting while trying to relay how much he admires Colonel Kurtz. In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Grandpa Simpson quotes an abbreviated portion in "Old Money" as justification to betting all the winnings of a recent inheritance at [[roulette]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?episode=s02e17|title=The Simpsons s02e17 Episode Script {{!}} SS|website=Springfield! Springfield!|access-date=2016-07-04}}</ref> The fictional character [[Bridget Jones]] was powerfully struck by "If—": "Poem is good. Very good, almost like [[self-help book]]".<ref>H. Fielding, ''Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'' (Picador 2000) p. 308</ref> [[Brand New (band)|Brand New]] adapted part of the second stanza of the poem for the lyrics of their 2006 song "[[Sowing Season]]".{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} The poem was adapted and performed as a song by [[Joni Mitchell]] on her 2007 album ''[[Shine (Joni Mitchell album)|Shine]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=311|title=Joni Mitchell - If - lyrics|website=jonimitchell.com|accessdate=16 October 2017}}</ref> The first lines of the poem are used as a password in the 2015 film ''[[Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation]]''. In 2016, the [[Boston Red Sox]] used the poem in a short video tribute to retiring player [[David Ortiz]], narrated by [[Kevin Spacey]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV1Br4Wc2ho |title=Spacey narrates Kipling's 'If' to honor Ortiz}}</ref> Tennis player [[Serena Williams]] recited a version of the poem for [[International Women’s Day]] 2017, substituting ‘woman’ for ‘man’.<ref>Maine, D’Arcy (March 9, 2017). [http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/the-buzz/article/18853752/serena-williams-recites-rudyard-kipling-poem-international-women-day Serena Williams recites Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If--' for International Women's Day]. [[ESPN.com]]</ref> In July 2018 students of [[Manchester University]] painted over a mural with the poem written on it, and replaced it with ''Still I Rise'' by [[Maya Angelou]], saying that Kipling “dehumanised people of colour”.<ref>Perraudin, Frances (19 July, 2018). [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/19/manchester-university-students-paint-over-rudyard-kipling-mural Manchester University students paint over Rudyard Kipling mural]. [[The Guardian]].</ref> ==See also== * "[[Invictus]]" by William Ernest Henley * "[[Citizenship in a Republic|The Man in the Arena]]" by Theodore Roosevelt * "[[Desiderata]]" by Max Ehrmann * "[[The Gods of the Copybook Headings]]" by Rudyard Kipling * "[[Vitaï Lampada]]" by Henry Newbolt ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{wikisource|If—}} * [[commons:File:If rudyard kipling.ogg|Reading of "If—"]] on Wikimedia Commons * {{librivox book | title=If | author=Rudyard Kipling}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110213052406/http://www.library.dal.ca/DUASC/Digital-Collections/Kipling/Editions Authentic digital editions archive of "If—" ] * [http://www.tarotvignettes.com/images/vignettes/2016/large/130916202800024.jpg Staging of "If—" as a comic strip] {{Rudyard Kipling}} {{DEFAULTSORT:If}} [[Category:Poetry by Rudyard Kipling]] [[Category:1910 poems]] [[Category:Doubleday, Page & Company books]]'