Daily Kipling Poem XII.

[The Beatles]

I feel compelled to say a few words about the below poem. Many readers consider it to be both racist and imperialist. I have to disagree with what they say, because it's a pity he's so misunderstood.
First of all you simply must look at the context of the poem -- i.e. when he wrote it. The climate during that time was often both imperialist and racist, and although several wise people were beginning to combat the prevailing thought, most writing during that time was tinged with it, consciously or subconsciously.
The most important thing, however, is the poem itself. First of all, why 'White', so glaringly in the title? The answer is simply that at that time White equalled Western Civilization, or as far as most people were concerned, Civilization. Large parts of Asia were being colonized, and the independent non-white nations were simply not major players. Society was comprised prominently of white people in Britain (Kipling's country). In other words, when Kipling means 'White Man', it is simply a shorter way of saying 'Civilization'. This is not because other nations -- such as India, which Kipling was born in and loved -- were uncivilized, but that white people had brought the civilization that came to be dominant. This isn't to say Western civilization is superior to other forms of civilization, just that it became the most predominant, and often embraced by other civilizations in terms of technological advantage.
I think I have established fairly well that the poem isn't meant to be racist, now what about imperialism? If you read it, you cannot find a single passage where it encourages conquest for profit or other reasons. In fact: "The roads ye shall not tread / Go, make them with your living / And mark them with your dead." The motive shouldn't be conquest, but spreading "progress" to others.
Why do I put progress in quotes? Why should Western civilization impose itself on other civilizations? This question is indeed crux of the matter. It is up to you to accept or reject the premise, and thus the poem, but do so in a fair light. It is often popular to deride civilization for the sake of derision. However, there might in some instances be a tangible benefit to the spread of Western civilization. "...the proportion of male deaths caused by war in primitive cultures dwarfs that of the United States and Europe even in the bloodiest of all centuries, the 20th. It is civilized man who reduces the number of war deaths, not primitives...". This is just a pointer to one tangible benefit, but there might be others, and there might be disadvantages. I am obviously not comparing the advanced pre-Western civilizations that developed in many Asian countries to "primitives", don't take me wrong. In the end, it is up to you to reject or accept the poem based on this premise, but I hope that I have put the poem into a more fair light than most modern reviews do.



The White Man's Burden

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward--
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.

Take up the White Man's burden!
Have done with childish days--
The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.


--Rudyard Kipling, 1899

[windhound]

'read that one 12th grade.. went along with Heart Of Darkness by.. Joseph Conrad (?)..
English teacher made us read this massive pile of poems and prose and such written in that time period and/or about that time period.. Apocolispe Now was optional watching..

"The savage wars of peace--"
I find that a rather ironic line..

interresting.. yep..