by Luis Larroney

Created on: October 22, 2007   Last Updated: November 05, 2007

There are many themes which find themselves cropping up in poetry throughout the history of the art. The most obvious, love, is the subject of the vast majority of poetical works. Another common theme is that of Rudyard Kipling's 'If' - dignity. Kipling was arguably considered a dignified man; a "prophet of British imperialism", as Orwell put it. It is therefore of no surprise that 'If' came to be his most profound and best-loved poem.

Other of his poems dealt with the rather darker nature of man; 'Cells', for instance, in which the protagonist remarks upon his violence that "as soon as I'm with a mate and gin, I know I'll do it again!" Indeed, his writings manifested various 'kinds' of personality, in a fashion rather ahead of his time. From the "soldier what's fit for a soldier" in 'The Young British Soldier' to the dark, sombre tones of 'A Lover's Litany'. He even - in 'We Are Very Slightly Changed' - writes about the evolution of humankind, describing along the way the very humorously vague differences between ape and modern man - jotting in a kind of sarcastic drawl, pointing out the ridiculousness of our own fastidious, arrogant opinions of ourselves as the most intelligent beings on the planet.

But then we get to 'If', that jewel of perfect meter. Each line bounces along irresistibly, and reading it aloud brings a lump to one's throat every time. No assumptions are made in the poem, and this in part lends towards the dignity of the poem in itself. Every line - as the title suggests - beings with "If you-", allowing for the ordinary mistakes of ordinary people. Whereupon, Kipling suddenly startles you with his literary flair: "If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you". As the reader comes to the end of each couplet, s/he secretly wishes to be exactly as Rudyard Kipling describes. This surely is proof enough that it is a relevant description of what makes a dignified human being.

The reader gets the feeling in this poem that they are being spoken to by their father, primarily form the last two lines: "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,/And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!" This humbling climax merely adds to the sense of dignified ease in the poem, and leaves the reader in awe of the possibilities of the otherwise-dwindling human spirit.

'If', then, is a representation of various things: Rudyard Kipling's own humble notion of dignity, the beauty of acts of kindness and nobility, and the remarkable potential of the human race.

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