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Rudyard Kipling
About Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a noted British writer of prose and verse. Born in Mumbai India, he went to England at the age of five for Education. Among his well-known works are Barrack-Room Ballads, Reward of Fairies as well as popular collection of short stories called The Jungle Book. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are loosing 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 one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginning
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!
Available Answers
- 1.
Kipling has given us invaluable rules to live by: Complete the following list with rules that you think are the most important.
- Trust yourself even if other people doubt you.
- ____________________________________.
- ____________________________________.
- ____________________________________.
- ____________________________________.
- 2.
Read these lines and answer the questions that follow:
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;- What does the speaker wish to convey by the expression keep your head?
- How would a person make allowance for others for doubting him?
- 3.
Read these lines and answer the questions that follow:
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;- What is it that is to be risked?
- Explain the phrase on one turn of pitch-and-toss.
- Why does the speaker say we must mot talk about our losses?
- 4.
Read these lines and answer the questions that follow:
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!- Why does the speaker call the minute unforgiving?
- How does the speaker propose to fill the unforgiving minute?
- Explain the significance of the last line of the poem.
- 5.
Would you recommend this poem to someone who has not read it? Give reasons for your answer.
- 6.
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;- Which virtue is the poet referring to in the first line? How is this virtue important?
- Which human weaknesses is the poet referring to in the second and third lines?
- What does the poet mean by the last line?
1 more answer(s) available.