If/Kipling Flashcards
(12 cards)
‘If’
The anaphora/listing of ‘If’ shows that our conducts have consequences. . It forms a repeated refrain throughout the poem.
keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you
The informality of the idiom ‘keep your head’ adds intimacy and immediacy of tone. ‘
You’ is second person which shows the message from father to son but it could be an universal message of how to be a good person
Juxtaposition: “keep…losing” – exaggerates the difference between staying calm and panicking
Emotive language/ direct address: “blaming… you ” – the poet creates the most difficult scenario in which to stay calm. He wants readers to stand out and avoid being swept up in panic and instead be a leader and a role model that could help calm others.
meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same
Capital letter / personification: “triumph and disaster… imposters” – presents both as forces that want deceive people into either becoming too excited by successes and upset about failures. Kipling suggests they are both opportunities to learn and improve.
stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools
Emotive language / metaphor: “stoop” – be prepared to lower your status, be humble.
Metaphor: “build” – the hard work of restoring your life brick by brick.
Metaphor: “worn-out tools” – symbolises that not having the right resources or difficulties should not stop you.
force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn
Triplet of Metaphors: “heart… nerve…sinew” – imply to be brave (heart), calm (nerve) and mentally strong (sinew).
Personification: “To serve your turn” – take control and become the master of these emotions and qualities especially when the body has physically given up.
Fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run
Personification: “Unforgiving” – presents time and experiences in life as a punishing force that individuals must overcome.
Symbolism: “minute… sixty seconds”- man made units of time that represent a specific moment in a person’s life. Rather than panic and let the gruelling experience flash by and overwhelm them, the poet suggests readers give full focus and effort in every ‘second.’
Metaphor: “Distance run” – as opposed to frantic sprinting -readers should give maximum effort in a controlled and carefully though out way not a mad dash.
Fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run
Personification: “Unforgiving” – presents time and experiences in life as a punishing force that individuals must overcome.
Symbolism: “minute… sixty seconds”- man made units of time that represent a specific moment in a person’s life. Rather than panic and let the gruelling experience flash by and overwhelm them, the poet suggests readers give full focus and effort in every ‘second.’
Metaphor: “Distance run” – as opposed to frantic sprinting -readers should give maximum effort in a controlled and carefully though out way not a mad dash.
If you can
Repetition / conditional verb “If”– Rudyard Kipling repeats this 12 times in the title and poem to emphasise that being a ‘man’ (an accomplished adult) is conditional on mastering these qualities. It also underlines the difficulty of success by allowing the writer to present life as a list of relentless hurdles of life that readers must overcome.
Direct address “you” extends the message of the poem personally to all readers.
Yours is the Earth… you’ll be a Man…
diom “Yours is the Earth” – Rudyard Kipling implies the world and all of its possibilities for success will be “yours” to take.
Metaphor/ Capital Letter “Man” – the poet’s concept (marked by the Capital ‘M’) of maturity and success – a person that acts in a logical, determined but respectful way.
Symbolism “Man” – From a modern perspective, it could symbolise the qualities of a modern logically minded and compassionate adult.
Structurally: these final two lines ends the single sentence of the poem and provides a conclusion to the intrigue that is created throughout the poem by the repeated statement “if you can.”
The poem is a single sentence stretched(enjambemnt) across four stanzas of eight lines each.
Rudyard Kipling’s use of consistent stanza lengths symbolises the solidity of the advice and consistency of the behaviour required to succeed.
Regular rhyme scheme.
ABABCDCD – The poet’s rhyme scheme has a sense of a powerful (left, right, left, right) march through the challenges of life towards success.
Iambic pentameter.
Kipling chooses this regular meter and rhyme scheme which has five sets of unstressed/stressed syllables per line to also reinforce the sense of consistency and solid advice.
