In this podcast, we’ll read you a famous poem called ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. We’ll explain the vocabulary and philosophize on what the poem might mean.
Voice message by George from Venezuela
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Episode on poetry and poetic devices: https://inglespodcast.com/201
“If” by Rudyard Kipling.
Written in 1895,
IF
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 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.
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!
Rudyard Kipling
Vocabulary
Knaves: Dishonest or unscrupulous men
Sinew: A piece of tough fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone; a tendon.
Heap: An untidy collection of objects placed haphazardly on top of each other; a large amount or number of something.
Stoop: To bend one’s head or body forwards and downwards; a posture in which the head and shoulders are habitually bent forwards.
Pitch-and-toss: a traditional gambling game where players throw coins towards a mark.
Virtue: behavior showing high moral standards or a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person. It encompasses traits like honesty, kindness, and integrity.
Discussion
Can you think of any man (or woman) living or from the past who fulfills all these criteria in the poem? If not, who comes closest?
Is there any one of the criteria that you consider more important than the others to qualify someone as a good man (or woman)?
Reza laments the fact that so many people these days equate “winning” or being “successful” or powerful with being a great man/woman, regardless of personal qualities. What do you think? Do many so-called “great” men/women live up to Kipling’s expectations?
…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. What did you think of the poem?
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In next week’s episode: Hats | hat vocabulary and idioms
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The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’