Analysis - 'The White Man's Burden' by Rudyard Kipling

Analyzing a controversial poem.

Author’s Note: I haven’t been doing anything with my poetry Substack, so I’ll be mixing things up. This is my take on a controversial poem that most people have heard of but never really read.

---

To say that Rudyard Kipling is a controversial figure in today’s age would be an understatement. Nowadays, his unapologetic defense of Imperialism is seen to be an embarrassment by the modern West. The White Man’s Burden¹, written in 1899 is Exhibit A of Kipling’s pro-Imperialist sentiment.

Strangely enough, this poem was written not to the British but the Americans who at this point had declared war on Spain. The Spanish-American War that followed ended with the United States taking possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Keep this fact in mind.

Other than that, I ask readers to set aside their biases and enjoy the craft that went into this fine wordplay.

The White Man’s Burden

by Rudyard Kipling

1 
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. 
2 
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. 
3
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 hopes to nought.
4
Take up the White Man's burden—
    No tawdry 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! 
5
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?" 
6
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 cry or whisper, 
    By all ye leave or do, 
The silent sullen peoples 
    Shall weigh your Gods and you. 
7
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 judgement of your peers. 

Michael’s Analysis

Remember when I said that Kipling wrote this poem for the Americans? This is an important point because the opening line, “take up the white man’s burden,” isn’t some glorification of British Imperialism. Rather, it is a call for the United States to accept the mantle of being an Imperial power. This was a hard sell for the American people, who up to this point had been averse to getting their country involved in affairs outside of the American continent.

Rather than glorifying war and Imperialism, Kipling was pretty honest about it. This can be found in the third stanza with the line, “the savage wars of peace”. In other words, empire building is not fun. It never is.

Even worse is the possibility that it was a fruitless endeavor the whole time. This can be seen in the third stanza: “And when your goal is nearest the end for others sought, watch sloth and heathen folly bring all your hopes to nought”.

This brings me to the idea that Kipling and this poetry is “racist”, particularly against non-whites. Is it? Perhaps. But the more important question is this: was Kipling right?

What people may not know is that Kipling was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) and had lived in India for much of his life. He had an understanding of the country in ways that many anti-colonialists don’t.

I can relate. As an Indonesian who lives in the country and was thus familiar with the people and the culture, I am more than aware of the shortcomings of my people.

As much as people love to complain about the flaws of Western countries (and they have plenty), there is something that people should keep in mind: things don’t just randomly break down in Europe and the United States.

They do in Indonesia. They do in third-world countries.

And it’s not a matter of infrastructure or technology or whatever. It’s a matter of people. Are the people competent? More importantly, are they honest?

I don’t want to belabor this. The point is that Kipling saw Imperialism as a mission to civilize “the savages”. And he did so with good reason. It’s fine if one disagrees with Kipling, but it’s important to understand where he came from.

As I said before, empire building is not fun. And bringing about civilization is difficult work. It is no “tawdry rule of kings”, as the fourth stanza said. Rather than being the master, you participate in the “toil of serfs and sweeper”.

And how will the people whom you helped repay you? With scorn and hatred. This was driven home at the end of the fourth stanza: “The ports ye shall not enter, the roads ye shall not tread, go make them with your living, and mark them with your dead”.

The way Kipling described it all. It was a thankless task where no sane man should undertake it based on self-interest alone. There’s almost a religious fervor to it, which brings me to the next point…

The most interesting thing about The White Man’s Burden is the implicit Christianity found within. This was demonstrated in what is perhaps my favorite line of the poem, found in the fifth stanza: “Why brought ye us from bondage, our loved Egyptian night?” Anyone halfway familiar with the Bible will know this refers to the Old Testament, particularly the Exodus story. The Israelites, having been freed from their slavery in Egypt, still yearned for it and actually resented Moses for taking them away from the Pharaoh.

I don’t know anything about Kipling’s religious beliefs, but it was clear that he was affected by British culture which was still Christian at the time.

Is this appeal to Christian morality cynical or sincere? This is an important question because the idea of spreading the Gospel to all the nations is an important part of Christianity. Kipling seemed to be channeling this instinct, and yet Christ was not even mentioned in this poem. As a Christian myself, this is rather strange. If there is one thing I will thank the white man for without reservation, it’s Christianity.

Unfortunately, this Christianity without Christ was a theme of Kipling’s poem. And this spirit lives on even to this day.

As we all know, modern day Britain and the West was a different place. Completely different from the days of Kipling.

But what if tell you that’s not true?

The spirit of “the white man’s burden” is still alive and well in the West. Europe has seen an increasing number of immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. The can be said for North America, with Latin American immigrants added to the mix. One justification I would often hear for these lax immigration policies was the idea that the West are helping people who came from poor and dysfunctional countries.

Yet despite having been granted a home and an opportunity for a better life, you will hear ingratitude from many of these people. Accusations of racism and whatnot. I can’t help but think of the line from the fifth stanza: “Take up the white man’s burden and reap his old reward; the blame of those ye better, the hate of those ye guard”.

Sometimes I wonder what Kipling would say if he could see today’s Britain. Regardless, his ghost continues to haunt the West to this very day.

Rudyard Kipling (source)

---

1. Shout to The Kipling Society where I got both the poem and much of the context surrounding it.