Posted on 02/05/2005 5:37:04 PM PST by NMC EXP
In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.” In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Published in the February, 1899 issue of McClure’s Magazine, the poem coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control.
Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Not everyone was as favorably impressed as Roosevelt. The racialized notion of the “White Man’s burden” became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists couched their opposition in reaction to the phrase.
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send 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
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
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) to the light:
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
“Our loved Egyptian night?”
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 judgment of your peers!
Source: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States & The Philippine Islands, 1899.” Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Definitive Edition (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1929).
Thank you so much for posting this---
you are correct, it does conjure up thought of our troops--it sounds like it could have been written by one of them!!
BTTT
You are welcome.
What I think of is how noble the U.S.A is to tell the world with it's head stuck in the sand to get out of the way so that tyranny can be destroyed.
The U.N. worked with Saddam for OIL MONEY and helped keep his people down. We ended it. I don't need the congratulations of thugs, murderers, and U.S. haters. All I need is the Iraqi citizenry to be free and have a future.
We do not go for profit, we go at a cost. We do not rule or exploit, we throw down sadists.
Freedom is a real bitch to some folks, eh? If only those people would accept the yoke!
I spit on that assumption and I spit on your comparison.
Arioch7 out!
For People Black and Brown
Now will you tell us Mr. Kipling
How to put them down?"
--- U.S. Marines on Mindanao
I misunderstood and stand corrected. I drink to much, LOL!
Arioch7 out.
Yeah, and what about our troops in WWII? Everyone knows that there is no way that democracy could take root in Germany and Japan. They died in vain.
Kipling wrote against the backdrop of the experience of the British Empire, around the globe. He knew whereof he spoke, but as they used to say, "circumstances alter cases."
Our purpose, and therefore the application of our strengths, are different from those of the mercantile imperialists. Our goals are to free the people and leave, not to stay and run things. It makes all the difference.
American imperialism? What a lie, Kipling died in 1936, and had been writing about British foreign wars. Read his "Recessional" and get a clue.
DO YOU LIKE KIPLING?
I DON'T KNOW, I'VE NEVER KIPPLED.
Maybe you actually did read the poem and are referring to this part:
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) to the light:
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
“Our loved Egyptian night?”
If you do not understand the meaning I can translate it into 6th grade public school language for you.
All I need is the Iraqi citizenry to be free and have a future.
Why?
We do not go for profit, we go at a cost. We do not rule or exploit, we throw down sadists.
Gee....and all this time I thought we were there to prevent "the smoking gun from being a mushroom cloud over NYC".
I spit on your comparison.
When you grow up and can mind your manners you are invited to come back and converse with the adults.
I think Zarqawi helped reinforce the points made the last time he spoke when he tried to keep the Iraqis from voting---he was telling them how much he hates democracy and so should they--
He was making the point--that freedom and democracy is whats feard, not American imperialism. He didn't rant and rave about too many McDonalds or even Halliburton--it was freedom, the one thing that America wants to give to Iraqis and has even sent the best to deliver---woe to them if they don't accept and fight to keep it!
I am a fan of Kipling's writing but this isn't the same as British colonialism.
You are not actually going to try to compare WW2 and Iraq are you?
Rhetorical question of course.
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
And my point is, critics of the war say democracy cannot be brought to Iraq because they have no history of such. However, there also was no history of democracy in Japan and precious little in Germany. But we managed to establish both because of military action.
But you are correct - there is no comparison between WWII and Iraq. We lost far, far more soldiers in a single battle than we lost in all of the Iraq war.
The comments preceding the poem are from the George Mason University "History Matters" website. I suggest you take up your complaint with the GMU history department.
Get a clue, huh?
You are not only clueless, you do not even have a suspicion.
Learn some manners.
Interesting to see the reactions from all of the pro iraqi war types.
Take Imperialism out of the equation and read the poem again.
Read it from the viewpoint of the grunt and his interactions with a foreign citizenry whose opinion of his being there ranges from lukewarm to flat homicidal.
Most of what I have read from the grunts is anger at the way the war is portrayed by the media.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.