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“The White Man’s Burden”: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism
George Mason University ^ | 02/01/1899 | Rudyard Kipling

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).


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: empire; imperialism; iraq; kipling; whitemansburden
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To: NMC EXP
Where did you find the version you posted?

I Googled "White Man's Burden" and found a version where three websites agreed.

41 posted on 02/05/2005 6:37:38 PM PST by dirtboy (.)
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To: NMC EXP
I had not read the complete version for a while and thought something was missing.

I cannot profess an academic knowledge of Kipling, but that couplet made a lasting impression upon me when I first read it, which is why I noticed it was missing. Going back and reading the GMU version, one can see that all the negative language of the poem has been removed, which changes the tone of the poem from a precautionary tale to a pep rally.

42 posted on 02/05/2005 6:41:07 PM PST by dirtboy (.)
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To: John_Wheatley

No Human being or country can totally live up to their ideals. It doesn't mean they can't be close. America was founded on freedom, but not if you were a woman or a slave, but no-one can say it wasn't a positive for its time.

** This is true.


43 posted on 02/05/2005 6:42:05 PM PST by cyborg (Department of Homelife Security threat level is GREEN.)
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To: dirtboy

Thank you very much--

and thank you, too, NMC EXP, for posting the article in the first place!!!


44 posted on 02/05/2005 6:42:50 PM PST by Txsleuth (Proud to be a Texan)
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To: NMC EXP
Rudyard Kipling---real men write poetry.

1892

MANDALAY

by Rudyard Kipling

MANDALAY -

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,

There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;

For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:

"Come you back, you British soldier: come you back to Mandalay!" -

Come you back to Mandalay,

Where the old Flotilla lay;

Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from

Rangoon to Mandalay?

O the road to Mandalay,

Where the flyin'-fishes play,

An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer

China 'crost the Bay! -

'Er petticoat was yaller an' 'er little cap was green,

An' 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat- jes' the same as Theebaw's Queen,

An' I seed her first a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot,

An' a-wastin' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot: -

Bloomin' idol made o' mud- What they called the Great Gawd Budd-

Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed

'er where she stud!

On the road to Mandalay, etc. -

When the mist was on the rice-fields an' the sun was droppin' slow,

She'd git her little banjo an' she'd sing "Kulla-lo-lo!"

With 'er arm upon my shoulder an' 'er cheek agin my cheek

We uster watch the steamers an' the hathis pilin' teak. -

Elephints a-pilin' teak

In the sludgy, squdgy creek,

Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was

'arf afraid to speak!

On the road to Mandalay, etc. -

But that's all shove be'ind me- long ago an' fur away,

An' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Mandalay;

An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:

"If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else." -

No! you won't 'eed nothin' else

But them spicy garlic smells,

An' the sunshine an' the palm-trees an' the

tinkly temple-bells;

On the road to Mandalay, etc. -

I am sick o' wastin' leather on these gritty pavin' stones,

An' the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;

Tho' I walks with fifty 'ousemaids outer Chelsea to the Strand,

An' they talks a lot o' lovin', but wot do they understand? -

Beefy face an' grubby 'and-

Law! wot do they understand?

I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner,

greener land!

On the road to Mandalay, etc. -

Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an' a man can raise a thirst;

For the temple-bells are callin', and it's there that I would be-

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea. -

On the road to Mandalay,

Where the old Flotilla lay,

With our sick beneath the awnings when we

went to Mandalay!

Oh the road to Mandalay,

Where the flyin'-fishes play,

An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer

China 'crost the Bay! - -

THE END

45 posted on 02/05/2005 6:44:09 PM PST by gg188
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To: NMC EXP
And it was my mistake for posting to myself.

The matter is forgotten and I am sorry I didn't post my response to you. Hell, I told you I was drinking, LOL!

My mistake, my apology. I'll drink a cold one for ya'!

Arioch7 out.

46 posted on 02/05/2005 6:45:13 PM PST by Arioch7
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To: Phsstpok
Is human sacrifice an "OK thing" because it is a part of a native culture? Is slavery? Is misogony?

Wrong question.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers."
-- Thomas Pynchon

It is the burden of civilized people.

I disagree with that from a moral standpoint. You may have a theological argument but I am not going to debate matters of faith.

You may consider it to be a responsibility (burden) but the fact is that spreading "democracy" and enlightenment is not among the enumerated powers granted to the govt.

So feel free to spend your money and possibly life to bring good things to the savages. Just don't demand that me and mine join you in your crusade.

47 posted on 02/05/2005 6:46:02 PM PST by NMC EXP (Choose one: [a] party [b] principle.)
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To: gg188

This is the lyric version in the song based on the poem. A folk song, I guess you'd call it. Though Mr. Sinatra did a kick-a version.


48 posted on 02/05/2005 6:47:36 PM PST by gg188
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To: Phsstpok

Not all European colonists were created equal either if one studies England,France,Spain and Portugal together. I'd put France right at the bottom. From the looks of modern Europe, there's fertile ground for all those African preachers converted from their pagan ways.


49 posted on 02/05/2005 6:47:44 PM PST by cyborg (Department of Homelife Security threat level is GREEN.)
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To: NMC EXP

The White man's burden was the begginig of the end for the BRitish Empire -- it made them condescending tot he people they had conquered and it was a mistake. The Brits never went anywhere to better the lot of the natives, they rather went to make money off of them.


50 posted on 02/05/2005 6:49:49 PM PST by Cronos (Never forget 9/11)
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To: NMC EXP
I disagree with that from a moral standpoint.

No, you disagree from a LACK of morals standpoint.

Let the islamists rule over "their" part of Earth. Let the NAZIs rule over theirs. And the Communists. And the Klan. And the Huns and the Mongols.

What business is it of ours to oppose them? What "right" do we have to challenge their point of view?

Sleep well in your comfortable tomb, for that is what your life is.

51 posted on 02/05/2005 6:50:23 PM PST by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: NMC EXP

bttt


52 posted on 02/05/2005 6:52:44 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Arioch7

I am glad we got that one squared away.

If you have one for me make it a double single malt scotch on the rocks.

I gave it up a while back. I reckoned I'd finally had my share.


53 posted on 02/05/2005 6:53:04 PM PST by NMC EXP (Choose one: [a] party [b] principle.)
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To: xJones

If I misunderstood your meaning I beg you pardon.


54 posted on 02/05/2005 6:54:17 PM PST by NMC EXP (Choose one: [a] party [b] principle.)
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Comment #55 Removed by Moderator

Comment #56 Removed by Moderator

To: NMC EXP

I know nothing of Kipling, except his most famous poem which I think exemplifies President Bush.



" 'if' by Rudyard Kipling

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 all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath 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!"




57 posted on 02/05/2005 6:56:47 PM PST by YaYa123 (@It's Perfect, Isn't it?.com)
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To: John_Wheatley

Yeah whatever was I thinking? :o)


58 posted on 02/05/2005 6:57:06 PM PST by cyborg (Department of Homelife Security threat level is GREEN.)
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To: cyborg
Not all European colonists were created equal either if one studies England,France,Spain and Portugal together

That is part of my point. It's not "European" or "White" culture that is being defended. It is human advancement. It happened to take it's strongest hold on Europe, originally, but then grew to maturity in the freedom of the United States. It is the idea, not the race, that matters.

Notice that the United States is NOT a "white" nation. It is a country made up of people from all nations, all races, all cultures. Truly, we are the world. But, unlike the nation states we come from, we (those who get it) share a common set of ideals about advancing human freedom and dignity. Of protecting and preserving life. Of standing for moral principles, not merely pushing for personal advantage.

And France represents the crud left over after all of the good things left Europe.

Those who stayed behind in western Europe have very little to recommend them.

59 posted on 02/05/2005 6:57:57 PM PST by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: YaYa123
I still prefer Orwell to Kipling, and Shooting an Elephant to The Jungle Book.
60 posted on 02/05/2005 6:58:33 PM PST by dirtboy (.)
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