Rudyard Kipling Poems:
The Best of Motivational Poems and Poems about Life.

The Kipling poems are some of the best motivational poems ever written. They're inspirational poems about life.

If you have, chances are, you've read the If poem.

Of all the Kipling poems, the If poem is probably the most remembered. And undoubtedly, the most loved.

But for me, it's the poem for heroes.

Read on, and you'll agree.

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!

A short Rudyard Kipling Biography

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865 in Bombay, India, then a part of the British Empire. He was an extremely prolific writer. After finishing his studies in England, he returned to India where he began his writing career, age 16, as an assitant editor for a local Bombay newspaper.

Blessed with extraordinary talent as well as the constant need to write, Kipling churned out many short stories, poetry and some novels. Aside from the If poem, he is best known for his fiction: Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and Just So Stories (1901).

Although the If poem was written in 1896 when Kipling was 31 years old, it was only published years later in 1909. The poem appeared in Rewards and Fairies, a collection of Kipling poems and short stories.

Kipling penned the If poem with the British Colonial Statesman, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson in mind. Written in support of the British cause against the Boers in South Africa, the poem is regarded as one of the finest examples of motivational poems. It glorifies Victorian stoicism. The "stiff upper lip" which is considered a traditional British virtue.

And although Jameson failed in his raid against the Boers, it is said that "The Jameson Raid" became a major factor in the start of the Second Boer War.

Like other Rudyard Kipling poems, the If poem praises character, courage, self control, self reliance, strength and virtue. Traits not only ideal in men, but qualities, in my opinion, that make people heroes.

And who wouldn't want to be a hero?

Though written more than a century ago, as one of the best inspirational poems about life, it is still relevant today. It was voted Britain's favorite poem in a 1995 BBC poll. And a line from the favorite of the Kipling poems is written on the wall of the centre court player's entrance at Wimbledon as a slogan for sportsmanship.

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same."

The poem champions an idealism that is needed even more today.

Why do Rudyard Kipling poems ring true?

Because the world still needs heroes.

Kipling achieved success and fame in his lifetime. He was offered honours such as the Knighthood, Poet Laureate and the Order of Merit, all of which he declined. But he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. He was the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date the youngest.

He died in 1936, but his legacy lives on. His works, especially his children's books, have become enduring classics.

And, of course, we will always remember the best of the Rudyard Kipling poems.

The If poem.

The world needs more heroes.

And who wouldn't want to be?

Read Rudyard Kipling poems and take heart.

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