Perhaps the most celebrated poem of Rudyard Kipling, If, composed at the turn of the 20th century (published in his collection, Rewards and Fairies, 1909) is a glorification of Victorian stoicism, a didactic poem that strongly highlights the virtues of 'grown-up' living: the way a son becomes a man.
The opening lines exude the imperative need of self-confidence, of courage to combat disapproval, the need to ignore doubt and make allowances for it. The poem is instructional in attitude, motivational in tone as the poet goes on advising the virtues of patience, honesty, fortitude and righteousness.
The conditional 'if', which is the title of the poem, refers to all the blocks in the way to full maturity, all the doubts & fears, all adversities that are to be solemnly and stoically overcome as a necessary pre-condition to true and perfect manhood.
The poem was said to have been written keeping the failed 'Jameson Raid' (the raid led by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson against the Boers in Southern Africa) in mind. It was about the mottos and maxims for right behaviour and self-development.
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