The poem "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling from 1899 argues that it is the duty of white Western nations to govern and civilize non-Western peoples, who are portrayed as childlike and dangerous. Kipling presents the view that Western colonialism benefits native populations by introducing Western cultural and economic traditions. However, the poem can also be interpreted as portraying the negative impacts of colonialism by highlighting the hardships faced by both colonizers and colonized peoples.

1. “The White Man’s Burden”
Rudyard Kipling
1899

2. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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.

3. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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.

4. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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 hope to nought.

5. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man’s burden--
No iron 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.

6. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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?”

7. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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 will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.

8. The White Man’s Burden
by Rudyard Kipling
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.

9. Interpretations
A straightforward analysis of the poem might
conclude that Kipling presents a Eurocentric
view of the world, in which non-European
cultures are seen as childlike and demonic.
This view proposes that white people
consequently have an obligation to rule over,
and encourage the cultural development of,
people from other ethnic and cultural
backgrounds until they can take their place in
the world by fully adopting Western ways.

10. Interpretations
The term “the white man’s burden” can be
interpreted simply as racist, or taken as a
metaphor for a condescending view of non-
Western national culture and economic
traditions, identified as a sense of European
ascendancy which has been called “cultural
imperialism.” A parallel can also be drawn with
the philanthropic view, common in Kipling’s
formative years, that the rich have a moral
obligation to help the poor “better” themselves
whether the poor want the help or not.

11. Interpretations
Within a historical context, the poem clarifies
the prevalent attitudes that allowed colonialism
to proceed. Although a belief in the “virtues of
empire” was wide-spread at the time, many
dissented, most notably Mark Twain and Henry
James. Much of Kipling’s other writing does
suggest that he genuinely believed in the
“beneficent role” which the introduction of
Western ideas could play in lifting non-Western
peoples out of “poverty and ignorance.”

12. Interpretations
Lines 3-5, and other parts of the poem suggest
that it is not just the native people who are
enslaved, but also the “functionaries of
empire,” who are caught in colonial service.
This theme may also be contrasted with the
Christian missionary movement, which was
also quite active at the time in Africa, India,
and other British and European colonies (e.g.
the Christian and Missionary Alliance).

13. Interpretations
Some commentators point to Kipling’s
history of satirical writing, and suggest that
“The White Man’s Burden” is in fact meant
to satirically undermine imperialism.