The White Man's Burden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands.[1] Although Kipling's poem mixed exhortation to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the United States latched onto the phrase "white man's burden" as a characterization for imperialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise.[2][3][4][5][6]
The poem was originally written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, but exchanged for "Recessional"; Kipling changed the text of "Burden" to reflect the subject of American colonization.[7] The poem consists of seven stanzas, following a regular rhyme scheme. At face value it appears to be a rhetorical command to white men to colonize and rule people of other nations for their own benefit (both the people and the duty may be seen as representing the "burden" of the title). Because of its theme and title, it has become emblematic both of Eurocentric racism and of Western aspirations to dominate the developing world.[8][9][10] A century after its publication, the poem still rouses strong emotions, and can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives.
Contents |
[edit] Differing interpretations
A Eurocentric analysis of the poem may conclude that Kipling presents a Eurocentric view of the world, in which non-European cultures are seen as childlike. 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. The term "the white man's burden" has been interpreted 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". An alternative interpretation is the philanthropic view, common in Kipling's formative years, that the rich have a moral duty and obligation to help "the poor" "better" themselves whether the poor want the help or not.[11]
Within a historical context, the poem makes clear the prevalent attitudes that allowed colonialism to proceed. Although a belief in the virtues of empire was wide-spread at the time, there were also many dissenters; the publication of the poem caused a flurry of arguments from both sides, most notably from Mark Twain and Henry James (citation requested). While Kipling may have intended the piece as a form of satire, 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[citation needed]. 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 and may die while helping other races less fortunate than themselves. An analysis focused on the social status and background of colonial officers active at the time is lacking; as is one of the Christian missionary movement, also quite active at the time in parts of the world under colonial rule (e.g. the Christian and Missionary Alliance) which also emphasized the theme of aiding those less fortunate.
Some commentators also point to Kipling's history of satirical writing, and suggest that "The White Man's Burden" is in fact meant to undermine imperialism. Chris Snodgrass, in A Companion to Victorian Poetry[12] describes Kipling's poetry as "imperial sensibilities with wry irony and skepticism, viewing all human endeavors as ultimately transitory". Kipling also wrote many poems celebrating the working classes, particularly the common soldier. Six months after "The White Man's Burden" was published, he wrote "The Old Issue", a stinging criticism of the Second Boer War, and an attack on the unlimited, despotic power of kings. The Norton Anthology of English Literature argues it is no satire, but in line with Kipling's strong imperialism and a belief of a "Divine Burden to reign God's Empire on Earth", that other, less Christian nations would otherwise take.[7] Still, some find Kipling's work fascinating because his pro-imperialist stance did not blind him to the less glamorous and more perilous aspects of imperialism. According to Steve Sailer, writer John Derbyshire has described Kipling as "an imperialist utterly without illusions about what being an imperialist actually means. Which, in some ways, means that he was not really an imperialist at all."[13]
Several parodies and other forms of critical works have used themes or quotes collected from Kipling's poem. Early examples include Henry Labouchère's poem "The Brown Man's Burden" (1899),[14] British journalist Edmund Morel's 1903 article criticizing imperialist practices in the Congo Free State,[15] and Ernest Crosby's poem "The Real White Man’s Burden" (1902).[16]
[edit] See also
 |
Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- The text of the poem at Fordham University
- Colonialism
- 1899 in poetry
- 1899 in literature
- List of the works of Rudyard Kipling
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The White Man's Burden." McClure's Magazine 12 (Feb. 1899).
- ^ Zwick, Jim (December 16, 2005). Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935. http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/kipling/index.html.
- ^ Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03081-9. p. 5: "...imperialist editors came out in favor of retaining the entire archipelago (using) higher-sounding justifications related to the "white man's burden."
- ^ Judd, Denis (June 1997). "Diamonds are forever: Kipling's imperialism; poems of Rudyard Kipling". History Today 47 (6): 37.: "Theodore Roosevelt...thought the verses 'rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansionist stand-point'. Henry Cabot Lodge told Roosevelt in turn: 'I like it. I think it is better poetry than you say'."
- ^ Examples of justification for imperialism based on Kipling's poem include the following (originally published 1899-1902):
- Opinion archive, International Herald Tribune (February 4, 1999). "In Our Pages: 100, 75 and 50 Years Ago; 1899: Kipling's Plea". International Herald Tribune: 6. http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/02/04/edold.t_10.php.: "An extraordinary sensation has been created by Mr. Rudyard Kipling's new poem, The White Man's Burden, just published in a New York magazine. It is regarded as the strongest argument yet published in favor of expansion."
- Dixon, Thomas (1902). The Leopard's Spots - A Romance of the White Man's Burden 1865-1900. http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/dixonleopard/leopard.html.. Full text of a novel by Thomas Dixon praising the Ku Klux Klan, published online by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- ^ Pimentel, Benjamin (October 26, 2003), The Philippines; "Liberator" Was Really a Colonizer; Bush's revisionist history, The San Francisco Chronicle, p. D3, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/10/26/INGCN2GEK21.DTL&hw=Was+Really+Colonizer&sn=001&sc=1000: charactizing the poem as a "call to imperial conquest".
- ^ a b Stephen Greenblatt (ed.), Norton Anthology of English Literature, New York 2006 ISBN 0-393-92532-3.
- ^ "Eurocentrism". In Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Ed. Thomas M. Leonard, Taylor & Francis, 2006, ISBN 0415976626, p. 636.
- ^ Chisholm, Michael (1982). Modern World Development: A Geographical Perspective. Rowman & Littlefield, 1982, ISBN 0389203203, p.12.
- ^ Mama, Amina (1995). Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender, and Subjectivity. Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0415035449, p. 39.
- ^ David Cody, The growth of the British Empire, Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College, (Paragraph 4)
- ^ Snodgrass, Chris (2002). A Companion to Victorian Poetry. Blackwell, Oxford.
- ^ Sailer, Steve (2001). "What Will Happen In Afghanistan?". Published by United Press International. 26 September 2001.
- ^ Labouchère, Henry (1899). "The Brown Man's Burden" an anti-imperialist parody of Kipling's poem.
- ^ Morel, Edmund (1903). The Black Man's Burden. Fordham University.
- ^ Crosby, Ernest (1902). The Real White Man’s Burden. Funk and Wagnalls Company. pp. 32–35. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5477/. Published online by History Matters, American Social History Project, CUNY and George Mason University.
[edit] References
- A Companion to Victorian Poetry, Alison Chapman; Blackwell, Oxford, 2002.
- Chisholm, Michael (1982). Modern World Development: A Geographical Perspective. Rowman & Littlefield, 1982, ISBN 0389203203.
- Cody, David. The growth of the British Empire. The Victorian Web, University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore, November 2000.
- Crosby, Ernest (1902). The Real White Man’s Burden. Funk and Wagnalls Company, 32-35.
- Dixon, Thomas (1902). The Leopard's Spots - A Romance of the White Man's Burden 1865-1900.
- "Eurocentrism". In Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Ed. Thomas M. Leonard, Taylor & Francis, 2006, ISBN 0415976626.
- Greenblatt, Stephen (ed.). Norton Anthology of English Literature, New York 2006 ISBN 0-393-92532-3
- Kipling. Fordham University. Full text of the poem.
- Labouchère, Henry (1899). "The Brown Man's Burden".
- Mama, Amina (1995). Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender, and Subjectivity. Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0415035449.
- Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03081-9.
- Pimentel, Benjamin (October 26, 2003). "The Philippines; "Liberator" Was Really a Colonizer; Bush's revisionist history". The San Francisco Chronicle: D3.
- Sailer, Steve (2001). "What Will Happen In Afghanistan?". United Press International, 26 September 2001.
- Snodgrass, Chris (2002). A Companion to Victorian Poetry. Blackwell, Oxford.
- "The White Man's Burden." McClure's Magazine 12 (Feb. 1899).
[edit] Further reading
- Outline of Sanity Alzina Stone Dale; iUniverse, 2005.
