| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The first stanza of the Kipling poem reads:
In this view, non-European cultures are seen as child-like as well as demonic, with people of European descent having an obligation to dominate them until they can take their place in the world.
The poem was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in the United States. It was written specifically because after the Spanish-American War, feeling in the US was more isolationist than not. It was believed that had the U.S. not taken over Spain's position in the Philippines, another foreign power (quite possibly Japan) would have moved into the vacuum. Kipling wrote this poem specifically to help sway popular opinion in the U.S., so that a "friendly" western power would hold the strategicallyA strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy applies to many disparate fields, such as: Military strategy Marketing strategies Strategic management Game theoretical strategy Economic strategy Neuro-linguistic pr important Philippines.
The view and the term itself are widely regarded in the modern world as racist and condescending, cultivating a sense of European ascendancy of less civilized people. (See also cultural imperialismCultural imperialism is the practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one. Cultural impe). However, in a historical context, it makes clear the prevalent attitudes at the time that allowed colonialismColonialism is a system in which a state claims sovereignty over territory and people outside its own boundaries, often to facilitate economic domination over their resources, labor, and often markets. The term also refers to a set of beliefs used to legi to proceed. Although a belief in empire was widespread at the time there were also many dissenters and the publication of the poem caused a flurry of arguments from both sides, most notably from Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens ( November 30, 1835- April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain was a famous and popular American humorist, writer and lecturer. Mark Twain was also a steamboat pilot, gold prospector, and journalist. At his peak, he and Henry JamesHenry James ( April 15 1843 February 28, 1916), younger brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James, was a British-American author of the late 19th and early 20th century, best known for novels and novellas based upon themes of morality..
Some people today detect satirical undertones in the poem, but this is more likely to be a modern reading of such outdated ideas that the ideas themselves seem ridiculous. Much of Kipling's other writing does suggest that these were his genuine sentiments which were perhaps a well-meaning, if very naive, idea that "civilization" could introduce their ideas and bring these people out of poverty and ignorance. Lines 3-5 and other parts of the poem suggest that it is not just the native people who are enslaved, but the functionaries of empire who are caught in colonial service.
Kipling himself was not simply a worshiper of the power of empire. He wrote many poems celebrating the working classes, particularly the common soldier. Also, six months after White Man's Burden was published he wrote The Old Issue, a stinging criticism of the Boer WarThere were two Boer wars one in 1880- 81 and the second from October 11, 1899- 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put an end to the two independent republics that and attack on the unlimited and despotic power of kings although the Boer War itself was a fight between two colonial powers.
The final stanza of the poem seems to refer to events in the poet's own life:
In 1892Events January 1 Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants to the United States. January 14 Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Next in line is his younger b the long-standing poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson died. Many important poets of the day were considered for the post and it was offered to Kipling but he refused it. Whether this was because he felt he did not deserve it or he thought it would damage his career is not certain but in this poem he seems to be reconsidering the offer and contemplating unwelcome responsibility and duty.
The poem does show that, to a large extent, colonial powers relied upon the excuse of "civilizing" the indigenous peoples—to the point where evidence of an indigenous origin for Great Zimbabwe was largely ignored for decades after its discovery, on the presumption that the existence of a sophisticated city in sub-Saharan Africa prior to European colonization would pose a threat to the argument that white rule was necessary to " civilize" the area. The general underestimation of ascendant Japan by the West in the late 19th and early 20th century stems from the same root; thus the result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, which Japan won, was one of the first larger blows against this theory. There are those who feel that the British and other European intelligentsia have done the same with India's ancient Vedic past and the Aryan Invasion Theory.
A similar idea is the Hamitic Myth. The Hamitic Myth was a biblical rationalization for European exploitation in Africa, based on the supposed biblical lineage of certain African peoples.