Don't Forget!

Hey guys. Don't forget to first give your genuine response, "bounce" off another's thought or initiate better discussions in your blogs.. You have opinions, so let us read them!!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Poetic Devices in "If"

What poetic devices did you find in this poem:
"IF"
by Rudyard Kipling

Stanza 1
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;
Stanza 2
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 imposters 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 wornout tools;
Stanza 3
If you can make one heap of all your winnings 


And risk it 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";
Stanza 4    
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!

3 comments:

  1. Well, let me begin then.. How about repetition- that is for a series of three at a time, Kipling repeats "If" or "And" and I believe there is reasoning behind this style. Remember, that the layout and often times the style of writing helps to determine the message the writer is passing on. Why would he choose to repeat the beginnings of these lines? What does this say to the reader. THink about it, what do we repeat certain phrases when speaking to someone??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Off of what Mrs. Erdman said, everytime he says "If" or "And" behind it comes his definition of a man, so he repeats those words to show that what comes after are almost like standards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with what Mrs. Erdman and JHilliard say. As of what Mrs. Erdman said,Ruyard Kipling repeats "If" or "And" in each stanza. As JHilliard said,after every time he says "If" or "And" he is saying his definition of a man.

    ReplyDelete