Dennis Hopper recites "If" by Rudyard Kipling on the Johnny Cash Show in 1970
In 2018 British students defaced it.
Rudyard Kipling won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.1
“If__’ 2
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;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 impostors 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;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 breathe 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”;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!
In 2007 the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale held the exhibition, Rudyard Kipling : the Books I Leave Behind.3 This exhibition tracked the development of Kipling’s work, from journalistic beginnings in India, through sudden and sustained success in England and the United States, and followed his transformation from the exuberant bard and binder of Empire, to the public poet of the battles and cemeteries of the Great War which claimed his only son, to the dismayed observer of the post-war years who resisted the drive for the independence of India and foretold the growing threat of Hitler. 4
Painted over by students.
In 2018 students at Manchester University painted over a mural of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If,” as “a statement on the reclamation of history by those who have been oppressed by the likes of Kipling for so many centuries.” 5
The poem has inspired many.
Right after the release of the award winning film, “Easy Rider,” Dennis Hopper appeared on the Johnny Cash Show and recited “If.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907. Rudyard Kipling.
“If__” The Poetry Foundation. Text and audio. “If__” has been recorded by Sir Michael Caine; John Hurt; Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal; Ralph Fiennes; Chris Eubank; Kevin Spacey; Pierce Brosnan and Gabiela Kostadinova. And Dennis Hopper on the Johnny Cash Show.
Richards, David Alan. Rudyard Kipling : the Books I Leave Behind . New Haven: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 2007.
Ibid. The exhibition gave special attention to the bibliographic intricacies of Kipling’s printed output. His popularity meant that many editions of his work were issued—with revised texts and variant bindings, in special formats, and especially as unauthorized or “pirate” versions.
Perraudin, Frances (2018). Manchester University students paint over Rudyard Kipling mural. The Guardian (July 19).
Students who defaced it in 2018 will either deeply regret their actions in 2038, or will be making rules for the rest of us about what we are allowed to like and read. And will not know a single person who sees Kipling's work as art, and think that's just fine. I pity them.
Too bad the so-called students who vandalized "If" didn't read the poems Kipling wrote after his son died in World War I. Or, "Gods of the Copybook Headings." Kipling -- as usual -- is a much more complicated figure than his caricature. In "Stalky and Company", for example, the students refuse to salute the Union Jack -- at the height of Victorian Imperialism. More people who made policy for Afghanistan should have read "The Once and Future King." Not only are these great stories with wonderful entrancing narratives but, gee, you learn some things about the world you may not have known. And about Kipling as a writer. People lose a lot by not actually reading good writers, even unfashionable ones. On a side note, Hopper sneaked some of "If" into Apocalypse Now. He must have been obsessed with the poem.