In the fall of 1909 Kipling was in the midst of writing his second volume of instructional historical tales and accompanying poems. With his own children in mind, Kipling’s intent was to creatively use tales from the past to impart words of wisdom to the next generation. Just as he was getting ready to compose the accompanying poem for the short story, “Brother Square-toes,” a tale about having the strength of character to make and uphold unpopular decisions, the Kipling family was visited by Dr. Jameson, an old friend from their time in South Africa. After a shaky start as leader of failed military raid in 1895, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson had gone on to become one of the most respected South African prime ministers. Young John Kipling was very impressed by his father’s heroic friend. His son’s reaction and his own respect for Jameson were in his mind as Kipling penned the words to his famous poem, If.

In If, Kipling simply and lyrically laid out a set of moral laws to be followed to attain an heroic life. While extolling the virtues of self-reliance, inner humility, resolution and integrity, Kipling also pointed out the pitfalls of lying, hating, and becoming too full of pride. Kipling’s remarkable skill as a poet enabled him to produce a technically superior work. How Kipling pieced together the poem has been studied over the years by many able critics. Technical merit aside, it is the words of the poem that have had a lasting impact. Kipling’s admirable set of goals, which even he would admit were much easier to state than achieve, struck a chord with teachers, business and political leaders, and the general public. In his posthumously published autobiography, Something of Myself, Kipling presented his own views on one of his most famous poems:

Among the verses in Rewards was one set called “If”, which escaped from the book, and for a while ran about the world. They were drawn from Jameson’s character, and contained counsels of perfection most easy to give. Once started, the mechanization of the age made them snowball themselves in a way that startled me. Schools, and places where they teach, took them for the suffering Young – which did me no good with the Young when I met them later. (“Why did you write that stuff? I’ve had to write it out twice as an impot.”) They were printed on cards to hang up in offices and bedrooms; illuminated text-wise and anthologized to weariness. Twenty-seven of the Nations of the Earth translated them in their seven-and twenty tongues, and printed them on every sort of fabric. (p. 191)

While somewhat self-effacing in tone, Kipling was clearly well aware of the impact of his poem. Generations later the poem is still one of the most beloved poems in the English language. Indeed, as recent as 1995, a national viewer poll conducted by the BBC Television programme, “The Bookworm,” selected If as Britain’s favourite poem.