According to Kipling, why should Western nations take up the "white man's burden"?

Question

One of the justifications for modern imperialism was the notion that the allegedly "more advanced" white people had the moral responsibility to raise "ignorant" indigenous peoples to a higher level of civilization. Few captured this notion better than the British poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) in his famous poem The White Man's Burden. His appeal, directed to the United States, became one of the most famous verses in the English-speaking world.

That sense of moral responsibility, however, was often misplaced or, even worse, laced with hypocrisy. All too often, one living under colonial authority. Few observers described the destructive effects of Western imperialism on the African people as well as Edmund Morel, a British journalist whose book The Black Man's Burden pointed out some of the more harmful aspects of colonialism in the Belgian Congo. The brutal treatment of Congolese workers involved in gathering rubber, ivory, and palm oil for export aroused an international outcry and in 1903 led to the formation of a commission under British consul Roger Casement to bring about reforms.

- Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden -

Take up the White Man's Burden---
Send forth the best ye breed---
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild---
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's Burden---
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden---
The savage wars of peace---
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

According to Kipling, why should Western nations take up the "white man's burden"?

Answer 1

The "white man's burden" is the supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to nonwhite people, often advanced as a justification for European colonialism.



Kipling's poem "White Man's Burden," is actually a satirical poem. He is mocking white supremacists who think they are "civilizing the indigenous peoples." This poem was written in response to the Philippine war. This war was one waged by the United States, primarily with the intent of obtaining coal, lumber, and fruits.

Answer 2

Kipling White Mans Burden

Answer 3

Kipling and that particular time frame amaze me from a historical perspective. If we make an effort to put ourselves to the time frame while Queen Victoria was in her final years on the throne we see an imperialism we see the beginning of the waning Crown and the beginning of the end of colonialism though it clearly takes another 50+ years before it is nearly run its complete course.



In part I would believe this was satirical; however, I also believe he was drawing attention to further costs of the colonization of all the different places on the globe. He (Kipling) was an imperialist but he also held no illusions to what being an imperialist meant. If we look at his following poem about a 1/2 year later "The Old House" we see a stinging criticism of both the Second Boer War and the unlimited power of kings among the various crowns of Europe.



In short, I don't believe Kipling was suggesting we take up the "white man's burden" but that we pay more attention to the cost of this perceived burden - he was acting as a voice of consciencsness and of reason. Make no illusions for yourself however, Kipling was a proud imperialist, he looked at imperialism with opened eyes.

Answer 4

It is a rather bitter response to the idea of the Liberal Empire showing the cost to those who were the Empire's administrators trying to govern justly, by their lights, unappreciative subject peoples. His final lines were his prediction of what would happen when the goal of independence for the Empire's colonies was achieved.

Kipling's background was interesting, although we often think of him as a Tory imperialist he belonged to a family which was very much part of the liberal intelligensia. His father was Head of Architectural Sculpture at the Jeejeebhoy School of Art in Bombay encouraging Indian craft skills and a synthesis of Indian and European styles. He was related to the Burne-Jones family and the Balfour family.

He did think very much in stereotypes, a common failing among British imperialists, and part of his opposition to using Indian troops in the Boer War was that he believed the "white men" should not involve the other races in their conflicts, he thought it unfair. Yet one of his stories shows a Briton recognising a Sikh as a fellow Freemason, and acknowledging their common brotherhood, a theme also explored in "East is East, and West is West..". Even today the communities in India often seem to live parallel lives so perhaps Kipling's viewpoint was realistic at the time.

Answer 5

1

Answer 6

He was ANTI imperial - he was being sarcastic.