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.
Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.
Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
(source: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Kipling.asp )
In this poem, one sees many aspects of Burden herself, and of her family. A resentment for other religions (and an insistence that non-Christian's be saved- see Ms. Burden "praying over" Christmas); a belief that it is their responsibility to uplift "lesser," races (the Burden family saw blackness as "a stain," and believed that by helping the blacks they could uplift them into whiteness- a misguided "altruism," that cements racist thought); and especially the last stanza of the poem reminds one of the Burdens- "Comes now...through all the thankless years...cold...the judgement of your peers!"
It is interesting that you make it about Ms. Burden when this is a song for all African Americans living for their oppressors and not themselves. I think it works, though. It can also help us understand the conext of the period and perhaps even understand why Christmas resists accepting his black culture/ethnicity. He does not want to take up the White Man's burden--he enjoys (?) the power given to him in being recognized as "white."
ReplyDeleteI had actually never thought of it in the context of a person giving up their culture in favor of that of their oppressors', I had mostly thought of it from the perspective of the anti- imperialist, anti- oppression-through-conversion lens. It does lend a different weight to the phrase "Take up the White Man's Burden."
DeleteChristmas has a strange relationship with whiteness. It certainly is associated with power, which he clearly enjoys (as we see in his rejection of femininity, and a refusal to be feminine in any way), but I almost wonder if he doesn't use his bi-racialism as an enabler to avoid society. In being white to the blacks and black to the whites, Christmas- in a way, has an escape card from a harsh society that he may not be mature enough to cope wit.
This poem could actually pertain to any minority.
ReplyDeleteIts intriguing that he includes an entire stanza filled with paradoxes. The third stanza could possibly be the most relevant. "savage wars of peace", "fill the mouth of famine" "bid the sickness cease"... I think you make a very good point in addressing the incoherence of Burden's identity. She believed that she was doing good, but in reality her actions do not make up for her racism
ReplyDeleteI dont really understand the part that includes the Egyptian night
ReplyDeleteThere is a bible story that tells of Moses delivering the isrealites from the egyptian bondage. however, once they were freed Moses led them into the wilderness. It was in the wilderness they began to complain and murmur because they felt that they were going to go hungry. He used this as an analogy that the uncivilized will not want to be delivered from bondage, but rather cling to it. What we think is bondage, is thier way of life and if we do save them, we can expect no thanks.
DeleteThere is a bible story that tells of Moses delivering the isrealites from the egyptian bondage. however, once they were freed Moses led them into the wilderness. It was in the wilderness they began to complain and murmur because they felt that they were going to go hungry. He used this as an analogy that the uncivilized will not want to be delivered from bondage, but rather cling to it. What we think is bondage, is thier way of life and if we do save them, we can expect no thanks.
Delete