If—: Themes | SparkNotes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Need for a “stiff upper lip”

Critics have often cited “If—” as a shining example of British stoicism, which is characterized by its emphasis on remaining emotionally reserved in the face of adversity. This emphasis on the ability to endure pain or hardship without complaint is captured in the British idiom of “keeping a stiff upper lip.” Whereas a lip that trembles would reveal vulnerability, the “stiff upper lip” maintains a stoic presentation of absolute reserve and emotional stability. The speaker of “If—” spends much of the poem describing hypothetical situations that would test a person’s ability to remain stoic. For one key example, consider the first four lines of the third stanza (lines 17–20):

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.

The first three lines describe a situation where a gambler bets everything and loses all. Surely, such a total loss would threaten to provoke a strong emotional reaction. However, the speaker uses this scenario to set up the appropriate response. The proper, stoic response would be to dismiss all feelings of disappointment or anger, start over, and “never breathe a word about your loss.” Many of the hypothetical scenarios described by the speaker evoke similar tests of emotional stability, implying the stiff upper lip as an essential character trait.

The Virtue of Self-Regulation

The key to maintaining a stiff upper lip is to cultivate the virtue of self-regulation. Yet as the speaker of “If—” suggests, self-regulation isn’t simply a matter of keeping your emotions in check. Instead, you can only achieve self-regulation by maintaining a balance between self-restraint and self-confidence. Rarely in the poem does the speaker advocate for self-restraint without also implying the importance of self-confidence. Consider these lines from the opening stanza (lines 2–3):

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.

Here, the speaker describes a form of self-confidence that doesn’t falter when others doubt, but which nonetheless takes others’ doubt under consideration for the purpose of self-improvement. Elsewhere, the speaker makes a similar point in more general terms:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim.

In these lines (lines 9–10), the speaker insists on the need to “dream” and “think,” and therefore to have confidence in your ability to imagine new possibilities. However, it’s vital to balance the imagination with a pragmatism that reins in your most fanciful “thoughts” and “dreams.” According to the speaker, then, the true virtue isn’t simply to be stoic; it’s to practice a form of restrained self-confidence.

The Masculine Ideal

Everything the speaker says in the poem about maintaining a stiff upper lip and practicing self-regulation ultimately relates to his vision of what makes a man a man. Indeed, the poem’s long series of hypothetical “if” statements finds its conclusion in the final lines of the poem (lines 29–32), where the speaker reveals his emphasis on an ideal form of masculinity:

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!

Here, the speaker finally clarifies that the “you” he’s been addressing all along is his son. In making this revelation, the speaker also clarifies that his primary motivation for speaking is that his son should grow up understanding what it means to be a man. Thus, it turns out that the whole poem is an extended conditional statement made up of many hypothetical “if” clauses, all of which lead to a conclusion about masculinity. To simplify the point, we can model the poem’s overall structure as follows:

If you can be ____, ____, and ____, then you’ll be a man.

Each of the blanks in the model above represents an adjective describing a key masculine character trait, such as levelheaded, self-assured, or humble. Taken together, these traits help define what it means to be a proper man.