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Metaphor

Kipling uses metaphor to develop his central conceit of “the White Man’s burden.” Recall that a metaphor (MEH-tuh-for) is a figure of speech that involves comparing two unlike things, but without using the explicit language of comparison. This is precisely what Kipling does in the poem’s opening stanza, where the speaker addresses imperial powers and calls on them to make a major sacrifice (lines 2–6):

         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.

The image of the “heavy harness” is key here, as it implicitly likens the “sons” of Western nations to beasts of burden. These sons will take on the metaphorical burden of the ox, whose heavy harness is attached to the plow used to prepare soil for planting. As metaphorical oxen, the supposedly best-bred men from the center of empire will till the soil of foreign lands, readying the ground for cultivation. The implied image of cultivation serves as a further metaphor for the development of civilization. Symbolically, the cultivation of land goes hand in hand with the elevation of culture. This agricultural metaphor returns in lines 33–36:

     Take up the White Man's burden—
         And reap his old reward, 
     The blame of those ye better,
         The hate of those ye guard.

Here, the speaker makes the ironic acknowledgment that, despite his efforts to improve the metaphorical soil of other lands, the only harvest he’s likely to “reap” is malcontent.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that involves the juxtaposition of two apparently contradictory terms. Kipling uses this poetic device to powerful effect in lines 17–20:

     Take up the White Man's burden—
         The savage wars of peace—
     Fill full the mouth of famine
         And bid the sickness cease.

In addition to being one of the most famous lines in the poem, the phrase “savage wars of peace” offers a classic example of oxymoron. The conjunction of “savage wars” and “peace” seems obviously contradictory. Yet it is equally clear that the speaker doesn’t consider these terms to be truly at odds. From their perspective, the need to conduct “savage wars of peace” is just another aspect of “the White Man’s burden.” In this regard, Kipling’s phrase highlights a central tension at the heart of any imperial project: the empire uses force to subjugate and control a foreign population, but it claims to do so in order to improve their living conditions. The speaker makes this perspective clear in the final two lines quoted above, where they envision the end of hunger and disease. If empire engages in “savage wars” to establish “peace,” then, according to the speaker, the ends justify the means.

Refrain

The term refrain refers to any word, phrase, or line that gets repeated over the course of a poem. Refrain is perhaps the most obvious and significant poetic device Kipling uses in his poem. Indeed, each of the work’s seven stanzas opens the same way: “Take up the White Man’s burden” (lines 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, and 49). The repetition of this line at the top of every stanza is meant to have an energizing and galvanizing effect. The speaker isn’t simply asking the reader to consider the idea of the white man’s burden; they are calling on us actively to adopt this burden. Furthermore, by repeating this call, the speaker insists on the urgent need for participation, which in turn cultivates a sense of self-importance in the reader. Despite the various challenges that make the white man’s burden specifically burdensome, the poem’s refrain calls on us to accept a role that, though requiring sacrifice, also guarantees honor. Of course, the refrain’s rhetorical power depends on a reader who both identifies as white and agrees politically with the project of imperial expansion. For other readers, the speaker’s refrain is little more than a racist expression of white supremacy.

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