Previous

Rudyard Kipling, “If—”

Students of “The White Man’s Burden” would profit from reading “If—,” another one of Kipling’s influential poems. Despite having very different subject matter, Kipling wrote both poems in direct response to events directly connected to imperialism. In addition to this historical and political connection, both poems are also preoccupied with conservative Victorian ideas about masculinity.

Claude McKay, “If We Must Die”

Written by the Jamaican poet Claude McKay, “If We Must Die” offers a powerful response to the infamous “Red Summer” of 1919, during which the United States experienced an upsurge in brutal anti-Black violence. As a work that highlights the need to resist white supremacy and the violence that accompanies it, McKay’s sonnet offers an important counterpoint to the racism that underlies Kipling’s poem.

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Achebe’s justly famous novel from 1958 offers another important counterpoint to “The White Man’s Burden.” Kipling’s poem justifies imperial expansion as a moral imperative that reflects the inherent superiority of Western nations. By contrast, Things Fall Apart provides a harrowing account of how imperialism, despite its claim to be a “civilizing mission,” nonetheless lays waste to entire cultures and ways of being.
 

Previous section Historical Context

Take a Study Break