A summary of the poem articulates several things about the Occidentals ambitions upon the Orients. When he says take up the White Man's burden, he simply means to send the best men abroad and your son’s into exile to offer service to the captives who are wild, angry, “Half Devil and half-child”. He repeats that you …show more content…
The governor then sent forwarded the poem to one of his friends, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge with a comment that it was rather poor but with a good sense of view.
The poem is an exhortation to the reader to take up the white man’s burden by sending their best men and sons into the dark, the uncivilized grounds on earth. Kipling in his poem urges the reader to try and make an end to diseases and famine, as well as become servants to their new captives as in the lines “Fill full the mouth of Famine” and “And bid the sickness cease;” (Jason 2002).
The poem clearly speaks of cultural imperialism through the English men getting their way into the land of “sullen” brutes and impose their institutions and bring civilization into being. Reading through the poem reveals the mentality of Social Gospel of philanthropy, which declares that the rich and the powerful had an obligation to offer their help to the sick and impoverished. This sounds like a good idea but still the poem has some hidden assumptions on the superiority of race. The poem can, therefore, be depicted as facilitating further the despicable ways of establishing …show more content…
He issues warning against allowing reluctance to work and stupidity to take over. He puts it that laziness and decadent behaviour can swiftly wreck their noble ambitions. He warns the reader that they should anticipate resistance and hostility but must never give up their goals. Some of the stirring lines of the poem are: “Take up the White Man’s burden/ Have done with childish days/ The lightly proffered laurel, /The easy ungrudging praise". He warns that those who will work at the colonies must build their minds quickly and take not that they will