Alejandro, Jeremie F.

BSED 3-1A

TASK 6

Read again the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling and answer the following guide

questions briefly. Indicate your name and course/section.

1. Who may be speaker of the poem?

 Therefore the speaker in the poem is the poet Shel Silverstein.

2. Who is being addressed?

 In Rudyard Kipling's piece of didactic poetry “If,” he is speaking to his only son, John. In

the poem, he addresses his son as “you,” while he provides instruction on becoming a

man of virtue.

3. If by chance you have power to solve one national problem, what would it be

and why?

 If I’m going to have a power, I’ll choose to eliminate corrupt people in government for

the reason of they are the roots of everything such as extreme poverty, hunger etc. and

those national problems affect many innocent people even the children.

4. What are the good virtues of a man according to the selection? Are they

realistic? Why?

 According to Rudyard Kipling the qualities needed to be a “perfect” man include: self-

worth, compassion for mankind, a strong work ethic, the ability to interact with those

from all walks of life while not stooping to the pettiness of others, and to care about
 others while maintaining self-dignity. And Yes they are realistic, because I saw and

witness those characteristics to my father and to my husband.

5. What is the message of the poem?

 The poem If can be viewed as a set of guidelines on how to live and act with integrity and

right values such that one becomes the ideal human. Each of the four stanzas deals with

different life situations and the best way to act during them, the poem If does not have a

conspicuous physical setting. However, after reading the poem, one can visualize a scene

in which a father is speaking to his son and giving him the most valuable life lesson on

how to become a complete man. The token of personal philosophy and wisdom which the

father imparts to his son has universal validity.