RUDYARD KIPLING AND ANALYSIS OF “THE

MISSION OF THE COLONISER” + TRANSLATION IN

ITALIAN

 LIFE
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, in 1865 from British parents.
At the age of 6, as custom of the British upper class, he was sent to England to attend
school, where he remained till the age of 17. Once he returned to India, Kipling began
working as a journalist and meanwhile started writing his first poems and short stories.
After 1882, when he left India for good, the writer traveled a lot between England and
United States.
Finally in 1896 Kipling established himself in England, where he continued writing, and in
1907 he was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel for Literature.
The writer is called death in 1936.

 STYLE AND MAJOR WORKS

Kipling, in all his works, exalted the imperial power and believed in the White’s Man
Burden, that can be described as the civilization’s mission of the British man.
This vision is perfectly notable in his masterpieces Kim and The Jungle Book, whose both
main characters represent citizens of two different worlds. Indeed, the writer was able
to portray not only exponents of the British upper-class, but also natives.
In his short-stories, Kipling often employ the “frame story” method, which consist in
telling a story to which are related different tales.

 THE MISSION OF THE COLONISER

The white man's burden is a poem, written by Kipling in 1899. It is a manifesto of
Imperialism, and the most important concept is the white man's burden, because British
believed in the superiority of white men, who had the duty to colonize black people,
who didn't have laws, civilization, and social order. The author wrote this poem also to
give a warning to USA, after the annexation of the Philippines.

FIRST STANZA: in the first stanza Kipling is talking to white men, and he tells them to
send their best men to do their work, which was to colonize black people. They are
defined on line 6 7 and 8 as wild, and half-devil land half-child. He is also underlining
that they must work very hard to colonize black people.
SECOND STANZA: in the second stanza Kipling uses the word "patience", that is very
important because he wants to say that the white men must be patient and hide their
terror because these are scary populations.
§Then he says that these people can be helped by using simple words that they can
learn and understand.
On line 15 and 16 we can see an example of hypocrisy; in fact, the author underlines
that white men thinks that they are doing something for the others, but in reality, they
are doing it for themselves.

THIRD STANZA: in the third stanza the author talks about the wars of peace they had to
fought, because he wants to say that they must do everything they can to maintain the
peace, even kill colonized people. In the last two lines of this stanza, he says to the white
men to watch their efforts going to nothing, underlining that this population won't be
grateful for their help and so, they have to stay calm and not become mad at them.

FOURTH STANZA: In the last stanza Kipling talks about the fact that the white men have
to work like slaves to complete their work, but at the end of the job they won't receive a
prize, but they will die. And often this job was useless because they could find rebellious
and violent people.
 *All the information present il the document has been extracted from the book Performer Heritage

 TRADUZIONE
Raccogli il fardello dell’Uomo Bianco Raccogli il fardello dell’Uomo Bianco
Disperdi il fiore della tua progenie Le barbare guerre della pace
Obbliga i tuoi figli all’esilio Riempi la bocca della Carestia
Per assolvere le necessità dei tuoi prigionieri; E fa’ cessare la malattia;
Per vegliare pesantemente ornati E quando più la mèta è vicina,
Su gente inquieta e selvaggia – Popoli da poco Il fine per altri perseguito,
sottomessi, riottosi, Metà demoni e metà Osserva l’Ignavia e la Follia pagana Annientare
bambini. la tua speranza.
Raccogli il fardello dell’Uomo Bianco Raccogli il fardello dell’Uomo Bianco
Resistere con pazienza, Non sgargiante governo di re,
Celare la minaccia del terrore Ma fatica di servo e di spazzino –
E frenare l’esibizione dell’orgoglio; La storia delle cose comuni.
In parole semplici e chiare, I porti in cui non entrerai
Cento volte rese evidenti, Le strade che non percorrerai
Cercare l’altrui vantaggio, Le costruirai con i tuoi vivi,
E produrre l’altrui guadagno. E le contrassegnerai con i tuoi morti.