by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
Question
Use the poem to answer the question.
Which answer choice explains an accurate conclusion based on the poem’s structure?
(1 point)
Responses
It is a variation on the traditional sonnet form in which the speaker talks directly to the reader.
It is a variation on the traditional sonnet form in which the speaker talks directly to the reader.
It is a litany poem in which the speaker, a father, uses second-person narration to give advice to his son.
It is a litany poem in which the speaker, a father, uses second-person narration to give advice to his son.
It is a sonnet that follows an ABAB rhyme scheme and uses second-person narration.
It is a sonnet that follows an ABAB rhyme scheme and uses second-person narration.
It is a litany poem organized into four quatrains that gives advice to the reader.
It is a litany poem organized into four quatrains that gives advice to the reader.
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1 answer
The correct answer choice that explains an accurate conclusion based on the poem’s structure is:
It is a litany poem in which the speaker, a father, uses second-person narration to give advice to his son.
The poem "If—" by Rudyard Kipling does indeed offer a series of conditional statements (a litany) that serve as advice from a father to a son, and it consistently utilizes second-person narration throughout.
