ICSE Class IX Solved Sample Paper – Poem

If – A Poem by Rudyard Kipling

Contextual Question (Courtesy – Michael Shane Calvert)

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:

i) Why does the poet want his son not to be tired of waiting? What should he wait for?

The poet wants all the growing boys not to be tired of waiting because the poet wants all boys to have patience for the results of their hard work to materialise.
He should wait for the course of events to happen.

ii) What advice had been given to the son earlier in this context?

Earlier in the context, the poet had advised his son(s) to be patient and not to be tired of waiting. The poet had also advised his son(s) not to tell lies under any circumstances.

iii) Why do people hate others? What should the son do in case he is hated?

There are some people who hate others because they are malicious (harmful) by nature. This makes them jealous of others’ prosperity and success and this is the reason why they give in to the vice of hating others.
If the son is hated by someone, he should not hate him; instead he should react to him positively with love, which can turn even an enemy into a friend.

iv) What does the poet expect of his son if others resort to lies?


If everyone around the poet’s son is lying, he should not start to tell lies. He should remain truthful even in the most trying conditions.

v) Why shouldn’t the son “look too good or two wise?”


“Looking too good or too wise” will not be a good proposition because that will be showing vanity and everybody knows that vanity causes a fall.

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