If - Rudyard Kipling: Answers to Contextual Questions

If - Rudyard Kipling

Contextual Questions:-

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;

i) Do you think the poet values dreams? How?

There is no doubt that the poet does so.

However, he advises all the growing boys of the world not to be too absorbed in them, lest they should lose their touch with the stark realities.

ii) Why should the son not make dreams his master?

That will be foolish to do so because it will make him idle as he will then always be dreaming instead of trying hard to make his dreams real.

iii) What would happen if one made thoughts the sole aim of one's life?

If one made thoughts the sole aim of one's life, one would never achieve greatness or prosperity. He would never become a real man as he would always go on thinking instead of converting them into actions.

iv) Who are the two impostors referred to here? How should the son deal with them?

Triumph and disaster are the two impostors referred to here.

The son should deal with Triumph and Disaster (the two abstract nouns have been personified here) in a mood of calm indifference. He should not be overjoyed by triumphs nor should he feel distracted by defeats.


v) What literary device has been used in these lines? Point out its significance.

The literary device of personification has been used in these lines.

Triumph and disaster, which are abstract nouns, have been vested with human qualities to make them humans like us. Kipling does this to add drama to this line of the verse.