The White Man's Burden

This study guide will help you analyse “The White Man’s Burden” (1899) by Rudyard Kipling. You can also find a summary of the poem, as well as inspiration for interpreting it and putting it into perspective. This study guide also includes a page in Danish, “Forstå teksten”, which helps you understand what each stanza is about.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1935) was a British journalist and author from the Victorian age. He was born in India, but received his education in England. Kipling generally supported the idea of the British Empire in his writing. Although many of his views are today considered controversial or downright racist, he is still recognised for his writing – particularly his contribution to children's literature with novels such as The Jungle Book (1884). In 1907, Kipling received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Here you can read an extract from the study guide:

The poem contains a central allusion to the Biblical story of the Israelites in Egypt who were freed from slavery by Moses who opened their eyes to God. However, they initially longed to go back to slavery because that was what they knew. The allusion reads:

‘Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?’

The allusion helps make the point that the ignorant colonised peoples do not know what is best for them. They will long for their former primitive ways, at least in the beginning. This is underlined by the fact that the night serves as a symbol of dark ignorance, again portraying the colonised as people who cannot make their own decisions but must be led by someone more mature and civilised, i.e. the white man.