Themes and message

The main theme of the poem “The Real White Man’s Burden” by Ernest Crosby is imperial hypocrisy with regards to the colonies. Equally, the poem is about a decadent society. 

Imperial hypocrisy

As you have seen, though the poem’s tone is serious, the actual meaning of what is being depicted in the text is actually critical and ironic.

By listing how empires act in their colonies in the form of ‘how they should act’, the poet shows that imperial policies are actually selfish and hypocritical, and have no genuine civilizing benefit. At first, he simply lists such hypocritical actions:

“They owe a debt, indeed;
Concessions, pensions, salaries,
And privilege and right,
With outstretched hands you raise to bless
Grab everything in sight.” (ll. 32-36)

In t...