The White Man's Burden

I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere Rudyard Kiplings digt "The White Man's Burden", som kan findes i antologien Wider Contexts (s. 261-264). Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten, samt idéer til fortolkning og perspektivering.

Præsentation af digtet

Titel: “The White Man’s Burden” (1899) (Hvid mands byrde)
Forfatter: Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1935) var en britisk journalist og forfatter fra den viktorianske periode. Kipling blev født i Indian, men fik sin uddannelse i England. Kipling støttede generelt op for tanken om det britiske imperium, og skrev mange tekster om imperiets positive indflydelse på Indien. Selvom mange af Kiplings holdninger i dag anses for kontroversielle eller ligefrem racistiske, så er han stadig anerkendt for sit forfatterskab – især hans bidrag til børnelitteraturen med romaner som The Jungle Book (1884) og Kim (1901). I 1907 modtog Kipling Nobelprisen i litteratur.

"The White Man's Burden" er i dag et meget kontroversielt og berygtet digt, da det indeholder et budskab om imperiets kulturelle overlegenhed og opdragende funktion i forhold til mere 'primitive' folkeslag.

Uddrag

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Title

The title “The White Man’s Burden” suggests that the poem will explore certain difficulties that the White Man specifically has to deal with. The reference to the White Man further suggests that the poem will explore racial relations.

In the first stanza, the speaker describes what the White Man must do (p. 262, ll. 1-8). This reveals that the White Man’s burden is to civilise native people by colonising them. The speaker also hints that this is a sacrifice – as the white people must send their best men “to exile” to serve whom he believes to be culturally backward and wild native peoples.

This difficult endeavour becomes a burden in other ways, which are described in the following stanzas. For example, the White Man’s civilising efforts could be spoiled by laziness and ignorance: “Watch Sloth and heathen Folly/Bring all your hopes to nought” (p. 262, ll. 25-26).

Moreover, the speaker states that the natives will not understand the White Man and will judge him and his ways: “The blame of those ye better/The hate of those ye guard”(p. 263, ll. 3-4); “The silent, sullen peoples/Shall weigh your gods and you” (p. 263, ll. 16-17).