Page 198 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“If— ”
by Rudyard Kipling, pages 79-80

Vocabulary
knaves – male servants
sinew – muscle

1. The poem seems to be a long list of ‘ifs’. What is the ‘then’?

2. What, according to the speaker, are the qualities of a Man?

3. Describe in your own words what Kipling meant when he wrote, “If you can dream—and
not make dreams your master.”

4. To whom does it seem Kipling wrote this poem?

5. According to the last few lines of this poem, what does the speaker feel is the most
important goal in a young boy’s life?

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