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Overview
“The White Man’s Burden” is a controversial poem composed by the British Victorian writer Rudyard Kipling
. The poem was first published in 1899, during a power struggle that erupted in the Philippines after the United States annexed it—along with Guam and Puerto Rico—at the end of the Spanish-American War. The poem offers a rousing call for the United States to “take up the White Man’s burden” and commit itself to imperial expansion. Despite the challenges involved in such a project, Kipling’s speaker insists that imperialism is a moral imperative. The poem had an influence on contemporary American politicians, who ultimately agreed with Kipling’s celebration of the morality of empire. However, many critics both during and since Kipling’s time have denounced the poem as a racist apology for imperialism.Read the free full text, a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “The White Man's Burden.”
