If by Rudyard Kipling

A recital of extracts from "If", a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was written in 1895 and first published in 1910 in the Brother Square Toes chapter of Rewards and Fairies, a collection of short stories and poems by Kipling. "If" was voted Britain's favorite poem in a 1995 BBC opinion poll.

The full text of the poem is below, with the extracts included in the video enclosed in quotation marks "":

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;"
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

"If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;"

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Poetry
• Rudyard
• Kipling
• If
• If you can keep your head
• recital

[dfpv3]

This is absolutely the best reading of "If" on YouTube (and I should know I've just cycled through a dozen of them by people who frankly shouldn't be trusted to read train timetables).

It is however a damn shame that it's not the full poem.

[x534n1]

best recital I have seen. I just wish the poem was in it's entirety.

[Terrakinetic]

I think it would have sounded better if he sounded more like an old man.

[Howardsend88]

to say that this way the best on u tube would be so corny..... but forgive me... but it is, makes you feel alive does this

[charlessealey491]

Who is this eading it? I would like to hear more!

[lollyclan]

Beautiful; thanks. Perhaps "If" needs to be compulsory for our school children.. in my dreams...

[toroza159]

I would love to hear his version of St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V. (We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...)

[strovolos69]

**

Super well done! I love this poem since I was a teenager! Congratulations from Brazil!

[Riddles2007]

This is a great reading, I just wish iut had been done in full - as many have said before me - this has great pace, perfect pronunciation, it couldn't be better except if it were in full.

[paleopaladin]

For everyone: to clarify @movieniels's comment, he means you can find a complete TEXT of the poem...not a complete version of THIS reading (which is what all of us here are interested in).