Examiners should be alert to a variety of responses and should reward points
that are clearly based on comparison of the two poems. Evidence of a degree of
personal response must be given. It is not sufficient to summarise or
paraphrase, nor is it sufficient simply to list literary devices.
If
Responses may include:
• this motivational poem gives encouragement and advice to a young person on
how to live their life. The poem is a dramatic monologue addressed to the writer’s
son, John, although it can be read as being relevant to young people in general.
The poem presents the speaker’s stoical views about life and offers guidance and
advice from an older to a younger man (a father to his son) through conditional
clauses throughout
• much of the poem works with a series of contrasts to convey feelings: trust and
doubt, triumph and disaster, kings and common touch; hopes and fears are
important, but Kipling warns against placing too much importance on either and
advises striving for a balanced, equilibrial approach to life
• the poem has very regular rhyme and rhythm that work together with the
repeated pattern of ‘If’, ‘And’, and ‘Or’ at the beginnings of lines to present future
possibilities
• there is, however, some variation in the rhyming words, which are sometimes
single-syllable words (‘lies’ and ‘wise’), and sometimes two or more (‘waiting’ and
‘hating’). Kipling repeats ‘you’ and ‘you’ as the first rhyme, stressing the didactic
nature of the poem and mirroring the narrator’s hopes and fears for the future
when giving his advice
• ‘Triumph’ and ‘Disaster’ are personified as if to indicate that they can take a
human form but nonetheless are ‘impostors’ and therefore should not be given
too much importance; the third stanza develops the way to treat Triumph and,
especially, Disaster. The abstract nouns are written with a capital letter:
‘Triumph’, ‘Disaster’, ‘Will’
that are clearly based on comparison of the two poems. Evidence of a degree of
personal response must be given. It is not sufficient to summarise or
paraphrase, nor is it sufficient simply to list literary devices.
If
Responses may include:
• this motivational poem gives encouragement and advice to a young person on
how to live their life. The poem is a dramatic monologue addressed to the writer’s
son, John, although it can be read as being relevant to young people in general.
The poem presents the speaker’s stoical views about life and offers guidance and
advice from an older to a younger man (a father to his son) through conditional
clauses throughout
• much of the poem works with a series of contrasts to convey feelings: trust and
doubt, triumph and disaster, kings and common touch; hopes and fears are
important, but Kipling warns against placing too much importance on either and
advises striving for a balanced, equilibrial approach to life
• the poem has very regular rhyme and rhythm that work together with the
repeated pattern of ‘If’, ‘And’, and ‘Or’ at the beginnings of lines to present future
possibilities
• there is, however, some variation in the rhyming words, which are sometimes
single-syllable words (‘lies’ and ‘wise’), and sometimes two or more (‘waiting’ and
‘hating’). Kipling repeats ‘you’ and ‘you’ as the first rhyme, stressing the didactic
nature of the poem and mirroring the narrator’s hopes and fears for the future
when giving his advice
• ‘Triumph’ and ‘Disaster’ are personified as if to indicate that they can take a
human form but nonetheless are ‘impostors’ and therefore should not be given
too much importance; the third stanza develops the way to treat Triumph and,
especially, Disaster. The abstract nouns are written with a capital letter:
‘Triumph’, ‘Disaster’, ‘Will’
