White Man's Burden - A Closer Look
| AP Psychology | Current Events | Resource Room (SETSS) |
|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Periods 3 & 5 | Period 8 |
| Mr. Ott | Mr. Ott | Mr. Ott |
Aim: How do the poems "White Man's Burden", "Poor Man's Burden", and "Black Man's Burden" compare and change over time?
Do Now: What is "Social Darwinism"? Give an example of its use and/or effects.
Lesson Overview:
| Item | Approx Time |
| Do Now | 3-5 Min |
| Activity | 25 Min |
| Discussion | 10 Min |
Group Instructions
- In your folder you will find three (2) poems
- In your group, choose two (2) people to read each poem.
- Each student will read their assigned reading for 8-10 minutes and use “Stop & Jot” to take annotations.
- After everyone is completed, each student will explain their text to the group in a conference. (10-15 min)
- Each student will complete a comparative analysis worksheet with assistance from the other students.
- Students should be prepared to discuss their findings.
Vocabulary
| Word (Definition) | Word (Definition) | Word (Definition) |
| burden (a load, especially a heavy one) | heathen (uncivilized) | humbug (deceptive or false talk or behavior) |
| pious (religious) | folly (foolishness) | serf (servant) |
| brook (tolerate) | nought (nothing) | veil (hide) |
| sullen (grim, gloomy) | tawdry (cheap & showy) | cloke (cover) |
| abide (tolerate) | toil (work) | check (restrain) |
| famine (hunger) | weigh (judge) | proffered (offered) |
| ceases (end) | sloth (laziness) | ungrudged (without bitterness) |
Historical Analysis
“The White Man’s Burden,” published in 1899 in McClure’s magazine, is one of Kipling’s most infamous poems. It has been lauded and reviled in equal measure and has come to stand as the major articulation of the Occident’s rapacious and all-encompassing imperialist ambitions in the Orient. The poem was initially composed for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee but Kipling decided to submit “Recessional” instead. Kipling, observing the events across the Atlantic in the Spanish-American War, sent this to then-governor of New York Theodore Roosevelt as a warning regarding the dangers of obtaining and sustaining an empire. Roosevelt would then forward the poem to his friend Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.”
The poem is seven stanzas long with a traditional rhyme scheme. It exhorts the reader to take up the white man’s burden by sending the best of their country to dark, uncivilized places of the earth. There they should try to end famine and disease and serve their new captives - the native peoples. The poem smacks of cultural imperialism, with the superior English going into a country of “sullen” brutes and imposing their civilizing behaviors and institutions. There is, of course, a mentality of the Social Gospel idea of philanthropy, which said that the rich and powerful had an obligation to assist the impoverished and the sick. While not necessarily a bad idea, it was still underlain with assumptions about racial superiority and helped to further more nefarious ways of establishing hegemony.
The racism is quite manifest. The native, “captive peoples” are “sullen peoples, / Half-devil and half-child”. They are being brought toward the light, but act indignant and ungrateful toward those who want to better them. Of course this attitude is understandable to us today – why would colonial subjects avidly embrace the violent, debasing imperialist impulses of other nations? – but Kipling seems to marvel that these people would not jump up in thanks to their "civilizing" conquerors.
The racism and acclaim for imperialism cannot be ignored, but Kipling did not intend the poem to be viewed as unqualified support of the imperialist endeavor; in fact, a more careful reading will reveal that Kipling was offering warnings to those who sought to undertake such actions. He warns against allowing sloth and folly to take over; laziness and debauched behavior can quickly derail noble goals. He also cautions patience, and tries to make it clear that this work is difficult and burdensome – it is the “toil of serf and sweeper,” not the “tawdry rule of kings”. He tells them they will encounter resistance and hostility but must push through. Some of the most stirring lines are: “Take up the White Man's burden-- / Have done with childish days-- / The lightly proffered laurel, / The easy, ungrudged praise”. Those who worked in the colonies must grow up quickly and understand that they will work hard and perhaps not earn the frequent and unfettered praise they might have expected.
Despite its more nuanced message, the phrase “the white man’s burden” became a euphemism for imperialism. Criticism of the poem has endured. Parodies were written early; “The Brown Man’s Burden” by Henry Lambuchere and H.T. Johnson’s “The Black Man’s Burden” are two such examples, both written in 1899. The German-American political theorists/philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote in her famous discussion of imperialism in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) that “the fact that the ‘White Man’s burden is either hypocrisy or racism has not prevented a few of the best Englishmen from shouldering the burden in earnest and making themselves the tragic and quixotic fools of imperialism.”
Classwork & Homework
Lesson Video:
Lesson Activity:
- Kippling - White Man's Burden Poem
- McNeill - Poor Man's Burden Poem
- Johnson - Black Man's Burden Poem
Extension:
Homework: Assignments
Special Education Modifications
- Teaching Model: Co-Teaching
- Special Education Teacher will work with All students General Ed and Special Ed.
- Special Ed Students:
- Teacher will read-aloud to students when necessary.
- Teachers will break down assignments into smaller tasks.
- Teachers will work with students on vocabulary acquisition by breaking down words into prefixes/suffixes and etymology.
- Teachers will group students according to learning style inventory as a homogeneous group.
- Teachers will keep students on-task by managing distractions and on-task behavior.
- Teachers will modify note-taking by modeling notes from PowerPoint to chalkboard/whiteboard.
- Teachers will differentiate lessons by using; verbal cues for auditory learners, graphic organizers for visual learners, and hands-on cues for tactile learners.
- Special Ed Students: