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Kipling’s “If” and Irony-Hunting
28 March 2025
Episode 5.09 - Kipling’s “If” and Irony-Hunting
Where do we find irony, anyway? And how? An answer in an offer of cheese.
===
Chapters
00:00 Cheese, Please
06:00 Opening Theme
06:40 Yes, But Is It Irony?
15:17 It’s Like, Literally, Everywhere
26:26 Reading of “If—“
28:32 If There’s Irony in “If”
42:33 Mailbag: Other Literary Terms?
45:51 Outro and Credits
===
“Suicide’s Note” by Langston Hughes:
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
===
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks:
We Real Cool
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
===
“If—” by Rudyard Kipling:
(from ‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)
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 impostors 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 worn-out 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 breathe 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!
===
Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/
Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/MmhqcGgeLcjCaVK97
Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-09-kiplings-if-and-irony-hunting
What are your thoughts on our discussion? Email me: [email protected]
===
Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.
Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.
Website: https://waywordsstudio.com
Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/
Instagram: @WaywordsStudio
Facebook: Waywords.Studio
YouTube: Waywords Studio
LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio
CREDITS:
Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)
Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski
USING THIS WORK:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.
MLA CITATION:
Chisnell, Steve. “Kipling’s ‘If’ and Irony-Hunting.” Waywords Studio, 28 March 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/kiplings-if-and-irony-hunting
View all episodes
By Steve Chisnell
5
22 ratings
28 March 2025
Episode 5.09 - Kipling’s “If” and Irony-Hunting
Where do we find irony, anyway? And how? An answer in an offer of cheese.
===
Chapters
00:00 Cheese, Please
06:00 Opening Theme
06:40 Yes, But Is It Irony?
15:17 It’s Like, Literally, Everywhere
26:26 Reading of “If—“
28:32 If There’s Irony in “If”
42:33 Mailbag: Other Literary Terms?
45:51 Outro and Credits
===
“Suicide’s Note” by Langston Hughes:
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
===
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks:
We Real Cool
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
===
“If—” by Rudyard Kipling:
(from ‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)
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 impostors 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 worn-out 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 breathe 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!
===
Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/
Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/MmhqcGgeLcjCaVK97
Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-09-kiplings-if-and-irony-hunting
What are your thoughts on our discussion? Email me: [email protected]
===
Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.
Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.
Website: https://waywordsstudio.com
Newsletter: https://waywordsstudio.kit.com/
Instagram: @WaywordsStudio
Facebook: Waywords.Studio
YouTube: Waywords Studio
LinkedIn: Waywords-Studio
CREDITS:
Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)
Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski
USING THIS WORK:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.
MLA CITATION:
Chisnell, Steve. “Kipling’s ‘If’ and Irony-Hunting.” Waywords Studio, 28 March 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/kiplings-if-and-irony-hunting