puisi ini awalnya diterbitkan di majalah mcclure's tahun 1899 dengan subjudul the united states and the philippine islands."the white man's burden".
mcclure's magazine 12 (feb. 1899).
puisi ini juga awalnya ditulis dalam rangka diamond jubilee ratu victoria, tetapi diganti dengan puisi "recessional"; kipling memasukkan kata "burden" untuk mencerminkan kolonisasi amerika serikat di filipina yang baru saja mengalahkan spanyol dalam perang spanyolamerika serikat.stephen greenblatt (ed.), norton anthology of english literature, new york 2006 isbn 0-393-92532-3.
puisi ini terdiri dari tujuh stanza dengan skema rima yang teratur.
secara gamblang, puisi ini tampak seperti perintah retoris kepada orang kulit putih untuk mengkoloni dan menguasai negara lain demi keuntungan orang kulit putih (baik rakyat maupun tugasnya dianggap mewakili kata "burden" atau "beban" di judul puisi).
meski puisi kipling mencampurkan desakan kolonisasi dengan peringatan akan biaya kolonisasi, kaum imperialis di amerika serikat menafsirkan frasa "beban orang kulit putih" sebagai pembenaran bahwa imperialisme adalah hal yang terhormat.
p. 5: "...imperialist editors came out in favor of retaining the entire archipelago (using) higher-sounding justifications related to the "white man's burden.": "theodore roosevelt...thought the verses 'rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansionist stand-point'.
henry cabot lodge told roosevelt in turn: 'i like it.
i think it is better poetry than you say'."examples of justification for imperialism based on kipling's poem include the following (originally published 18991902):
: "an extraordinary sensation has been created by mr. rudyard kipling's new poem, the white man's burden, just published in a new york magazine.
it is regarded as the strongest argument yet published in favor of expansion."
. full text of a novel by thomas dixon praising the ku klux klan, published online by the university of north carolina at chapel hill.: charactising the poem as a "call to imperial conquest".
karena tema dan judulnya, puisi ini menjadi lambang rasisme eurosentris dan aspirasi barat untuk mendominasi negara-negara berkembang."eurocentrism".
in encyclopedia of the developing world.
ed. thomas m. leonard, taylor &
francis, 2006, isbn 0-415-97662-6, p. 636.chisholm, michael (1982).
modern world development: a geographical perspective.
littlefield, 1982, isbn 0-389-20320-3, p.12.mama, amina (1995).
beyond the masks: race, gender, and subjectivity.
routledge, 1995, isbn 0-415-03544-9, p. 39.
satu abad setelah terbit, puisi ini masih membangkitkan emosi yang kuat dan dapat dianalisis dari berbagai sudut pandang.
judul asli: "the white man's burden: the united states and the philippine islands"
original published version
take up the white man's burden, send forth the best ye breed
go bind your sons to exile, to serve your captives' need;
to wait in heavy harness, on fluttered folk and wild
your new-caught, sullen peoples, half-devil and half-child.
take up the white man's burden, in patience to abide,
to veil the threat of terror and check the show of pride;
by open speech and simple, an hundred times made plain
to seek another's profit, and work another's gain.
take up the white man's burden, the savage wars of peace
fill full the mouth of famine and bid the sickness cease;
and when your goal is nearest the end for others sought,
watch sloth and heathen folly bring all your hopes to nought.
take up the white man's burden, no tawdry rule of kings,
but toil of serf and sweeper, the tale of common things.
the ports ye shall not enter, the roads ye shall not tread,
go mark"the white man's burden".
mcclure's magazine 12 (feb. 1899).
them with your living, and mark them with your dead.
take up the white man's burden and reap his old reward:
the blame of those ye better, the hate of those ye guard
the cry of hosts ye humour (ah, slowly!) toward the light:
"why brought he us from bondage, our loved egyptian night?"
take up the white man's burden, ye dare not stoop to less
nor call too loud on freedom to cloke your weariness;
by all ye cry or whisper, by all ye leave or do,
the silent, sullen peoples shall weigh your gods and you.
take up the white man's burden, have done with childish days
the lightly proferred laurel, the easy, ungrudged praise.
comes now, to search your manhood, through all the thankless years
cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom, the judgment of your peers!
a companion to victorian poetry, alison chapman; blackwell, oxford, 2002.
chisholm, michael (1982).
modern world development: a geographical perspective.
littlefield, 1982, isbn 0-389-20320-3.
the growth of the british empire.
the victorian web, university scholars program, national university of singapore, november 2000.
crosby, ernest (1902).
the real white man's burden.
funk and wagnalls company, 3235.
dixon, thomas (1902).
the leopard's spots  a romance of the white man's burden 18651900.
encyclopedia of india.
ed. stanley wolpert.
detroit: charles scribner's sons, 2006, p. 3536.
in encyclopedia of the developing world.
ed. thomas m. leonard, taylor &
francis, 2006, isbn 0-415-97662-6.
greenblatt, stephen (ed.).
norton anthology of english literature, new york 2006 isbn 0-393-92532-3
full text of the poem.
labouchre, henry (1899).
"the brown man's burden".
mama, amina (1995).
beyond the masks: race, gender, and subjectivity.
routledge, 1995, isbn 0-415-03544-9.
miller, stuart creighton (1982).
benevolent assimilation: the american conquest of the philippines, 18991903.
yale university press.
murphy, gretchen (2010).
shadowing the white mans burden: u.s. imperialism and the problem of the color line. nyu press.
pimentel, benjamin (october 26, 2003).
"the philippines; "liberator" was really a colonizer; bush's revisionist history".
the san francisco chronicle: d3.
sailer, steve (2001).
"what will happen in afghanistan?".
united press international, 26 september 2001.
"the white man's burden."
mcclure's magazine 12 (feb. 1899).
jack nicholson's character jack, uses the phrase to refer to whiskey.
the text of the poem at fordham university