In the above video, celebrated British actor Michael Caine reads the poem If written by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling over a hundred years ago. The poem is a meditation on the qualities of a good man and is often seen as a blueprint for success and personal growth.
To watch the video, just click the play button at the left of the feature image above.
Before he reads, Caine talks about the poem’s significance to him. It was one of his favorites as a boy.
“My father read it to me once, and to me, as a little boy, it summed up what a man should be,” Caine says, which is apt given the style of the poem is like a parent passing on wisdom to his son.
If was written in 1895 but wasn’t published until 15 years later in Rewards and Fairies.
The poem itself was said to be a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson, best known for his role in the ill-fated Jameson raid in southern Africa in the mid-1890s, which was part of deteriorating Anglo-Boer relations that would become full-scale war only a few years later.
If is one of Kipling’s most famous works and is widely regarded as one of the greatest poems of the 20th century.
One reason why If is so popular is that it speaks to universal themes of morality and ethics. The poem’s central message is that success and happiness come from having a strong moral character, and that this character is built through perseverance, self-discipline, and a willingness to do what is right even when it is difficult.
The poem’s simple yet powerful language makes it accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and its message of personal responsibility and self-reliance resonates with readers in a way that is timeless.
Another reason why If is so well-loved is its rhyming structure, which makes the poem easy to remember and recite.
Below is the poem’s text.
If
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 done,
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 40 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!
Life on Film
It’s not hard to appreciate why Kipling’s poem is one of Caine’s favorites and why it made such an impression on him as a lad growing up in a working-class neighborhood of London. Indeed, Caine would go on to star in The Man Who Would Be King (1975), which was adapted from the 1888 Kipling novella of the same name.
Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr. in 1933, Caine began his acting career in the 1950s after he served in the British army on the frontlines of the Korean War. When he returned from the conflict, he would go on to quickly establish himself as one of the most versatile and talented actors of his generation.
Over the course of his career, he has starred in over 130 films and has received numerous awards and accolades, including two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Fellowship.
Caine’s early film roles were primarily in British productions, where he played a variety of supporting roles in films such as Zulu (1964) and The Ipcress File (1965). However, it was his performance in the 1966 film Alfie that really established him as a leading man. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Caine’s portrayal of the charming and charismatic Alfie Elkins earned him widespread praise and his first Academy Award nomination.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Caine continued to establish himself as one of the most sought-after actors in the world, starring in a string of films such as The Italian Job (1969), Sleuth (1972), The Eagle has Landed (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Educating Rita (1983), and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
It was during this time that Caine also began to receive recognition for his talent, including his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Hannah and Her Sisters. He went on to win his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1999 film The Cider House Rules.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Caine continued to be a prominent figure in the film industry, starring in numerous high-profile films such as Christopher Nolan’s three Batman movies starting with Batman Begins (2005), Children of Men (2006), and Inception (2010) again with Nolan.
In addition to his film work, Caine has also been a prominent figure on the stage, having appeared in numerous productions both in the U.K. and the U.S. He has received critical acclaim for his stage performances, including a Tony Award for Best Actor for his performance in the play The Man Who Had All the Luck.
Despite now being in his 80s, Caine continues to be a prominent figure in the film industry, with recent roles in films such as Tenet (2020), again with Nolan, and the historical drama Medieval (2022).
Easy to see how, with over six decades of experience in the film industry, Caine has established himself as one of the greatest actors of all time, a true icon of the industry, and a very decent person.