Kipling is an Imperialist

The initial response to reading “White Man’s Burden” is to cry out how the poet must be using irony and sarcasm as he scorns colonial habits. While it may seem that Kipling is mocking the horrors of imperialism, one must first understand the context in which this poem was written. “White Man’s Burden” was published in McClure’s Magazine (a pro-imperialist publication), and served as Kipling’s guide of how to be an Empire. Through the end of the 19th century, the British Empire stood alone as the greatest imperial power in the world. As Kipling writes to the United States, “Comes now, to search your manhood…the judgment of your peers” Kipling is implying that America will now be judged as an adult Empire as they “Have done away with childish days” and now must handle themselves the way a powerful Empire should. Those who disagree with the notion that Kipling is an avowed imperialist often point to the language he uses to describe imperialism and how it is quite unpleasant. What these critics fail to realize is that one can realize the brutality and violence that comes with imperialism, and accept it at the same time. Kipling believes that it is virtuous for the white man to put on the “heavy harness” that is imperialism.
In our society today, those who are wealthy frequently practice philanthropy as they feel it is their burden to use their wealth to help those less fortunate. Just as the modern wealthy use their money to lift up the world’s poor, so too did Kipling feel it was the need for the British, and then the American’s to use their power as an Empire to help those, like the American’s did in the Philippines, although it may bring “thankless years”.