Rudyard Kipling's 'If ' is one of the most popular poems ever written in the English language. Written as a guide to life from a father to his son, it was published in 1910 and immediately struck a chord with the public. Inspiring and thought-provoking, the poem acts as a beacon of hope on a dark night, and is as relevant one hundred years on as the day it was written.

Author Biography

Born in Bombay in 1865 and then schooled in England, Rudyard Kipling is best known for his works of fiction such as 'The Jungle Book', and poems such as 'Mandalay' and 'If '. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he came to be regarded as the People's Laureate. He died in 1936.