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What's the mood of the first stanza in the poem "If--" by Rudyard Kipling?

The first stanza has a confident or grimly courageous mood. The speaker warns the young man (later addressed as “my son”) that there will come times in his life when he will be surrounded by chaos (“…when all about you / Are losing theirs [their heads] and blaming it on you”). He may be tempted to lose his head as well, but the path to “manhood” begins with keeping his head, even when he is accused of causing whatever troubles the crowd is encountering.


The emotion that the speaker means to inspire in his son (and in the reader) is confidence, so that they may face this world with success, though it will not be easy. Though much of the trouble that the speaker relates is caused by other human beings, it is in one’s own strength and courage that these conflicts can be overcome.

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