A message from BlueMoon Inspiration
Thanks for coming to this new channel. The aim is to bring each poetic word to life for you, through unique and original content creation. For the best listening experience, it is recommended to use ear/headphones. We sincerely hope that these videos give you the inspiration and motivation to be the best version of yourself.

Introduction
"If—" is a poem by English poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), written circa 1895 as a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson. It is a literary example of Victorian-era stoicism. The poem, first published in Rewards and Fairies (1910) following the story "Brother Square-Toes", is written in the form of paternal advice to the poet's son, John.

As an evocation of Victorian-era stoicism, the "stiff upper lip" self-discipline that popular culture rendered into a British national virtue and character trait, "If—" remains a cultural touchstone. The British cultural-artifact status of the poem is evidenced by the parodies of the poem, and by its popularity among Britons.

Kipling himself in the last year of his life took wry note of the poem's ubiquity:

“Once started, the mechanisation of the age made [the verses] snowball themselves in a way that startled me. Schools, and places where they teach, took them for the suffering Young—which did me no good with the Young when I met them later. (‘Why did you write that stuff? I’ve had to write it out twice as an impot.’) They were printed as cards to hang up in offices and bedrooms; illuminated text-wise and anthologised to weariness. Twenty-seven of the Nations of the Earth translated them into their seven-and-twenty tongues, and printed them on every sort of fabric.”

Bluemoon’s Thoughts
As modern stoicism begins to make its come back, we are once again seeing the re-emergence of this poem’s popularity. As a historian it always amazes me, not only how history repeats it-self but how many things work in cycles, whether it be fashion, war and peace, music, poetry, research interest and much more. It is also interesting how so little of what we see, hear and know is new. If we trace back so many ideas, stories and philosophies for example, we can find hundreds of years of the rehashing of an old story with a new touch every hundred years or so.

Another interesting part of this poem is how it is really advising to take the Middle Way, a balanced approach, which is the same advice that nearly all ancient philosophies such as those found in Greece, China, Indian, Italy were centred on.

Acknowledgements
Each video requires a substantial team effort to make. We would like to thank our voice over actor, Shane Morris, who tirelessly strives to deliver these words in a manner like no other. A special thanks to our graphic design artist, Cristina Santana for all her effort and helping bring the scene to life through the generation of AI images.

Copyright
Both the graphics and voiceover in this video are original pieces of work, and the poem is in the public domain. The music you hear is from Scott Buckley and can be found here: 'The Restoration' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au.

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