"If" by Rudyard Kipling

PART A: Which of the following best summarizes a central theme of the text?

• Friendship is an important support system to young adults.

• Identity must come from within a person, not from what others tell you to be.

• Growing up is complicated and challenging, but is ultimately worth it for what can be accomplished.

• People, especially young people, should resist the social pressure to obey other people's rules.

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PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A?

• “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;” ( Lines 1-4)

• “If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew / To serve your turn long after they are gone, / And so hold on when there is nothing in you / Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’” ( Lines 21-24)

• .“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;” ( Lines 25-28)

• “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, / And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!” ( Lines 31-32)

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PART A: Which of the following best describes the structural pattern of the poem?

• It is organized through the repetition of “if... then” statements.

• It is organized with increasingly longer statements and increasingly difficult guidelines.

• It is organized into four stanzas, each with eight lines of iambic pentameter (5 feet per line/meter).

• It is organized mainly through the repetition of “if” statements, building upon each other until the final assertion of the poem.

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CCSS.RL.8.10

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PART B: How does the structure of the poem, as indicated in Part A, contribute to the poem's tone?

• The form creates a tone of redundancy, or unnecessary repetition.

• This form creates a tone of authority and discipline, as the repetition emphasizes instructions for how to live one's life.

• This form mimics the tone of a boy becoming a man: through many trials and errors.

• This form creates a know-it-all tone, describing difficult rules like they are seemingly easy steps.

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CCSS.RL.8.10

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Read the first stanza of the poem. Based on lines 5 and 6, what can you conclude about the speaker's values?

• The speaker values curiosity and creativity.

• The speaker values patience and honesty.

• The speaker values good looks and political debates.

• The speaker values the opinions of other people.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

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Read these lines from the poem:

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;

To personify means to give human-like characteristics to something that is not human.

What does the poet personify in these lines?

• "thoughts"

• "triumph and disaster"

• "knaves" and "fools"

• "tools"

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Read this stanza from the poem:

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 gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

To what does the pronoun "them" refer?

• "winning"

• "pitch and toss"

• "beginnings"

• "heart and nerve and sinew"

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What is the speaker probably urging the addressee to do in lines 29 and 30?

• The speaker is probably urging the addressee to pay more attention to kings than to common people.

• The speaker is probably urging the addressee to exercise more often.

• The speaker is probably urging the addressee to make the most of his time.

• The speaker is probably urging the addressee to relax and enjoy the moment

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CCSS.RL.8.10

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Based on the last line of the poem, what can you conclude about who the speaker of this poem is?

(Choose all that apply)

• Rudyard Kipling

• A father figure

• A son reflecting on his life

• An older man giving advice

• A young kid reading about life

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

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What might the speaker's purpose be?

• everything in life should be thought about and planned out

• whatever you do in life needs to be rushed and have no regrets

• there is nothing more important in life than to live with "if"

• make sure that your focus in life is on yourself and nothing else

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

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