If

• If

  A conditional clause that introduces advice or principles to follow
• Conditional clause "if you can"


  Repeated to emphasize the uncertainty and unpredictability of life, and the principles to adopt
• Keeping your head when others are losing theirs

  Importance of acting rationally when others are acting irrationally
• Trusting yourself when others doubt you

  Importance of self-belief
• Waiting and not being tired by waiting


  Importance of patience and resilience
• Not dealing in lies, not being hated


  Importance of honesty and not succumbing to hatred
• Not making dreams your master, not making thoughts your aim

  Importance of moderation, not being excessively ambitious or contemplative
• Meeting triumph and disaster, treating them the same

  Importance of adapting to the unpredictability of life's ups and downs
• Bearing the truth you've spoken being twisted by others


  Importance of anticipating and not being trapped by others misusing your words
• Rebuilding things you've given your life to that are broken


  Importance of reinventing yourself after huge setbacks
• Gambling language - making a heap of winnings, risking it, losing and starting again

  Life is a gamble, importance of resilience and not dwelling on losses
• Forcing heart, nerve and sinew to serve your turn


  Importance of willpower and determination even when physically depleted
• Talking with crowds and kings, keeping the common touch


  Importance of treating all people equally, not being overly influenced by status or class
• Neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you

  Importance of not being naive about the potential for harm from both enemies and friends
• Feeling the unforgiving minute, 60 seconds' worth of distance run


  Brevity of life, importance of making the most of it
• If you can do all this, "yours is the earth and everything that's in it"
• The speaker is revealed to be a father advising his son
• The poem is an example of cataphoric reference, where the subject is revealed later