i need help on the poem white man's burden

[terrymx]

well i know this is a wrong place to post but you people are smart so you know everything. There is this poem "The White Man's Burden" written by this indian dude and was sent to america. i need to write essay definning this poem and put in my own word and give a historical example in relate to the poem. mean. this stanza say the white men fate is to go colonize these uncivalize people and develope them and stuff. the problem is i don't know the backside meaning of what "To wait, in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild". and i'm sure it point to the white man or the people being colonize. if you have any clue, please input. thank you for your time.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile,
To serve your captive's need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child."

 

[E V I L]

"The White Man's Burden has been sung. Who will sing the Brown Man's?" - Mark Twain (something I just picked up researching Kipling's poem)

"To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild"

I'm not much of an expert, but the lines seem to paint an unconsciously derogatory picture: people's of the world are savage brutes. They exist to be domesticated- to wit, civilized- like horses, like mules, (they are "new-caught") brought out of that state of being "half devil and half child". The line "To wait, in heavy harness" is something of a metaphorical "infinitive."

Based on the perfunctory (shallow) research I've just done, Kipling's poem is exalting imperialism, sanitizing it. Accordingly, it is upon the honor of white folk- their burden - to enlighten the rest of the world. I also understand his poem met up with a lot of anti-imperialist responses. hmm.. don't quote me though, I may be wrong about my interpretation about the above lines. (huge headache, atm)

 

[Ethereal Sage]

As EVIL said...'I'm not much of an expert"

"To wait, in heavy harness,"

I would interperate as being slaves to the 'white' people, waiting on their needs, though "in heavy harness" could be either the indians were tightly bound so as not to get away, or they could have been carrying a lot of the 'white' man's belongings/worries etc.

"On fluttered folk and wild"

I would interperate as the indians were waiting on the 'white' people as well as the indians....fluttered understood in this sense as meaning moving about quickly (maybe becoming civilized at a quicker rate than the indians?), as compared to the 'wild' indians.

Hope this helps,

E.S.