Thematic Comparison of Poems "if" and "if Not"

Thematic comparison of the Poem "If" and "If Not"

Both Poems are full of valuable thoughts and lessons but the poem "If' is thematically more idealistic in nature than the poem "If Not" which is more rational. The poem "If" teaches us to face every situation honestly while "If Not" tells us to cope with every situation cleverly rather than honestly is the real path in life. The points of view of both poems are almost universal which describe the qualities and capabilities of a successful man to live and survive in the society but the second one is related with selfishness and cleverness as compared with the first one which is mainly concerned with honesty, tolerance, self-control, courage and humanity which are necessary for us to live the life

to the fullest. According to the poem "If", we must trust in our self and measure our self with your own ruler and never allow anybody else to set our goals for us and it stress more on the need to develop positive attitudes about things as compared to the poem "If Not" which teaches us to act cleverly and intelligently to convince the people and to make them fool by fair and foul means. The poem "If" is strongly related with morality and teaches us that honesty is the best policy to live the life to the fullest but the poem "If Not" teaches to use and throw others cleverly and to be selfish and egoist. According to the first one, we should not expect respect from others but keep struggling with unwavering commitment by controlling our wishes and listen what our heart truly says because the language of the heart is the language of universe. In short this poem says that we are only true men if we can face every kind of evil with a good with a great smile. The second one tell us that we are successful people if we are able to escape every dangerous and harmful situation safely otherwise we will lose each and every valuable opportunity of getting something useful for us. Life would not be a bed of roses so we should be a clever and egoist to win the race of life.

Consequently, we can say that the poet of the poem "If" has used the idealistic approach thematically as he uses ideal qualities of a man such as tolerance, courage and self control while in the poem "If Not", realistic approach has been used by describing more practical qualities of being selfish and egoist. In my opinion the principles of the former poem are good which could keep our body and soul comfortable.