If
If you follow another's advice
will you be a winner or a sacrifice?
If you arrange another's cabal
will you be triumphant or patron of gall?
If you attain another's habit
will you be competent or plainly unfit?
If you perform another's burlesque
will you be artistic or an act grotesque?
If you fulfill another's tactic
will you be genuine or empty rubric?
If you festoon another's fashion
will you be a model or weird specimen?
If you achieve another's routine
will you be virtuous or clearly obscene?
If you practice another's approach
will you be unbounded or let walls encroach?
If you heed what another's said
will you be the wiser or simply mislead?
Font size:
Submitted on February 05, 2010
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 1 View
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AA XX XX BB CC DD EE FF XX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 638 |
Words | 115 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"If" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/74880/if>.
Discuss the poem If with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In