The White Man's Burden

The long passage of time is a recurring motif. The speaker takes the long view of the colonization process; it is going to take many years to get the task done, and many generations will come and go. The colonizers must remain steadfast throughout, not wavering from their task. The need for “Patience” (Line 7) implies a long task, as does “An hundred times made plain” (Line 14), referring to the explanations they will need to give, both to themselves and the indigenous population, about what they are doing. The laborers in the colonial enterprise will build ports and roads that they themselves will not enter, because it is the work of so many years. The magnitude and length of the task will leave them weary, but nonetheless they must hold steady, “Through all the thankless years” (Line 54). Thus a picture emerges of the endless dedication of generations of the colonizers—specifically, the United States—over the long reach of time, laboring without much reward to bring the heathen people into the light of civilization.

The motif of childhood appears twice in the poem, in different contexts. The speaker refers to the indigenous population as “half-child” (Line 8). Without the help of the Western colonizing power, they cannot mature into adults; even then, the implication is that they will remain children needing guidance.