ipl-logo

Poem Analysis: Invictus By William Henley

570 Words3 Pages

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ In the poem, Invictus, Henley discussed his unconquerable soul and positive outlook on life. Henley begins this poem by setting a tone of darkness which is meant to represent the dark parts that life has to offer. Within every stanza, Henley discussed a negative time in life but then rebuttals these lines by discussing his positive and undefeatable attitude. Finally, the last stanza of this poem is truly uplifting. Henley makes it clear that he is not going to give up no matter how hard life gets. This signifies that the theme of this poem is to take control of your life. This type of inspiring theme could encourage readers to begin to take control of their own lives. First off, I enjoyed how the author created a sense of personal empowerment throughout the poem. The author, William Henley, allows the reader to feel the ups and downs of life. He discusses how life can beat a person down, however it is all about how a person handles these tough situations. One of my favorite empowering lines from the poem is “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul” (Henley, lines 17-18). These lines are certainly loaded with self-empowerment meaning. Secondly, I enjoyed the quality of …show more content…

When a poem has a more negative mood, it can be harder for people to completely enjoy. Lines such as "Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole,” (Henley, lines 1-2) are associated with sad emotions which therefore people not be as compelled to read it. Additionally, the organization of this poem could be a little confusing. There are two or three lines which are negative and then the author flips to the contrary and discusses a positive attitude and then goes back to the negative. It is important for readers to follow along and be completely invested in the poem in order to completely understand the

Open Document