Preview

Comparing William Ernest Henley's Poem Invictus and Paulo Coelho's Alchemist

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
732 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing William Ernest Henley's Poem Invictus and Paulo Coelho's Alchemist
Invictus and The Alchemist Response

The poem Invictus written by William Ernest Henley is a poem written about courage in the face of death and holding on to ones own dignity despite the indignities life places before us. In the first stanza the poem's speaker prays in the dark to "whatever gods may be" a prayer of thanks for his "unconquerable soul." Several things are apparent from the outset: First, the speaker is in some sort of metaphorical darkness, perhaps the darkness of despair. Second, he does not pray for strength, but gives thanks for the strength that he already has. Third, he seems rather flippant about who he is or is not praying to; it is almost a prayer to himself at this point, but not quite. Henley also bring this up in the second stanza where he talks about God's will or even fate; instead he speaks of "the fell clutch of circumstance" and insists that he has overcome these bravely and without complaint.The third stanza is about death and what a trifle it seems to the speaker of the poem. This "place of wrath and tears", this life, it seems, is not full enough of pain and horror to frighten the poem's speaker. And death, "the Horror of the shade," could not possibly worry him, being an end to "wrath and tears". Notice here that he is not concerned in any way about an afterlife. Death is merely an end to suffering for our speaker. Nothing of any concern seems to lie beyond for him until.

This poem is an inspiration to it readers depending on the way you read it. This poem like mentioned before has been written for those suffering from an incurable disease or just going thru a tough time in their life, to give that person some hope and strength. I Can relate to this poem because growing up i’ve been threw lots of illnesses it all started when i was diagnosed with Meningococcal Meningitis when i was just a baby. Than at the age of 16 i was diagnosed with Hereditary Breast Cancer.Going thru this i felt so alone and like my

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    After I read the poem, I think why do I follow people’s mind to live. It's always about owning our own lives, being responsible for who we are through the choices we make.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On a side note, this poem struck me because I feel that all too often we think our lives are so hard forgetting what past generations have gone through. Poems like this are a type of reality check for…

    • 275 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Overall while I was reading, this poem made me feel happy. I liked that I could read what the poet learned from their family and compare it to what I have learned from my family.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This poem reminded me of a situation I had with someone I considered my best friend. We one day got into an argument which they blamed me for something I didn’t do but no matter how much I explained myself they wouldn’t believe me. This hurt me to a point where I closed myself off to people who truly cared about me. Through this experience I learned that everyone isn’t going to treat you fairly, but that you should always treat yourself with respect. The story doesn’t end there.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Themes

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the poem he continually discusses that death is rage, a curse, etc. These inevitable fears are first introduced in the first stanza when he states, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” This first stanza opens with saying one should not give into death, and when it comes, it should come with a full life. These ideas are featured once again in the last stanza. The author reveals the true purpose about the poem in this stanza, stating, “And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In this stanza he is saying that he believes his father should fight, and that he does not care what his father has to do to fight. Giving up the fight is like being a lawn mower in a field of gardeners, in the end those who fight have a greater…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Invictus Close Reading The poem Invictus by William Hernest Henley is a quite unusual poem that tells the story of a man trying to overcome and survive when faced with a difficult situation. It starts off with him saying that the “night” covers him, which in my opinion refers to suffering and darkness of some sort. This first line plays into the second line because it states darkness again, which I believe is talking about a literal hell on earth the way it is worded and it even mentions the north and south poles.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Assignment week 3

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I picked this poem because although it was short it was very powerful and has a lot of meaning behind it.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The true beauty of this poem for me, and what makes it so enigmatic, is the mutual recognition in a person, between two moments past and future, of one's frame of mind at the other moment. We are so long in time, that such connections are very, very rare, and to have a moment of empathy with one's future or past self is both to gain a momentary insight into the nature of life and aging, and to momentarily gain a new internal context to how we perceive the aging of others, and what it really means to…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When I read into the background of the poem I discovered that Henley wrote “Invictus” after deciding to have life threatening surgery to save his leg against the doctors recommendations. This information struck me differently as I began to think…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I remember when I first experienced goosebumps raise on my arms and send a shiver through my body, simply because the words leaving the speaker's lips left such an imprint on me. I didn’t think that a simple sentence could bring tears to my eyes, could cause me to react in any physical way. I didn’t even know the author. Yet, it still amazes me anytime I react to such a poem. The emotions that the author pours into every word and every syllable is astounding. Each pause and breath tell a story on their own. I knew that I had to try. I wanted to make people feel the way like I did when I first heard them, but because it was my words that made them react.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    My goal when writing this paper is to get my opinion and perspective on the poem across to my classmates so they know where I stand, but also to remain broad enough in my writing so that my readers can compare their own response to mine. Maybe in doing that, I can help a fellow classmate or two who has a block and is stuck in the middle of the assignment.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poem Analisys

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There is a lot to gain from this poem. It teaches people that they can have a great life even though it is rough during their childhood. If he can survive dealing with his parents going through a divorce and then his mom passing away at a young age, then anyone can. It is tough for the boy. But at the end of the poem, he expresses that he is happily riding his bicycle with no worries in life.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clearly this is a very important poem and we should all learn from this. I did especially because that makes me think what good I could do for people, especially the ones who need the help. I think this poem had went a long way, now you see that movies are being made about heroes around the world. Even though they are fiction, but we can be the real hero to everyone and make a difference in the…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I realized that this poem was about a son and a mother that was grieving over the death of his father, and her husband. They both that day had thought about the father and husband cause the son had called that day to talk to his father. That's when he found out that his mother, had made coffee for his father and had put it on the table like she does everyday for him. They both knew that he had been deceased for a year now. I know the death of a family member can be a traumatic thing for most families to every experience in their lifetime.…

    • 890 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My Favourite Poem

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This is my favourite poem as it describes hope by using a powerful array of metaphors to enhance its effect. While it is true that many people all over the world live in extremely challenging and life threatening situations, leading hard lives in appalling conditions. What keeps people going in such circumstances is the glimmer of hope that things can change. This is one thought that came to mind when first reading the poem and this is what attracted me to it and as it relates to any hopeless situations it really does apply to all aspects of life.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics