Invictus By William Ernest Henley

The poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley forms thorough comparisons regarding theme with Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ as Henley conceives themes of fate, circumstance, and struggle in his literary piece. These thematic connections are shown when the protagonist, Okonkwo, of ‘Things Fall Apart’ is faced with the task of emerging from poverty and becoming a man that is successful, yet feared. He is also challenged with his own inner demons as the white man reshapes his way of life, driving Okonkwo to a fate much different than what he

Through “Invictus,” Henley conveys that people decide their own fate. The use of imagery expresses this theme because Henley uses strong words that convey an image in the reader’s mind to help them create an image of someone who is dying, but not hanging their head and getting up to fight. This is expressed in the text through the quote, “My head is bloody, but unbowed” (Henley 8). This imagery is used to to show how he is very close to death but his head is unbowed. This evidence supports the theme because by not bowing his head he is overcoming his near death experience. If he were to bow his head it would mean he would die, and he has decided he doesn’t want to die yet. By bowing his head, he is succumbing to death, and he makes the decision to keep up. Another device Henley uses is diction. He uses diction because it expresses how he acts differently than other people. When other people bow their head and get conquered, his head remains unbowed and unconquered. For example, “Under the bludgeonings of chance/ My head is bloody, but unbowed” (Henley 7-8). This quote uses the word unbowed. It explains how in his situation other people would bow their head and give up, but he isn’t going to just bow his head and succumb to death. This evidence supports the theme because everybody goes through a hardship at some point, and they have multiple different ways of dealing with it. They can either sit there and let it ruin them, or they can keep fighting it and do something about it.

The poem Fifteen by William Stafford, describes the ideas of a young teenager and imaginations when he sees a motorcycle at the side of the rail, It tells us of how the main character gets familiar with adulthood and starts getting mature, it gives us changes. The author in his poem describes the ideas and temptations that a fifteen year old would have, and it gives us a message of how when you are blinded of your teenage dreams, at the same time to take and decide the correct paths and decisions.

Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer is a very influential novel in the military. In fact, it is required reading material for all 1st Lieutenants in the Marine Corps as well as in the United States Military Academy at West Point. Many Army leaders have read the book and often discuss it among themselves in social situations. Although a fiction read, many leaders extrapolate the use of mission command as well as the leaderships attributes. In this analysis I will be comparing a single event in the novel to the Army’s leadership principles as well as Mission Command. I will then provide a personal reflection and conclude.

Within the poem of “Invictus”, the author seems to have gone through a similar experience that Equality 7-2521 had. A quote from “Invictus” extricates, “Under the bludgeoning of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.”. From this quote, I suppose that the physical abuse is more of a metaphor, for the emotional damage that each one of these men went through. Since this poem mostly talks about the authors ordeals to gain independence, I think that they author is saying how rough, cruel, and discrimination the world can be, especially when it comes to things as precious as freedom.

In the fifth stanza he uses imagery in a different instance where he describes how ignorant the veteran was about the reality as he is only thinking of the glorification of war. He portrays an image of “jewelled hilts”, “daggers in plaid socks;”, “smart salutes” and “Esprit de corps”. Throughout the stanza we hear of the glories and amusements of war but only on the last line does he mention the aftermath of the war where he was discharged due to his disability.

The poem Invictus was mainly about if people are making their own choices or if it’s just destiny. The poem says “I am the master of my fate I am the captain of my soul”. I think that means you do what you want and if it's good or bad it's the choice you

“My Son the Marine?” is a short story written by Frank Schaeffer and John Schaeffer about a father’s thoughts on his son enlisting in the military. The story starts off as two Marine recruiters visit the narrator’s home in Salisbury, Massachusetts. The narrator’ wife asks the Marine what John will get out of being a Marine. One of the Marine simply replies, “He’ll be United States Marine, ma’am!” Becoming a Marine will not guarantee college funds, signing bonuses, or great civilian opportunities, but it will help John find standards that had not been lowered (paragraph 5). The narrator goes on to describe the background of his family. He was born in Switzerland, he was the youngest of four children, he was home-schooled, and he was later sent to private schools in England and Wales. After contracting polio, the narrator’s parents became very overprotective of him. He married Genie in 1970 and 10 years later they had their youngest child, John.

Strong, optimistic, and hopeful, the narrator of “Invictus” strove against the struggles of everyday life to find the positive in every situation. The narrator states how he faces many struggles such as the bad circumstances, “bludgeonings of chance” (Henley), and shades of horror. In the poem “Invictus,” William E. Henley shows that the narrator had one focus: to stay the man he knew he was and to be positive throughout the struggles he faced, yet, in the play “Macbeth,” by William Shakespeare, the author writes how the main character Macbeth was a strong, brave and a loyal man, but by the choices he made, ruined his life. Both articles show that your life is based on control rather than destiny, but in the poem “Invictus,” the theme is best shown through the plot, setting, and dialogue.

The short story Invictus and book Anthem have characteristics in common and we can see that it is very possible that Ayn Raynd took inspiration from this story. The main similarities are apparent in the characters both in what they went through and how the texts ended. Both main characters underwent abuse and because of this developed their individualism. Overall, the clear definable characteristics that are similar between both pieces are that they had to deal with a certain pain and that this led to individualism by the end.

This internal war starts the second that you set foot in this unknown word as a baby, all the way up to the last step you take to say your last goodbyes to this world. The poem begins with a life of a child in whom people around him tended to call the child “...crybaby or poor or fatty or crazy and made [the child] an alien…”(Sexton), and the child “...drank their acid and concealed it.”(Sexton) illustrating how painful it is, not react and take actions,but counseling is the best method the child seemed fit. Furthermore, courage in a person can also cause a war, in which the author shows the imagery, how the child’s “...courage was a small coal that [the child] kept swallowing.”(Sexton) and encouraging to society to make his own future. As an adult, the person endured many difficulties, such as the of enduring “...a great despair…”(Sexton), but you didn’t do it with a companion but rather “...did it alone.”(Sexton) and endured that suffering within yourself. Being an adult is not only passing a time with your loved ones and remembering the ones that sacrificed their time to make you who you are now, from your teachers to your peers to your parents, but to actually live your life the fullest and make each day worth living.Until the last moment that has been waiting since the beginning in which the death “...opens the back door...” and “...[the adult will] put on [his] carpet slippers and stride out.”(Sexton), exemplifying how all you have done, from engulfing the pain given by the society to living your whole life just to see a tear of happiness from seeing your grandchild, will not be taken with you at the moment when you really need it the

As we journey through life and engage in a myriad of physical and emotional experiences, we renew our understanding of the world and ourselves. Composers Ang Lee and William Ernest Henley amplify the intrinsically complex journey of overcoming obstacles allowing the audience to gain deep insight into the challenges each individual is faced throughout their lives. Through spiritual revelations and realisations Ang Lee's film 'Life of Pi' reveals significant attitudes of individuals in order to survive. Similarly, the poem 'Invictus' composed by William Ernest Henley accurately explores the changes of attitudes in life through emotional and intellectual discoveries. Both composers enable great discoveries about society and ourselves through communicating

Through out the book To End All Wars, Adam Hochschild starts off with a very bold statement in the introduction of this book. The main point that I picked up from the introduction is that this war is a pointless war and it is in fact stupid, and I for one would have to agree with this. As the sub title suggests this book is more than just military history on the war. This book goes much deeper; Hochschild’s work uses lots of historical research to illustrate an in-depth storytelling to provide a look into the conflict between loyalty and the rebellion. As Hochschild illustrated in the very beginning of the book he explains that this war was truly pointless, and to my belief it was. This book was very educational because it shows us a different

Through, “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley conveys that people can not let anything stop them from achieving their dream and to fight back. The use of imagery expresses this theme because it shows how terrible the situation is. An example of this is, “My Head is bloody, but unbowed” (Henley 8). By saying that the person's head is bloody it shows that the person is going through something hard or something bad is happening to them, but they are still fighting. They are using imagery to show the pain the person has. The imagery shows they still are getting up and nothing is getting in their way of their goal. The person didn’t let people or things tell them that they can or can not do something, they fought back. Another device Henley uses is diction the speaker’s perseverance. An example of diction is “Under the bludgeonings of chance” (Henley 7). With the use of bludgeonings, which means beat, it gives the phrase a little push to be stronger and it shows more than just saying beaten or tackled. Also using diction can give another meaning to a phrase so it can emphasize a certain part for people to focus on. Another thing is if people use words that people don’t normally use then people will take the time and think what is this person trying to say. By using diction the author is emphasizing that this shows that this person isn’t letting something stop them. Even though this person didn’t make the chance they had that won’t stop them from achieving their dream.

All in all, the movie Invictus is a great demonstration of the history of apartheid that the Republic of South Africa suffered, and also how the powerful symbol of it, Nelson Mandela, fought to reach the end of it, and to reinforce the country, so they could have a rainbow nation, a nation with equality in their