Comparing Poems 'We Real Cool And Invictus'

Arthur Baer once said “A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it.” In the poem ‘Mending Wall’, by Robert Frost, it talks about two neighbors who rebuild a wall between their pastures. One believes the wall is good and neccary but the other thinks the wall is pointless due to the fact neither have livestock or other pets to trespass on one’s land. Fences are good at respecting boundaries though it can cause issues with neighbors, such as lack of communication or miscommunication, boundary disputes, and regulations that are needed to be met and maintained due to the fencing.

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.

With that, a regional spirit of racism and bigotry is felt from the neighbor. The speaker scorns his neighbor’s wall building antics, but has no choice but to settle with them. Ironically though, the speaker is way more involved and indulged with the annual repairing of the wall more so than the neighbor. The speaker tends to “bug” the neighbor about the wall in a way and comes off very clingy. He seems very excited about repairing a wall that he despises. The speaker sets the day they will repair on the wall together and also informs. Regardless of the, dubious attitude that the speaker gives off, it seems that he is more tied to the mending-wall tradition, more than the neighbor. The speaker comes off more of a modern man, while the neighbor is stuck in ancient, with building a “wall”. However, the speaker is no different from the neighbor; he likes his privacy and his sense of ownership.

“The War of the wall” is about not judging others. We should not judge others because we don't know them and you can’t judge if you don’t know them. The boys in the story should have just said “hey what are you painting there”?. Instead of being nice to the lady painter they were very rude. The boys said “Who did that lady think think she was coming into our neighborhood and taking over our wall”.

He also uses other devices such as a pun, applied in the line, "And to whom I was like to give offence." The last word of the line simply emphasizes the importance of the subject, the fence. The most prominent figure of speech, however, is the ironic, "Good fences make good neighbors." This is completely opposite of the connotation of the poem. Fences do not make neighbors, but strangers that are apathetic towards each other. The neighbor seems to prefer this approach, to eliminate any risks of trespassing or offenses. Yet what the fence really does is hinder the development of friendship. This is comparable to the barriers of bitterness, anger, hate, and fear men put between one another that obstruct love and friendship.

Henley, the author of the poem, doesn’t come direct in the writing, instead the reader has to infer what the poem is about. The lesson taught in the poem is similar to the one taught in the documentary mentioned above. “Invictus,” is about one’s journey of not letting their dark times defeat them. Henley refers to himself in the poem but this doesn’t mean the theme of “Invictus,” only affects him.

Various speakers reflecting on the same topic provide a change in perspective, and give different levels of insight to the audience. This can be represented when comparing the poems “The Ball” and “We Real Cool”. The Ball, told in a perspective of a matured man contemplating his journey, brings a more reflective approach to coming of age than the speaker in “We Real Cool”, who speak about the subject in the present tense. Additionally, the speaker in “The Ball” is singular while the speaker in “We Real Cool” is clearly a group. This difference conveys a separation between a specific experience and a collective opinion. These varying speakers present two different avenues for analyzing the experience of coming of age.

A time of difficulties always comes and goes and it has always been known to stay strong during those times. This, in many ways, connects to countless people, including great writers who often describe their difficult times through acting or other forms of writing. William Ernest Henley was an author who used his challenges to write a poem. This was a dramatic but motivational poem that heavily used rhetorical devices to describe how he managed through his darkest times. William Ernest Henley took use of personification, connotation, and alliteration in the poem “Invictus” to prove that anyone can overcome obstacles by staying strong and believing in themselves.

The main theme of both the poem and documentary is the ability to thrive even when hit by a difficult trial. Even though Darius Monroe went to jail, he was still able to become a filmmaker because he had hope, he conquered all the obstacles that was in the path of getting his goal. In the poem “Invictus”, William Henley was going through some rough times and he truly was adrift in a dark pit, but he embraced it and had hope that everything was going to be okay. “I am the master of my fate,

Fences is a play written by August Wilson, he uses his title to metaphorically illustrate the things that go on in each character's life throughout his play. Some people could often use a fence to block in a unit or even to keep unwanted things out of the unit.

While the narrator seems more willing to reach out to his neighbor, in the end, he does not. He does wonder why fences supposedly make good neighbors. For him, the question is what is he "walling in or walling out"? He seems to realize that he is "walling out" other people. As long as the symbolic wall stands between the neighbors, they will always be separated. Earlier in the poem, Frost uses the symbolism of a rabbit to seemingly reinforce this point. The hunters must destroy the wall in order to "have the rabbit out of hiding". The men, in turn must break down the walls between them if they are to come out of "hiding". The narrator seems to have a desire to point this out to his neighbor. However, he does not, simply dismissing his idea as "the mischief" that spring has instilled in him. He realizes that he is unable to communicate with his neighbor in any meaningful fashion and, thus, remains in isolation from him.

Fences, barriers and their destruction play a key role throughout the film and emphasise the theme of freedom versus restriction that is present throughout. Again from the opening sequence, we see the wooden fence surrounding the homestead put there in order to keep trespassers from invading their land, their livestock from escaping or from desert animals coming in and destroying their crops and livelihood, the river also provides a further barrier from these things. Therefore the fence and river act as protection from individuals outside of their family community. It may also be used to keep the community in; during the film it becomes obvious that little Joey develops a huge friendship and admiration for Shane, who is not part of the community. This could suggest that Joey wants to grow up and be like Shane and the fence therefore is to keep Joey in and a part of the homesteader's

I choose to read Invictus and I really enjoyed it. The last two sentences of the last stanza say “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” (Greenblatt 1660) These lines mean to me that no matter what is going on around me whether it be physical, in my society, family, or government, and out of my control I decide how it will affect me even if it is meant for harm. I am the one who decides if I will let whatever beat me down or if I will learn and rise above it. I really liked the poem because of the moral of it. I took away that even though people might hurt my outside they could never really break me (my inside/soul). After reading the poem it made me feel empowered and strong which I liked.

A fence is a physical thing that can keep things in, or keep them out. It can also be a hypothetical thing that does the same. In the play “fences” it revolves around that. troy , the main character and been known to hurt the ones closest to him. He cheats on his wife, and is unkind to his brother Gabriel, and son Cory.