Invictus By William Earnest Fintus Analysis

she had to commit suicide. She put an end to her life, but it was actually the

The poem “Invictus” by William Earnest Henley is a poem writen so that the audience could easily relate. This poem was written in the late 1800’s, but the meaning of this poem was so true back then and even is up to this day. Its giing hope that no matter how hard a trial becomes it can be overcome. It is a part of life, trials are given to make us stronger. Wheher we rise to the occasion or cower down is all a test to see our true potential.

story of when she was once poor, homeless and the daughter of two drug addicted parents. The

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 a major loss, her husband’s suicide made her empty and lonely but not for long. She soon emerged as a stronger and more spiritual person, thanks

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.

There’s something that struck me when Andrew Solomon mentions the friend he has who went to electroshock therapy every month and that he was going to try a brain surgery to maybe change his life for the better. The Christmas after the surgery, Mr. Solomon received a letter from this man, saying that one of the two presents he had gotten from his father that year was a picture of his grandmother who had committed suicide. He started crying, not because he had never met his grandmother, but because they both shared depression. He was crying because he could have ended up like his grandmother, and not with the wonderful family he has today. Having a mental illness such as depression, and being in recovery from it, when you learn of someone who you could have one day known who killed themselves because they were unable to handle the stresses, the feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness coupled with almost crippling anxiety, it makes you realize that that person could have been you. You could have been unable to eventually get a grip through medications, therapies, ECT, or surgeries, and missed all of the things that make up your life today.

When she was young, "sixteen, I made the discovery - love. All at once and

Through “Invictus,” William Ernest Henley conveys that when things get hard, never give up. The use of personification expresses this theme because it tells how dark times are right now in his life. The speaker states that “Out of the night that covers me” (1). This device is used to describe how the night is like a blanket and covers him.

                They stop and stare, take one look into her eyes and realize they hold their own story. She's the type of girl people would look at and think, "Wow, she's beautiful. I wish I was her." But, little did they know that this beauty was on the outside, but pain was killing her on the inside. She faked a smile, day by day, but she often wondered if people ever noticed her silent cries for help. Along the way, she realized she forgot how it felt to be happy.

people try to help her but she couldn't resist that things were as bad as she thought what she

People going through a hard time can not let their struggles consume them, but they need to overcome them and get stronger. Poems “Invictus” by

Henley explores the theme of having a brave face in the face of fear. Henley uses imagery and metaphors to describe the setting of his poem. The poem portrays Henley as a person who is struggling to succeed in a hard battle against the darkness and an untouchable sense of objects: “I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. / I have not winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeonings of chance, My head is bloody, but unbowed.” (2-4) (6-9).

Her mom always found it and it tore her mom apart. The girl only wanted to stop feeling pain, she wanted to feel. But, she didn’t know her sisters saw her fall apart. She didn't know she was tearing apart and changing her family. I once knew another girl, we met Freshman year. One look into her eyes and you could see her begging for help. She once showed me fresh cuts, have you ever looked into someone's eyes pleading for them not to give up? In May, she tried to commit suicide. She changed my life a lot. I knew one last girl, she told me in the summer her guy bestfriend did unspeakable things. She was sexually assaulted. He told her she was ugly too, she starved herself to the point where all you saw was bones. I watched them all talk to walls, tears in their eyes. Screaming for someone to save them. Make them whole. Love them. And so many more

Then, out of nowhere she becomes pregnant and gives birth to her son. She takes over the store that was left behind by her cousin when it went out of business and became very successful. Plus, she magically becomes cured from her illness. Like the prior story “Interpreter of Maladies”, this ending changed the whole mood of the story and showed me that the theme is that no matter how bad things get, if you believe in yourself and have help from others, everything will get better again.