It’s me!!! I am back for another explanation of my feelings towards a poem I love. I am Fee Kore and I welcome you all to “For the Love of Poetry”, a blog about my opinions and understandings for some of my favorite poems. Just as disclosure please take note that my blogs are not a direct representation of what the author intended but rather simply explanations of what they mean to me. Today I will be deciphering “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley.
Invictus
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
This poem speaks unmerited levels. Beginning with the first stanza we see an explanation of what issues are being faced. When life is so hard and dark that everything seems ‘dark’ yet you still thank whatever higher power that you are still kept and and able to persevere. This stanza is a reminder that despite how things look always keep faith.
In stanza two the author goes on to begin wit the phrase, “In the fell clutch of circumstance..”, I want to study this for a moment. Clutch here means, ” denoting or occurring in a critical situation in which the outcome of a game or competition is at stake”, according to Google definitions. So within the critical times of life where much is at stake it sets an example to not hold too much emotional attachment. It continues to use the example of a bludgeoning, which is a weight with two sides with one being heavier than the other. The fact that the negative effects have caused his head to be bloody yet he still does not succumb to the pressures presented by it gives a message of strength.
Stanza three explains that all this pressure will soon cause some sort of emotional pain but we cannot allow life’s pressure to stop us from looking into the future. It is not enough to go through a hard time and give up but rather keep pushing until you reach your destined place. Life is not nice or fair but will you allow that to be the reason you wont make it?
The last stanza, is my absolute favorite. It wraps the whole poem up in simplistic terms. He tells us that regardless of how the road lead shim to where he has to be or how he is judged that he holds all the power that pertains to him and his success. No matter what may come our ways we must always remember that our fate is our hands and our soul belongs to us and can only be judged b us. This poem is a message of strength, inner strength.
What do you all take from this poem? Comment. I would love to discuss. Keep it locked next Wednesday for the deciphering of another one of my favorite poems. Until then I wish you all peace, love and happiness.
Signing out,
Fee Kore.
For The Love of Poetry 