Daffodils by William Wordsworth

Daffodils
By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Daffodils is a poem, written by William Wordsworth in 1804. It is published in 1815 in ‘Collected Poem’. William Wordsworthh was born 0n April 7th 1770 in Cockermout, England and he was died when he was eighty. He is the famous poets in romantic era. His other works beside daffodils are Lyrical Ballads, With a few other poems (1789), Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).
Daffodils poem has 4 stanzas. Its title taken from the name of the flower “daffodil”. From the name , we can imagine what is the contain of the poem, it’s kind a beautiness as a representation of flower. This poem is a descriptive poem because of the title and the contains.
The title “Daffodils” is a simple word that reminds us about spring season, when the field is full of daffodils. Daffodils are yellow flowers, having an amazing shape and beautiful fragrance. A bunch of daffodils symbolize the joys and happiness of life.
William Wordsworth wrote Daffodils while he was walking along with his sister Dorothy near Ullswater Lake in England . he was really impressed with the beautiness of Daffodils.
The Daffodils has a rhyming ABAB ( A – cloud and crowd ; B – hills and daffodils ) and ending with a rhyming CC ( C trees and breeze ). The rhymings are repeated in every stanza, but with different words.
There are some figures of speech, first of all we can see on the first line “ I wander’d lonely as a cloud’. It makes personification and simile. Personification is A figure of speech (generally considered a type of metaphor) in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities. Simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.” William Wordsworth made himself with the word “I” to be a cloud ( simile) floating in the sky. When he said in the second line “I” ( poet as a cloud) look down at the valleys and mountains and appreciate the daffodils; it’s the personification. The line “Ten thousand saw I at a glance” is a hyperbole. It’s an exaggeration of a word ‘ten thousand’ seemed too much. There is also an alliteration , alliteration is the repetition os similar sounds, example in the words high and hills.
The poem draws images of lakes, fields, trees, stars in Ullswater. From the poem seems that Wordsworth praises the daffodils, comparing them to the Milky Way galaxy – second stanza, their dance – third stanza and in the closing stanza, dreams to join the daffodils in their dance.
The Daffodils poem uses descriptive language within all the stanzas. The words are simple and melodious. Daffodils are just like representation of happiness of nature.

Today I Saw a Butterfly

Binar Pravitasari
0403508030/5B


Today I saw a Butterfly
Today I saw a butterfly
As it floated in the air
Its wings were spread in splender
Unaware that I was there.

It was such a thing of beauty
It was a sight to see
It was the perfect masterpiece
Full of grace and majesty

I found myself thinking
To what can this compare
And then, of course, I thought of you
And I wished that you were there.

God sure was extra careful
When he formed and fashioned you
You too, became a masterpiece
Yet, God is still not through

He’s daily making changes
That other folks can’t see
You’re already true perfection
At least you are to me…

Author, unknown.



Today I Saw Butterfly
Today I Saw a Butterfly is kind of modern poem. It tells about the author feeling when he saw a butterfly. In this poetry, he not uses many sound devices and he also not too concern about the rhyme or such. He just describes his experience in a simple word and begins to comparing between the butterfly and his lover. Therefore, even though it is simple poem but the title quiet meaningful.
The story of this poem begins when the author saw a butterfly. He realize if it have a pair of beautiful wings. He watches it sincerely but the butterfly did not aware with his existence. He feel impress with this beauty creature, which full of grace and majesty. It makes him believe if God is the best artist in this world.
While he observes the butterfly, suddenly he thinks about his lovers and feel longing about her. According him, both of them have similar beauty. He wonders God must be extra careful when he formed and fashioned them, so that they can become his masterpiece. Then, he is very thankful to the God because at least his lovers can be him.
Today I Saw Butterfly is pretty simple poem. It is quiet understandable because the author not use too many figure of speech to express his feeling. Many of them have literal meaning and the intention of the author also not to imply behind the whole poem. The author show his intention directly in poem surface so that the reader can got the meaning easily.
Why he choose butterfly to compare with his lovers? As all of us know, we all admitted if butterfly is one of the most beautiful creatures in the world. Their colorful wing and their unique body shape make them more attractive than others creature. From this comprehension, we can take a result if the author want to show to the reader if his lovers very beautiful and attractive. She is also full of grace and majesty. Just like the butterfly.
In addition, the title of “Today I Saw a Butterfly” also have meaning. From the text above, we understand if the author uses metaphor to compare butterfly and his lovers. From third stanza, line three and four, “ and then, of course, I thought of you. And I wished that you were there.” we know if when the author saw the butterfly he thought about his lovers directly and he wish if she can be there at that moment.
It such a clue for us if Today I Saw a Butterfly also can be have meaning like today I saw you but the meaning of “saw” in this sentence did not mean he saw his lover in directly way. It is because, in the poem the authors said if he wish his lover can be there. It means if his lover not beside him when he saw butterfly. Because of that, the author starts to compare the butterfly and his lovers. It is because he can saw his lover’s indirect ways through the butterfly. So that, the meaning of “Today I Saw a Butterfly” also can be today I saw you.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Review

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is one of poems that written by Christopher Marlowe in around 1588. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was an English dramatist, a poet, and a translator in Elizabethan era. Not only poems, he also wrote short stories and plays. Hero and Leander, In Obitum, Fragment, and Dialogue in Verse were his other poems. Marlowe titled The Passionate Shepherd to His Love because it shows that the Shepherd indicates his desirous to get the girl. In The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, Marlowe wrote about the Shepherd’s feeling that really related to the theme, and there are also some literary devices in it.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love tells about the Shepherd who will give anything that comes from nature to invite his lover to come live with him and be his lover. He relies on the nature as the gifts to his lover because he is just a Shepherd who does not have much money to buy the girl who he loves such as jewelries, gold, and diamond. So that, he just can give her the things which are made from the nature that exists in rural country – the Shepherd is identical with rural country -.

The theme of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a pretty picture of nature. The Shepherd promises to the girl that he will bestow the nature as the beautiful gifts for her if she wants to join with him. Marlowe wrote this poem with his imagination about the nature that can be made as gifts and it can make the girl happy because of it because he vows such as the scenery of rural country (hills, valleys, dale, and field), beds that made from roses, a gown that made from the wool, etc, as his pledge.

The theme of this poem also influences the tone and our mood when we read it. The tone of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is dream-like because he promises her that he will give anything which comes from the nature, but of course he just imagines about it because he has not gotten her yet. Besides that, it is also passionate because he is really full of desire in his expression to invite his lover in order to live with him. We can see that he is always enthusiastic to tell what he will do if that girl wants to come and live with him and accept him as her lover.

If we read this poem, the first mood that we feel is romantic because we can see by ourselves that the Shepherd really convinces his lover clearly that he will give everything beautiful even though it comes from the nature. In every stanza, the Shepherd always tells that he will do it to the girl. In the other side, there is a persuasive element because we can also feel that the Shepherd persuade the girl to come and live with him.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love has some literary devices that will be analyzed by us; there are alliteration, repetition, personification, and rhyme. Before we analyze them, we find out what style that Marlowe poem is. The Style of Passionate Shepherd to His Love is lyric which is the writer wrote freely without shorten the words. He described it in detail, so the reader will understand easily.

Alliteration that this poem had is shown in first, second, fifth, and last stanza. Marlowe repeats the same sound in order that his poem is heard more beautiful. For example in the second stanza, “And we will all the pleasures prove”. The alliterations of those words are “we and will” and “pleasure and prove”. We can see that those words have the same repeating sound.

This poem has repetition phrase in some stanzas. The phrase “Come live with me and be my love” repeats 3 times, in first, fifth, and seventh stanza. It indicates that Marlowe wants to emphasize that the Shepherd really wants to invite the girl to live with him together, so that he always persuades the girl with this phrase. Even though in last stanza the phrase is a little bit different, “Then live with me and be my love”, but the meaning is still same, it is just quality of conclusion of this poem.

Besides repetition, there are some personifications too. Personification occurs when inanimate objects are given a human form. In the first stanza, the personification is “And all the craggy mountains yield”, it calls personification because mountain is a thing that just can be seen, and it can’t move. It also can’t give anything. Something that can give is just a human being. There is another personification in the second stanza, “Melodious birds sing madrigals”, birds can’t sing, they just can twitter. Something that can sing is just a human being too.

Rhyme also exists in every stanza of this poem. Rhyme usually occurs at line ending in poetry and consists of words which have the same sound. For example in this poem is, in every stanza, there are 2 rhymes. In the first stanza, the rhymes are “love and prove: and “field and yield”. In the second stanza, there are “rocks and flocks” and “falls and madrigals”, etc.

After read this poem, I think Christopher Marlowe wrote it freely, he did not define the words. He wrote it very clearly too, so that we are easy to understand. He related the Shepherd and nature which exists in rural area. His written heard so beautiful when he put some literary devices. Besides that, his poem makes us realize that if we want to make something beautiful, we can make it without pay much money because nature that God give has more precious than the others.



Follow this link if you want to see the poem :)
http://www.internal.org/Christopher_Marlowe/The_Passionate_Shepherd_to_His_Love

Source:
Poetry and Prose Appreciation for Overseas Students by L.G. Alexander
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/pfs_0000_0022_0_00020.html
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/marlowe.htm

O Death Rock Me Asleep by Anne Boleyn

Habsari Banoewati
0403508040

O Death Rock Me Asleep by Anne Boleyn

The poem: http://www.poetry-online.org/boleyn_anne_o_death_rock_me_asleep.htm

Anne Boleyn was a Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 and she is also the mother of Queen Elizabeth I and the second wife of King Henry Tudor VIII. She got executed because she had be accused that she had have affair with her brother. She sent to the tower before got executed. At that time she had wrote about poem called “O Death Me Asleep”. She believed that death will end her suffer so that’s why she named that poem like that. I choose this poem because it is about the real feeling of the Anne Boleyn that be supported by the theme and the literary device.
The general meaning of this is poem is about Anne Boleyn her self when she was in a tower. She waited her death that would come soon. This is irony because she felt happy and peace when she knew that she would got executed because from that her suffer will end so she would rest in peace but no one in this world would be happy when they knew that they are going to die.
The theme of this poem is there’s nothing you can do when the death is coming. It supported by the mood and the tone. The moods of this poetry are sad, dark, grieve-stricken, and lamenting. She wrote this poem with these mood because she knew that she going to die and the situation was really quite, only her in a room with a piece of paper and an old pen. These mood also makes the tone become desperate because how strong she is and no one could help so one thing that she could do are write the poem and resigned. This is romantic poem because she told all her felt before she died.
There are some literary devices in this poem. There is personification from the sentence “ Death, rock me asleep, Bring me to quite rest.” Death is like a human who can bring her to sleep and the reality is death is not a human but it acts like human in this poem. She uses “death” word because when human dead, the eyes are closing just like when they sleep so death can bring her to sleep. Metaphor in this poem it could find in the sentence “ Let pass my guiltless ghost” from the words “guiltless ghost”, is it metaphor of her feeling that let her guilty gone for ever. From the words “bell, knell, and tell” it shows a rhyme in every stanza because these words has same sounds which make this poem become more touching when people read it and has a melody on it, it means that she wrote this poem with her deepest heart.
Another literary device that the poem has repetition in every stanza from the sentences “Toll on, thou passing bell, Ring out my doleful knell, Let thy sound my death tell, Death doth draw night, There is no remedy”, she repeated these sentences because it means that the sound of the bell is sound about a death or bell is a symbol of the death. When the death is coming or the executed, the bell would ring. The repetition conclusion is “There is no remedy”, it means at the end, no one could help her from the death. The irony situation is from the sentence “Farewell, my pleasures past, Welcome, my present pain!” it shows that “Farewell” word refers to pleasures past that means her life before she was in tower, she had good life which could pleasure her. Usually “farewell” is for say good bye to something bad or not good but in this poem it is for happiness. “Welcome” word is refers to present pain that means she already not like she used to be and all the happiness that she has is gone. This word usually used to something good will come but in this poem it is for the bad thing will come. There is exchange word between that sentence that should be farewell for present pain and welcome for pleasure pain but because this is irony, the writer exchange it to make her feel strong.
From the unique theme which supported by the mood and the tone and the detail explanation about the literary devices which are about the reality life it shows how’s Anne Boleyn fought the fear of the death. She kept stronger that make me like this poem and she also dare to be honest that she was proven wrong and receive punishment.

Last Word To Childhood by A.S.J.Tessimond

Ice-cold fear has slowly decreased
As my bones have grown, my height increased
Though I shiver in snow of dreams, I shall never
Freeze again in a noonday terror.
I shall never break, my sinews crumble
As God-the-headmaster’s finger fumble
At the other side of unopening doors
Which I watch for a hundred thousand years.
I shall never feel my thin blood leak
While darkness stretches a paw to strike
Or nothing beats an approaching drum
Behind my back in a silent room.
I shall never, alone, meet the end of my world
At the bend of a path, the turn of a wall
Never, or once more only, and
That will be once and an end of end.




LAST WORD TO CHILDHOOD

Arthur Seymour John Tessimond was born in Birkenhead. He was an only child. He was educated at Charterhouse but ran away to London at the age of 16, only to return home two weeks later. He went to Liverpool University and then moved to London where he worked in bookshops and then as an advertising copywriter. He went into hiding during World War II, as he considered he would not be much good as a soldier. As it happened, he later discovered he was unfit to fight anyway He wrote about the ordinary and about city stereotypes. Some of his poems are conversation-poems and these often capture his tendency towards melancholy.

He has a poem with title “Last Word To Childhood”. It is a poem tells about say goodbye with childhood time. From the title, we can see the meaning. Last word means leave taking words such as goodbye, see you later, etc. And childhood means, time or era at the time we still a children. So, we can conclude by general meaning based on that analyzing that “Last Word To Childhood” means, children or little girl and little boy who grown up and become teenager or adult and try to say something for their childhood time and experience. Because they wouldn’t never come back up there anymore. Something like we usually called human circle life. Begin with when we were born as a baby, then kids, teenagers, and adult.

There are several details from children which starting to grow up. They also have physical appearance changes and mind changes or thought changes. They become more understanding and sensitive with conditions around them. And also become have more intelligent idea.

Children like we found on the poem, shows us that they have a physical appearance changes. For instance, ‘as my bones have grown, my height increased’. We can see that the children as they start to grow up, they have physical appearance change either. Children if they getting teenagers, they body going to more tall and height increased. Or maybe from sentences ‘ice-cold fear has slowly decreased’, and ‘I shall never freeze again in a noonday terror’. We can see those children going to have mind change and feeling change. It means that they worry or fear feeling about something from their childhood going to be handle. They aren’t going to feel fear of something anymore because they grow up and ready with all depends to protect their self. They become more clever and sensitive with situations around them. They also have their own protection to never let anyone hurt them and never makes them fear or worry.

And from another sentences ‘I shall never feel my thin blood leak, while darkness stretches a paw to strike’. We can analyze that children if they are grown up, they have to be strong and brave. They become sensitive with all condition. They never let any crush attack their self. And the author also explains by this sentence. ‘I shall never alone, meet the end of my world’. This sentence means that children at the time they are growing up to become teenager, they can socialize to get friends and never be alone in they life time. They can work together and help each other from every single problem they will get later.

This poem gives us so many explanations by details meaning. And on this poem, we can find a figurative language such as similes, hyperbole, metaphors, personification, etc. similes considered with using “as” word. because it can show and explain to us with assumption. We can see in sentences, ‘as my bones have grown’ or ‘as God-the-headmaster’s fingers fumble’. And hyperbole which considered to something word that exaggerate on the meaning. We can see in sentence ‘though I shiver in a snow of dreams’ or ‘I shall never feel my thin blood leak’. And personification which considered showing something inanimate objects will be alive. Like on sentence ‘while darkness stretches a paw to strike’. It is something like darkness has a hand like human to paw or strike everything.

As people know that a poem identical with using a figurative language. And from this poem, the author draw a little bit serious situation but still have witty attitude to show about change of children even they are boys or girls. Maybe the author want to tell us that say goodbye words which children make not simple as we ever imagine. Children maybe feel something freedom to grow up and not become a kid anymore. They start to explore everything which they never know and learn before.

So, based on analyze of this poem, if we will have children later, what we are going to do? Let our kid be free to express them feeling and grow up well, or give them everything as our own wishes without thinking about their own wishes? Only one that can decide their better future. And that things are start from childhood.

The Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Name : NURUL ANNISA

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village, though.
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near.
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harnessbells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before sleep
And miles to go before sleep.




The Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is written by Robert Frost around 1923. Robert Frost have the other works besides the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, they are “My Butterfly: An Elegy” in the New York in 1894 and “The Independent”. The title of the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is tells about the man have to stay alone in a long journey together his little horse to found the little house for taking rest. I want to analyze the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening with an allusion and emotion by the element-element of the poem.

General meaning is tells the person (who had a long journey) who stay at nears by someone house but in outside. He just alone with his little horse, look at a man who have a little house with his woods fill up with snow, because it’s winter. That darkest evening, cold, and need some furnace heating and he makes campfire to warm his body for tonight and can continue his journey tomorrow and sleep well for only tonight in a heavy winter.

Firstly, this poem tells about the allusion. Allusion of this poem tells about the word of the writer is connecting to the meaning of the poem. It shown on the third stanza likes “The only other sounds the sweep”, “Of easy wind and downy flake”. It means that tells about the condition of the Snowy Evening where the man hasn’t choice to get the better place. An allusion will be influences to the meaning the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The meaning of the Snowing by Woods on a Snowy Evening is really scary where the man hasn’t the choice in his loneliness in the darkest evening.

Secondly, this poem tells about the emotion. The emotion of this poem tells about the feeling of the writer really express his mind and soul of his poem. It shown of the two stanza that has feels like “Between the woods and frozen lake”, “The darkest evening of the year”. This stanza the writer tells the subject is so sad and feels like alone in the darkest. Then the writer to express his feels so down and seriously sad. The emotion of writer of the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is flow by the first stanza until the fourth stanza that shows the meaningful of the poem.
The Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening have the connection with the element – element of the poem, they are theme, genre, tone, and mood. Then I can know the meaning of the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening from the first stanza until the fourth stanza. It can make easy to get the meaning of the poem.

The theme is the main and tells about the important story of the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The theme is nature by his mainly focused. It means that when Robert Frost wants to explore the poem, he can express his mind and soul for improving his skills on the poem. Besides that, with the nature his poem really dramatic because of he have to express his feel to the reader by his emotion. With his nature, he can focus what he wants to say about his poem.

The genre is the element that to tell kinds of characteristic of the poem. The genre of this poem is the loneliness. Loneliness is shown of the stanza two of the poem like “Between the woods and frozen lake”, “The darkest evening of the year”. It means that when the man feels like there is no choice for he’s going to the other place. He thought that he must to stay at the little house when he saw at the first time on snowy evening. At that time he doesn’t know what he do together a little horse on the darkest evening. He feel like confused to get a best choice for going to the other place. There, he really afraid because of there is a darkest condition, woods, and frozen lake that make the strained condition on the snowy evening. I expect that the poem use this genre to tell about loneliness. It will be make the reader feel same with the feeling of the writer. The poem use this genre by the story happen on a snowy evening that tells how the man stay alone together his little horse there.

The tone is some expression or feeling from the pronouncing of the writer about the story of the poem. The tone is slow. It means that when the writer said that “He will not to see me stopping here”, “To watch his woods fill up with snow”. In this stanza, the writer say that when the man is waiting the person for helping him on a snowy evening. The writer tells this word by sad feeling because there is no person who helps the man in the bad condition. Then the writer has to explore his mind and soul with slow what he feel and he try to explain how he feel unhappy with his condition. The other stanza is when the writer said that “The only other sound’s the sweep, “Of easy wind and downy flake”. It means that the writer tells how the conditions there really lonely with sounds the sweeps that make the condition become strained. It make the writer tells this stanza so slow and really smooth.

The mood is some feeling of the reader when they read the poem. The mood is influences my feel really sad because the condition of the man who search the better place for he’s taking rest by the strained condition. Absolutely, this mood is evoked the poem because when I read this poem really feel down if I am in the story of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The other stanza of the Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening like “And miles to go before sleep”, “And miles to go before sleep”. In this stanza, I really feel down when he finished the long journey at the end, he must leave the little house after he get the great experience on the darkest.

All the explanation above the Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening tells about the man have the great experience in a long journey and this is well written poem that have allusion and emotion that can make the reader easy to read.

source:http//www.internal.org/Robert Frost

Invictus: the Literary Critic

"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley

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.

The poetry is Invictus. It is a noble poem written in 1875. William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic, and editor. Born in Gloucester, he was the eldest of a family of six children. From the age of twelve, Henley suffered from tuberculosis of the bone which resulted in the amputation of his left leg during 1868-69. His struggle to accept his amputation inspired him to write this poetry. Taken from the Latin, the word Invictus means unconquered.

After reading it for the third time, I had finally found the writer's attitude in this poetry. My perspective might be different from the writer's meaning because I use different illustration to feel the attitude or the spirit of this magnificent poetry. Before we analyze the attitude of it, we must first acknowledge the tone of each word in this poetry. The tone that the writer has put may give two impressions, either relieving or encouraging, depends on the reader's mood and condition.

To feel the writer's feeling, I use my own illustration. The situation might not be identically like my latter example, but it probably has the same spirit. I begin with: imagine there is a man sitting in a basement. It is a pretty neat room; with a study desk, a working chair, and a sofa placed in the middle of it. The sitting man sits on his working chair while he's reading a letter. Unfortunately, the letter tells a very bad news: that man's son died in his line of duty.

Feeling empty, lost, and mentally shocked, the man can do nothing except sighing. But instead of being surrendered, he chooses to keep moving on with his life. He has lost his beloved son but still he has to be responsible to his life. With this kind of attitude he expresses his feeling of never give up, never surrender, never back down through letters.

From the example, we could understand the writer's attitude. His wise personality and the way he sees his fate motivates anyone who read Invictus. That makes the tone of this poetry sounds brave.

Using syntactic analysis, it is seen that the subject of the poem is often occurred in first person perspective. It is seen by looking at the use of "I" which sometimes been replaced by "my" or "me". The verbs are pretty interesting. Verbs in this poetry are tying one to another. If the verbs on the first two lines indicate gloomy meanings, such as "cried" or "looms", the last two lines in the same stanza turn those sad meanings into motivation words, such as "thank" or "finds". And also there are so many positive meanings adjective in this poetry, words like "unbowed" and "unafraid". In a way, the adjectives strengthen the poetry's attitude.

The best part of this poem is the last two lines in the last stanza. It is a nice connotation to understand the writer's feeling. It has a very deep meaning. For me, it is clearly a vulgar picture of William Ernest Henley's soul.

There are lot of sense devices in this poetry. The first line in the first stanza and the second and third in the second stanza are personifications. The writer used personification because he wanted to show his expression in more artistic way. In order to give deeper meaning to how he feels, he personified his situations. Metaphors can be found on the first, second, and third line in the third stanza. It is also can be found on the second line in the last stanza. These metaphors used mostly for dramatization; to express the writer's feeling poetically. Simile can only be found on the second line in the first stanza. Same as metaphors, it is expected to touch the reader's sense.

As a whole, Invictus is one of the best noble poetry I have ever read. Although it combines explicit and implicit meanings yet makes this poetry easy to understand. The sense devices are also well written. Each of its words are working together and make a strong unity. At the same time, the poetry is encouraging yet giving splendid impression of braveness and struggle. Spending some of my time to feel and analyze it has made me feel stronger than before. Nothing more I can say except "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."




Written by William Ernest Henley (Poetry) - 1875
Written by Dimas Rizky Pramana (Essay) - 2010