Today, as we read poetry by John Donne, William Shakespeare, and Richard Lovelace, we also mentioned Nelson Mandela and the fact that the world is both better for his having lived and less for his having dead. We talked about the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley. Here is the poem. (Mandela wrote the last two lines on the wall of prison cell.) Select a work of literature that you have read that conveys the same theme as this poem. Explain how it does so. (The deadline to post a response is midnight, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013.)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.
1 comment:
The first piece of literature that came to mind was Miller's THE CRUCIBLE. John Proctor faces being charged with adultery. In the end, he remains strong, even though that means him dying. He will not let anybody take away from his character. Instead of giving in to live and having his image slaughtered, he chooses death as his fate so that his sons and everybody else will forever know him as a good person with a good soul.
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