I can't decide where I stand on poetry. I often read poems that I think sound great, but I realize I vehemently disagree with their meanings.
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.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
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4 comments:
Poetry's not the problem, the author's words, thoughts and his use of poetry is the problem. I agree with vehement disagreement!
I recognize that I may be biased because I am an English teacher, but there is so much more to poetry than the words on the page. The potential use of rhyme, the rhythm and beat of a poem, the contextual circumstances surrounding the poem (much like Biblical exegesis), etc.. Taking a poem at face value is fine, but it is important to dig deeper to find the true meaning. You may have done this, but you didn't leave any further commentary to describe your feelings.
Henley suffered from TB. He spent much of his early life in a hospital bed, where he lost limbs and almost his life. His young daughter died. Nothing seemed to go right. Through everything he had to endure, he persevered, and made it through, never giving up and eventually accomplishing great things. Admitting defeat publicly could be seen as a sign of weakness, but Henly used it to demonstrate strength.
I think this poet was acknowledging humanness and the possibility of being broken in the face of disaster. He was left beaten but not destroyed. He pressed on. Religion aside, he symbolically took his life in his hands and chose to make something good out of it instead of giving up. He took it into his own hands, so to speak. He was the only person who could make the choice to do something great.
Though it may not be the greatest poem ever written, this is a deeply personal poem born out of heartache, despair, and hope.
msk, how could his thoughts be the problem? He was only speaking his own life truth. His thoughts were simply that of his experiences. The use of poetry is not snazzy, maybe a little simple, but appropriate. The rhyming is consistent, the stanzas consistent..., the use of prepositions to create images consistent throughout, the use of repetition purposeful. Give the guy a little credit! I respectful disagree with the disagreements :)
Mikaela,
I think we agree more than you think.
I didn't do any research of Henley himself after reading the poem, so there I am lacking. However, what "bothered" me about this particular poem is that I find it beautiful.
I like the simple crafting. I think his words are well chosen and powerful.
It was just unfortunate to me that it portrayed a worldview (at least my reading of a religious worldview) that is so far different from my own.
My question, then, has to be: is it really all that different from ours?
When I think about my life as a Christian, what strikes me is that I am, to large degree, in charge of what happens to my soul. Christ chose all of mankind first...but then I have a decision to make. I can accept that, or I can reject it. Each choice carries consequences, one positive and one negative. When I make a choice to follow Christ, I of course surrender all that I am and everything I have to his authority, but the initial choice was mine. Free will gives so much more meaning to the following of Christ. For example, I would much rather have my husband, or future children for that matter, love me because they want to, not because a choice has been made for them. So is Henley that far off of the Christian worldview? I know more about Henley's life than his religious beliefs, so I can't say exactly for sure what he meant, but reading this for the first time I think I would have assumed a belief in God, if not Christ.
Perhaps I am getting us off track. I think that I understood your original intent as one of trying to make a decision as to whether or not you liked/enjoyed poetry. I think if that was the case, I wanted to make sure that you weren't throwing it out the window based on one poem, especially if you hadn't heard Henley's tremendous story, and if your focus was on that worldview and not the poetry of it. But it seems that you were more so speaking out about/starting a discussion about religious worldviews. In that case, we can definitely agree to disagree. :)
I miss you guys. Come out here and visit.
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