Invictus Diction

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William Ernest Henley’s famous poem Invictus was written about him enduring and overcoming tubercular arthritis. Invictus is the poem most associated with Henley. The use of diction, syntax and tone make the poem strong and powerful. Invictus has a very formal diction throughout it all. Henley uses elevated vocabulary such as “unconquerable,” “bludgeonings” and “menace” to add an educated diction to the poem. Invictus contains a multitude of adjectives and adverbs to give the poem a flowery language. Henley uses words like “black” (2) to describe his suffering, “unconquerable” (4) to show the strength of his soul, “bloody” (8) to express the fight he has given and “Horror” (10) to take the place of the word death. Henley uses diction that appeals to the reader’s emotions. The diction is very strong he uses powerful words like “unconquerable soul” (4), “captain of my fate” (15), plus others throughout to ensure the reader understands the dominance he holds, but also words like “bludgeonings” (7) to show how unlucky he was. Henley has a connotative word choice like when he says “Horror of the shade” (10) to replace the meaning of his fight with tubercular arthritis, “pit” (2) to represent hell, and “gate” (13) for heaven. The diction relates to the meaning of the poem as…show more content…
Henley shifts tones back and forth from a dark tone to a triumphant tone throughout the poem, the first one occurring in the second stanza when he says “Under the bludgeonings of chance” (7), again in the third stanza when he says, “And yet the menace of the years” (11) and finally in the fourth stanza after he says “How charged with the punishments the scroll” (14). Henley creates the tone of darkness by using words like “black” (2), “bludgeonings” (7), “wrath and tears” (9), and “punishments” (14). He also creates the triumphant tone by using words like “unconquerable” (4), “unbowed” (8), and “unafraid” 12, “master” (15), and “captain”
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