Sonnet 57: By William Shakespeare
Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour,
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
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 bludgeoning 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.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
These two poems, written in two different contexts, by two different poets and in two different connotations, exhibit two different situations in life...
1) The mind of a heartbroken lover feels time trapped in the past. Even his best efforts may not do him/her enough good to overcome this condition.
2) A man on whom all have given up hope, due to harsh circumstances can fight back without letting his situations affect him and conquer the times.
Perhaps when we find that the sources of our hardships lie in someone else, it is hard to overcome it. If the source is within you, it’s lot easier to exhibit your strengths.
4 comments:
Great post. What was the inspiration behind posting these two poems? I knew the second one, but not the first.
Keep it up.
Thx a ton! More than inspiration two poems were posted more as a get-away-time from my routine. The first one was inspired by observing an acquaintance while the second one was more inspired by someone, whom I think of, as a good blogger!
Nice observation .......... :) ... I guess I can relate to both :P .... may not be the same cases as you related :P
@Sutapa: I like to compare poems & their context, just because I'm inquisitive about literature. However, there are some instances I could relate them to real life as well. And these two were a combo of both!
Glad that you could relate these two poems!
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