Henley's+Literary+Techniques

KEY: bold= use of literary technique 1. Name of Term- simile Definition- a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid Effect- Henley uses similes in order to make the descriptions more vivid and make the reader feel emphatic. In his poem, Invictus, he uses it to have the reader relate to death more, and even feel it.

// Invictus // Out of the night that covers me, I thank whatever gods may be
 * Black as the Pit from pole to pole, **

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of change 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 mater of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

2. Name of Term- personification Definition- the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form Effect- He uses personification in his work to bring nonliving things to life. This is most commonly seen in his poem // There's a Regret //

// There's a Regret //

Do you not know it yet?
 * There’s a regret **
 * So grinding, so immitigably sad, **
 * Remorse thereby feels tolerant, even glad... **

Till there seems naught so despicable as you
 * For deeds undone **
 * Rnakle and snarl and hunger for their due, **
 * In all the grin o’ the sun. **

Like an old shoe
 * The sea spurns and the land abhors, you lie **
 * About the beach of Time, till by and by **
 * Death, that derides you too -- **

Death, as he goes His ragman’s round, espies you, where you stray, With half-an-eye, and kicks you out of his way And then -- and then, who knows

Turns on you, and you feel the convict Worm, In that black bridewell working out his term, Hanker and grope and crave?
 * But the kind Grave **

“Poor fool that might -- That might, yet would not, dared not, let this be, Think of it, here and thus made over to me In the implacable night!”

And writhing, fain And like a triumphing lover, he shall take, His fill where no high memory lives to make His obscene victory vain.

3. Name of Term- imagery Definition- Effect- He uses imagery in this poem to bring it to life. He wanted the reader to visualize what was happening, and this was most prominent in his poem // I Am The Reaper, // where he described the scene throughly.

// I Am The Reaper //

I am the Reaper. All things with heedful hook Silent I gather. Reaping, still reaping- All things with heedful hook Timely I gather.
 * Pale roses touched with the spring, **
 * Tall corn in summer, **
 * Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms- **

I am the Sower. All the unbodied life Runs through my seed-sheet. Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless. Ceaselessly sowing, Life, incorruptible life, Flows from my seed-sheet.
 * Atom with atom wed, **
 * Each quickening the other, **

Maker and breaker, Here and Hereafter, Sped through the tangle and coil Of infinite nature, Viewless and soundless I fashion all being. Taker and giver, I am the womb and the grave, The Now and the Ever.
 * I am the ebb and the flood, **