Need help with the question below on the poem "invictus".

Question

What is the tense and point of view of "Invictus"? Give an example from the poem and how it supports you answer.

Answer 1

Tense refers to the verbs used in the poem. The following three lines are helpful:

 My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

...

I am the master of my fate:

 I am the captain of my soul.

Note that the verbs (is, am, am) are all in present tense. Such is the case throughout nearly all of the poem.

Point of view refers to who the narrator is. We can determine this by looking at the pronouns used. If the narrator refers to the main characters as he/she/they, then the poet is using "third person narration." If you're not familiar with this term, check any English grammar book or dictionary of literary terms.

In this case, the narrator repeatedly uses the personal pronoun "I" and the possessive "my." This is called "first person" narration.

Best wishes!