While in prison, Mandela performed the role of Creon in Antigone. The experience may have helped train him for leadership years later.
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Tag Archives: Nelson Mandela
Antigone Taught Mandela Leadership
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Antigone, Apartheid, Edith Hall, leadership, Sophocles, South Africa Leave a comment
Killer Claimed to Be Captain of His Soul
Wednesday Last week Radnor High School English teacher Carl Rosin reported on his students grappling with the use of Dylan Thomas by the Christchurch killer. The man also cited William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus, the subject of today’s essay. In addition to his use of another famous poem, what does it mean that this same poem […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Invictus", Christchurch massacre, William Ernest Henley Comments closed
Mandela Inspired the World
An Elizabeth Alexander poem to remember Nelson Mandela and a past post on how he turned to Shakespeare in prison.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Poem for Nelson Mandela", Elizabeth Alexander, Shakespeare in prisons, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Shakespeare Was Mandela’s Lifeline
A copy of Shakespeare’s works that circulated through apartheid-era prisons shows the Bard providing solace for the prisoners.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Antigone, Henry V, Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in the prisons, Sophocles, Tempest, William Shakespeare Comments closed
A Poem for Heroes and Mass Murderers
Since the World Cup is underway in South Africa, I watched Clint Eastwood’s Invictus last week, about the 1995 World Cup Rugby Tournament held in South Africa. Based on a true story, the film notes that, while in prison, Nelson Mandela, like many black South Africans, would root against the South African rugby team, beloved […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Invictus", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Apartheid, Clint Eastwood, Faisal Shahzad, John Milton, Paradise Lost, politics, Sports, Timothy McVeigh, Ulysses, William Ernest Henley Comments closed