Invictus Poem

Invictus

 

 

 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 bludgeonings 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.

 

 It matters not how strait the gate,

 How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

 I am the captain of my soul.

 

William Ernest Henley was a hugely influential English writer in the 19th century. He suffered from tuberculosis from the age of 12 and at the age of 16, his left leg had to be amputated due to complications arising from tuberculosis. The disease again flared up in his twenties compromising his other good leg, which doctors also wished to amputate. Henley successfully fought to save his leg with the help of distinguished English surgeon Joseph Lister. While he was hospitalized for three years, Henley wrote his masterpiece, Invictus, which permanently etched his name in literary history. The poem calls on its readers to resist and persevere through the most difficult circumstances in life and to not give in to one's fate. It calls on stoicism, discipline and fortitude in adversity. Invictus is one of the best known poems on bravely facing the challenges life throws on you.