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.
Notes
'Invicitus' is sweeping; passionate; larger than life in a way that few modern poems can get away with. It is also an oft quoted poem, lines of it having almost passed into the language. While these are invariably the ones that involve hurling defiance into the teeth of the storm, note that the poem itself hinges just as strongly on the 'storm' itself. It is the tension between the strongly contrastive elements that raises 'Invicitus' from a series of platitudes to a great poem.
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Comments
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Through a life of pain, as an amputee Henley wrote this poem, I feel, about his own struggle. Surgeons wanted to remove both legs but he fought it all the way and won - in a sense. He died at 54 years of age after many years of struggle and ill-health. That oft-quited final line packs such a punch one cannot help but be affected by this man's determination and bravery in maintaining his pride and dignity.
Wonderful poem.
Von
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