My Other Favorite Poem
I first read Henley's Invictus during my first semester in 7th grade English class. Henley was a British poet and at the age of 12 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone. His diseased foot had to be amputated directly below the knee and Henley persevered and survived the rest of his life with only one foot intact (remember that medical advances in the late 19th century were not like they are now). Despite his disability, Henley was discharged from the hospital after two years and was able to lead an active life for nearly 30 years afterwards. Henley died in 1903 at the age of 54. Incidentally, Henley became friends with Scottish writer and poet Robert Louis Stevenson.
Invictus was written while Henley was recovering from his hospital bed in 1875. The poem has inspired a number of familiar clichés and quotations.
Invictus
(Latin for "Unconquered")
by William Ernest Henley
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.