Invictus / William Ernest Henley

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"Invictus" is a short Victorian era poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903).

The 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

Background
At the age of 12, Henley fell victim to tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. It was amputated when he was 17. Stoicism inspired him to write this poem. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.

Publication history
The poem was written in 1875 in a book called Book of Verses, where it was number four in several poems called Life and Death (Echoes). At the beginning it bore no title. Early printings contained only the dedication To R. T. H. B. - a reference to Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce (1846-1899), a successful Scottish flour merchant and baker who was also a literary patron. The title "Invictus" (Latin for "unconquered" ) was put in the Oxford Book of Verse by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

Influence
In the 1942 film Casablanca, Captain Renault, a corrupt official played by Claude Rains recites the last two lines of the poem when talking to Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, referring to his power in Casablanca. The irony in the reference is that the theme of the poem refers to self-mastery, when in fact all of Renault's power in Casablanca is merely granted.

In the 1945 film Kings Row, Parris Mitchell, a psychiatrist played by Robert Cummings, recites part of "Invictus" to his friend Drake McHugh, played by Ronald Reagan, before revealing to Drake that his legs were unnecessarily amputated by a cruel doctor.

While incarcerated on Robben Island prison, Nelson Mandela recited the poem to other prisoners and was empowered by its message of self mastery.

The poem was used in a voice-over by Lucas Scott in the television series, One Tree Hill.

Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen recited the poem as an introduction to his own song "The Darkness", during a couple of shows on his 2010 world tour, most notably at his State Kremlin Palace show on October 7.

In Napoleon Hill's book, Think And Grow Rich, this poem is quoted and discussed. Hill added that, we are master and captain, "... because we have the power to control our thoughts". We are warned that this "power", alluded to in Henley's poem, "... makes no attempt to discriminate between destructive thoughts and constructive thoughts". Napoleon Hill explains that the conscious choice is laid upon the individual and suggests that the poet left others to, "... interpret the philosophical meaning of his lines".

The poem was important to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who recited it on the day of his execution.

Novelist Jeffrey Archer quoted the poem in the first volume of his A Prison Diary series 'Hell' which recounted his time inside HMP Belmarsh.