Invictus
Invictus is a short
poem by the
British poet
William Ernest Henley, which is the source of a number of familiar
clichés and
quotations. The title is
Latin for "unconquered." It was first published in
1875.
The poem goes:
- 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.
In this poem, Henley gave the world the familiar lines
my head is bloody, but unbowed and
I am the master of my fate. . . These lines have been quoted many times by people who may not realize their source. They seem a
hyperbolic epitome of the "stiff upper lip" that
popular culture has made a traditional British virtue, and a handy image of
stoicism in the face of disaster.
The poem recently gained further notoriety by being quoted by the American domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who quoted it in a communiqué released shortly before his execution for murder committed in the Oklahoma City bombing.
See also
External link