Invictus
"Invictus" is a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and first published in 1888[1] in Henley's Book of Verses, where it was the fourth in a series of poems entitled Life and Death (Echoes).[2] It originally bore no title:[2] 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.[3] The familiar title "Invictus" (Latin for "unconquered"[4]) was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in The Oxford Book Of English Verse (1900).[5][6]
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 25. In 1867, he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. In 1875, he wrote the "Invictus" poem from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
Text
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.
Popular culture
In the 2009 movie Invictus, produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, the poem is referenced several times. It becomes the central inspirational gift from Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, to Springbok rugby team captain François Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, in advance of the post-apartheid Rugby World Cup hosted in 1995 by South Africa and won by the underdog Springboks.[7] The poem is recited by the character Mandela as the character Pienaar and the team visit Robben Island and Pienaar imagines Mandela and fellow prisoners as they had been, there. The movie was based on the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation by John Carlin.
The poem is also read aloud by the character of Hel Amy Davidson in the broad-casted two-part television movie "The Capture of the Green River Killer".
The poem was also referenced by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh as his last words before his execution.
References
- ^ Brownell, W. C. (1963). American prose masters: Cooper, Hawthorne, Emerson, Poe, Lowell, Henry James. Harvard University Press. p. 283. OCLC 271184.
- ^ a b Henley, William Ernest (1888). A book of verses. London: D. Nutt. OCLC 13897970.
- ^ For example in Henley, William Ernest (1891). A book of verses (3rd ed.). New York: Scribner & Welford. OCLC 1912116.
- ^ "English professor Marion Hoctor: The meaning of 'Invictus'". CNN. 2001-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^
Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas (ed.) (1902). The Oxford book of English verse, 1250–1900 (1st (6th impression) ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 1019. OCLC 3737413.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ Wilson, A.N. (2001-06-11). "World of books". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ IMdB page.