Invictus - THE POEM

Invictus
by William Ernest Henley; 1849-1903

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.




AUTHOR: Louis Untermeyer, ed., 1885–1977.
TITLE: Modern British poetry, edited by Louis Untermeyer.
PUBLISHED: New York, Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920.
PHYSICAL DETAILS: 2 p. l., iii–xxv, 234 p. 19 cm.
ISBN: 1-58734-063-1.
CITATION: Untermeyer, Louis. Modern British Poetry. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/103/. [Date of Printout].
ON-LINE ED.: Published January 1999 by Bartleby.com; © Copyright Bartleby.com, Inc. (Terms of Use).