"Invictus"
📜 Winston Churchill referenced the poem in a speech during World War II.
📜 The founding the Invictus Games was inspired by the poem's theme
📜 The 2009 film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, is titled after the poem and depicts Nelson Mandela's use of rugby to unite South Africa.
A short Victorian poem by the English poet
William Ernest Henley
The Latin word invictus means "unconquered". It is most famously known as the title of an 1875 poem by William Ernest Henley, written while he was recovering from tuberculosis-related surgeries that resulted in the amputation of one leg.
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"Invictus" the poem
Henley's poem is a celebration of resilience and self-mastery in the face of suffering, focusing on the unconquerable human spirit and individual will. The poem is structured in four quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme and uses iambic tetrameter. You can find the full text of the poem in the referenced web document.
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"Invictus" the poem
Henley's poem is a celebration of resilience and self-mastery in the face of suffering, focusing on the unconquerable human spirit and individual will. The poem is structured in four quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme and uses iambic tetrameter. You can find the full text of the poem in the referenced web document.
It
was first published in 1875 in a book called Book of Verses, where it
was number four in several poems called Life and Death (Echoes). It
originally had 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 added by
editor Arthur Quiller-Couch when the poem was included in The Oxford
Book of English Verse .
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.
At the age of 12, Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone. When Henley was 16 years old the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians
announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly
below the knee owing to complications arising from tuberculosis. It was amputated when he was 17.
In the early 1870s, after seeking treatment for problems with his other leg at Margate, he was told that it would require a similar procedure.
He instead chose to travel to Edinburgh in August 1873 to enlist the services of the distinguished English surgeon Joseph Lister, who was able to save Henley's remaining leg after multiple surgical interventions on the foot. While recovering in the infirmary, he was moved to write the verses that became the poem "Invictus".
A memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism - the "stiff upper lip"
of self-discipline and fortitude in adversity, which popular culture
rendered into a British character trait -"Invictus" remains a cultural touchstone.
Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
Cultural impact
The poem's message of defiance has resonated with and inspired many:
📜 Nelson Mandela found strength in the poem during his imprisonment.
The poem's message of defiance has resonated with and inspired many:
📜 Nelson Mandela found strength in the poem during his imprisonment.
📜 The founding the Invictus Games was inspired by the poem's theme
📜 The 2009 film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, is titled after the poem and depicts Nelson Mandela's use of rugby to unite South Africa.
Influence
In the 1942 film Casablanca, Captain Renault, an 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.
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In the 1945 film Kings Row, Parris Mitchell, a psychiatrist played by Robert Cummings, recites the first two stanzas 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.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt mentions that this is one of his favorite poems in the 1958 play Sunrise at Campobello (Act 2, Scene 2). Later, in the same scene, his friend and advisor, Louis Howe, reads the entire poem aloud as a tribute to Roosevelt.
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The fourth stanza was quoted by Lachesis to Zane in Piers Anthony's novel On a Pale Horse, the first of his Incarnations of Immortality series.
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In a Union Bank of Switzerland advertisement Alan Bates recites the poem
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While incarcerated on Robben Island prison, Nelson Mandela recited the poem to other prisoners and was empowered by its message of self-mastery.
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In the movie Invictus, Mandela gives the captain of the national South African rugby team the poem to inspire him to lead his team to a Rugby World Cup win, telling him how it inspired him in prison.
In reality, as opposed to the movie, Mandela gave the captain, Francois Pienaar, a copy of the "The Man in the Arena" passage from President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt's speech Citizenship in a Republic instead.
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The poem was used as the title of one of the final episodes of the 1987-1989 television series Beauty & the Beast.
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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 7 October.
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The last stanza of the poem was used by Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) to inspire Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) in the 30 Rock episode "Everything Sunny All the Time Always".
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Tennis player Andre Agassi quoted the poem in his autobiography, Open.
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In a Lost in Space episode, Dr. Smith paraphrases the poem in the line "each man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul".
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The Japanese visual novel Robotics;Notes uses the last two lines in this poem in the tagline for the game.
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The Korean Manhwa Noblesse uses the last two lines as the motto for Ye Ran High School.
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Fitness guru Jack Lalanne cited the poem as an inspiration in his life. Jack Lalanne battled illness as a young man in his teens and drew strength from Invictus. During an episode from his daily fitness program The Jack LaLanne Show, aired in the 1950s, he quotes lines from the poem.
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The poem is also recited and memorized by most black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs), during their new member presentation show known as the probate. Initiates are usually required to study this poem during their pledging process.
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The second verse of the poem was printed on cans of Relentless Inferno, an energy drink marketed in the UK by the Coca-Cola company.
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The poem is also recited within an audio commentary created to accompany street artist Banksy's October 25, 2013 art installment featuring Death riding a bumper car.
'Invictus': A Virtual World Game
Michael Owens and Geoffrey Hancock discuss breakthrough virtual crowd work on the latest Clint Eastwood feature.
By Bill Desowitz December 16, 2009
In Films, Visual Effects | VFXWorld
In Films, Visual Effects | VFXWorld
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Caricature of Mr WE Henley.
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