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.

Related Topics:
Poem - British - William Ernest Henley - Clichés - Quotation - Latin - 1875

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The poem goes:

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:::Invictus

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:Out of the night that covers me,

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::Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

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:I thank whatever gods may be

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::For my unconquerable soul.

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:In the fell clutch of circumstance

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::I have not winced nor cried aloud.

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:Under the bludgeonings of chance

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::My head is bloody, but unbowed.

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:Beyond this place of wrath and tears

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::Looms but the Horror of the shade,

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:And yet the menace of the years

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::Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

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:It matters not how strait the gate,

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::How charged with punishments the scroll,

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:I am the master of my fate:

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::I am the captain of my soul.

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In this poem, Henley gave the world the familiar phrases "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.

Related Topics:
Hyperbolic - Popular culture - Stoicism

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In the United States, this poem has become popular among paratroopers, many of whom commit it to memory to give them emotional support should they become a prisoner of war.

Related Topics:
United States - Paratrooper - Prisoner of war

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In the climax of the 1942 film King's Row, the poem is recited by Parris Mitchell (Robert Cummings) to friend Drake McHugh (Ronald Reagan) in an effort to overcome the latter's depression following a permanent injury.

Related Topics:
1942 film - King's Row - Robert Cummings - Ronald Reagan - Depression

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It is also the name of an album by the Heavy Metal band Virgin Steele who use occasional lines of the poem as lyrics on the album.

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The poem recently gained further notoriety by being quoted by the American terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who quoted it in a communiqué released shortly before his execution for murder committed in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Related Topics:
American - Terrorist - Timothy McVeigh - Execution - Murder - Oklahoma City bombing

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More recently, American terrorist Eric Rudolph alluded to the poem when in court for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 20, 2005, stating, "By the grace of God, I am still here -- a little bloodied, but emphatically unbowed."

Related Topics:
American - Terrorist - Eric Rudolph - Centennial Olympic Park bombing - Atlanta - Georgia

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