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.
Henley wan an influential poet in the Victorian era, a major theme in literature prior to this era was human powerlessness against fate, The poem celebrates the concept of free will, declaring that the individual can choose to live with courage and dignity even if the circumstances are beyond his control, Henley himself suffered from bone tuberculosis which lead to him spending too much time in hospitals and finally resulting in a below knee amputation of his left leg in his late teen years or early 20s, which inspired him to write this poem and didn't prevent him from living a full life and becoming an acclaimed poet, Invictus is Latin fro "unconquered".
