"Invictus" was written by William Ernest Henley in 1875, while he underwent medical treatment for tuberculosis of the bone. Originally the fourth part of a longer sequence published in Henley's collection In Hospital, this 16-line section has taken on a life of its own. The unwavering resilience it summons in the face of adversity has led to its enduring popularity and use in a variety of contexts. The poem's uncertain relationship with religion and its insistence on individual strength also ties it to issues facing England in the late 19th century.
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The Full Text of “Invictus”
1Out of the night that covers me,
2 Black as the pit from pole to pole,
3I thank whatever gods may be
4 For my unconquerable soul.
5In the fell clutch of circumstance
6 I have not winced nor cried aloud.
7Under the bludgeonings of chance
8 My head is bloody, but unbowed.
9Beyond this place of wrath and tears
10 Looms but the Horror of the shade,
11And yet the menace of the years
12 Finds and shall find me unafraid.
13It matters not how strait the gate,
14 How charged with punishments the scroll,
15I am the master of my fate,
16 I am the captain of my soul.
The Full Text of “Invictus”
1Out of the night that covers me,
2 Black as the pit from pole to pole,
3I thank whatever gods may be
4 For my unconquerable soul.
5In the fell clutch of circumstance
6 I have not winced nor cried aloud.
7Under the bludgeonings of chance
8 My head is bloody, but unbowed.
9Beyond this place of wrath and tears
10 Looms but the Horror of the shade,
11And yet the menace of the years
12 Finds and shall find me unafraid.
13It matters not how strait the gate,
14 How charged with punishments the scroll,
15I am the master of my fate,
16 I am the captain of my soul.
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“Invictus” Summary
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“Invictus” Themes
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Suffering and Resilience
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Free Will Vs. Fate
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Agnosticism
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Invictus”
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Line 1
Out of the night that covers me,
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Line 2
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
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Lines 3-4
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul. -
Lines 5-6
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud. -
Lines 7-8
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed. -
Lines 9-10
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade, -
Lines 11-12
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid. -
Lines 13-14
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll, -
Lines 15-16
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
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“Invictus” Symbols
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The Soul
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The Scroll
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“Invictus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
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Anaphora
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Asyndeton
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Parallelism
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Metaphor
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Personification
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Allusion
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Diacope
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Consonance
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“Invictus” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Invictus
- Pit
- Pole
- Fell
- Circumstance
- Wrath
- Shade
- Menace
- Strait
- Gate
- Scroll
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Invictus”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Invictus” Speaker
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“Invictus” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Invictus”
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More “Invictus” Resources
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External Resources
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More Poems by Henley — More of Henleys's poems available at poets.org.
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Morgan Freeman Reading "Invictus" — As a political prisonor, Nelson Mandela recited "Invictus" to other prisoners as a message of self-empowerment. Clint Eastwood references Mandela's experience in this scene from his 2009 movie of the same name.
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Henley's Life and Times — For more information about Henley's life and the intellectual currents of his day, check out this 1945 literary biography by Jerome Hamilton Buckley.
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Portraits of Henley — These portraits from the National Portrait Gallery in London testify to other artists fascination with Henley.
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A Biography of Henley — A short biography of Henley from Britannica.
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