Invictus

By William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be or my uncon!uerable soul" In the fell clutch of #ircumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud" $nder the bludgeons of #hance %y head is bloody, but unbowed" Beyond this place of wrath and tears &ooms but the Horror of the shade, 'nd yet the menace of the years inds, 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"

)o be uncon!uerable is to be invulnerable to what ever life throws at everyone else" " )here is no telling what will trouble people will encounter and there is no telling what life will do" People have to face fate and thank god for the upcoming times ahead" When men are born or start anew, they are in pitch darkness and have no sense of direction" &ife throws opportunities, death, and challenges at everyone, and it is their personality that is tested" *ome people on Earth are born without ever knowing what they are or why there were in their situation now" +ou don,t even have to be born this way- you can .ust be thrown into something you were never prepared for" )hese people are scared of the upcoming events, and succumb to the torture and pain of what life has given them" )he speaker is one person that stood up and defied all that life has thrown at him" He,s hit the curve/ball, the fastball, and sinker" )his poem shows what life can really be like, and this shows how everybody should deal with it- *tand your ground and face life head/on" 0on,t let life change you, change your life" Henley starts this poem by capitali1ing the word 2O$)"2 He,s give emphasis that he,s starting fresh and coming out of the night that covers him" )his Black pit that he emerged from could be past troubles or .ust being born into this new world" Either way, he is showing a new leaf and thanks 3od for what he has given him, an uncon!uerable soul" #ircumstance and chance are what he faces" He comes out of it bloody, bruised, and torn, but he does not falter beneath the strain" He did not yell or cry out in pain, and he stood his ground" Whatever life threw at him right then and there, he withstood the pain and held his footing" )his shows .ust how uncon!uerable his soul really is" In this third stan1a, Henley compares time as the 2Horror of the *hade"2 )his place of 2wrath and tears2 is his life and what he is facing, the present, like his life in the mortal realm" He is looking into the future, and seeing what is to come" He knows that a celestial realm is looking at him, and what time sees in him is a stone wall, unfaltering and unmoving" It does not matter how narrow this path is or how he is bruised or hurt- all that matters is that he is in

control of himself, and no one else has control over him" Other people can choose to stay behind, but he made a choice to forge on" " He does not care what punishments he faces under the scroll" the law" He does not care how narrow the path he is" He could be like a camel going through the eye of a needle for all he cares, but he is not controlled by life" He may not be in control of his life, but he is not letting life change the way he is"

"Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole," )his night could be anything from starting a new life to being born, but it all feels the same to everyone" )his blackness is the same blindness we feel and see when we walk a road" "I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul " )his person does not care what god he thanks, because he is not about to let someone other than himself change his own life" He thanks them for what they have given him, an uncon!uerable soul" "In the fell clutch of !ircumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud " #lutch of circumstance, the moment when life hits you with something une4pected" It can be great and life changing, or it can be horrible and life changing" +ou could get married or your mom could die" Either way, life changes for better or for worse" +ou don,t have to wince or cry aloud about these things, but what really matters is that he does not let life change him" He does not care what it has done to him, but he goes through the pain and stands his ground" Everything life throws at you may hurt, but it doesn,t mean you have to show it" ""nder the bludgeons of !hance #y head is bloody, but unbowed " *o when life beats him up and sends barrages of choices and opportunities, he deals with them and makes it past them, but he does not bow down to life" He stands up to life, and faces it head on" "Beyond this place of wrath and tears $ooms but the %orror of the shade," )here are only two places where this much wrath and tears can be( hell and earth" However, there is only one place where people can still ascend" )his person looks beyond his years on earth and sees that there is the most terrifying 2ball2 being thrown right at him" "&nd yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find me, unafraid " *o what happens when time finally meets him5 It a figure that is standing right in front of him, that is unafraid and doesn,t care what happens to him"

"It matters not how strait the gate, %ow charged with punishments the scroll," It matters not how narrow the gate, or how he is hurt" I am the master of my fate' I am the captain of my soul I am in charge of my life" )his poem is saying that what ever life sends down someone,s path, you need to face it and not back down" )he speaker started from nothing, had nothing, but kept everything"

Invictus 'nalysis Invictus is indeed a beautiful poem" It has been !uoted again and again by all, for more than a century, as a source of spiritual strength and self mastery" It has been declaimed by poets at their literature functions as well as by school children and university students" 2Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,2 In retrospect, the poet viewed his life as being torturing, unpleasant one" )he pains were unbearable, and there was no way out, as yet" He was covered by the ill circumstances, beyond his means of getting out" 2I thank whatever gods may be or my uncon!uerable soul"2 He thanked the gods, the deities, the angels, or whatever they may be, that were kind enough to help him going through the trying moments" With the help of those aspiring godsend heavenly beings, he was able to maintain his steadfastness and his belief in his own self" #learly, it was an admission that he was not enlightened enough by 3od 'lmighty, to positively know the types of those heavenly beings that helped him, but he was grateful, and thanked them nevertheless" )he spiritual strength possessed by the poet is typical in the cases of all those great people throughout the history of mankind" Whilst the belief in the self is very much sought and maintained, the spiritual sources for its strength are no doubt coming from 3od 'lmighty via the angels and other heavenly beings" In modern psychology, this is the subconscious mind, the psyche, galvanised by the belief in one 3od" 2In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud"2 He was sub.ected to by fate, by the orders from above, to the sufferings caused by

the unforgiving circumstance" *o be it, he did not lose his faith in his own self, in the happiness that awaited him from afar" )his has given him the strength to endure all the painful tortures of the circumstance that he was sub.ected to" )hus, he did not complain of his condition, he did not show the pain he had to bear and he kept it deep down under, to himself- for he knew the virtue of patience" He knew that the night would be replaced by dawn soon" 'nd the suffering, the happiness" 2$nder the bludgeonings of chance %y head is bloody, but unbowed"2 's a human being, the poet was sub.ected to the rule of nature" He felt the pain caused by the ill fate" )he painful blow inflicted on him was unpredicted- it was ordained from above" In his full awareness and humility, he recognised his limitations, but he strived to thrive" 'nd he refused to be the victim of the circumstance, because he believed in himself and in his ability to cure his heart wound" 2Beyond this place of wrath and tears &ooms but the Horror of the shade,2 He was aware that the patiently waited happiness was far from him" 'fter the near pain, there would be another awaiting" 2'nd yet the menace of the years inds, and shall find, me unafraid"2 'lbeit the strings of sufferings- one after another, he was ready to face the reality" 'nd he would .ust face it, come what may" It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, He would continue his .ourney, towards the happiness, no matter what the tribulations were there along the way" )he horror of the strait gate of hell, served him as a motivation in search of the gate of paradise" )he road to happiness is indeed a narrow one" 6ot many can pass through it" In striving for a better life, he would .ust ignore the possibilities of more pains" 6o matter what the unfair world had in stock for him" It was all said in metaphors" )he gate, the scroll, the punishments- are all metaphorically describing the trials and tribulations suffered, and also those awaited him" 2I am the master of my fate( I am the captain of my soul"2 In his determination to continue living and fight against the odds toward a better life and the eventual happiness, he planned his way through" He was ready to steer his life" 't the same time, he put all the efforts to be true to himself and did not let the oddity of the circumstance to weaken his soul"