William Ernest Henley

Invictus

Darkness as metaphor

Night represents life's challenges. Total darkness suggests overwhelming adversity.

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

Stoic resistance metaphor

Physical violence becomes a metaphor for life's brutal challenges. 'Bludgeonings' suggests repeated, painful attacks.

My head is bloody, but unbow'd.

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,

Existential defiance

Declares absolute personal agency. Uses maritime leadership language to claim total self-determination.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.