Choir Notes

Invictus
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4225

As a child in 19th-century England, William Ernest Henley suffered tuberculosis of the bone. Eventually the disease infected him so severely that doctors had to amputate his leg below the knee in order to save his life when he was 25. Despite his disability and continuing illnesses, he led a relatively active and productive life as a poet and editor until his death at the age of 53. One can only imagine the despair and gloom he must have felt at times, but rising within him was courage born of faith that he could determine his own destiny. He resolved to be strong, to hold on to hope, to never give up.

In 1875, during a long hospital stay recovering from illness, Henley wrote a short poem that would become known and beloved around the world. “Invictus,” which in Latin means unconquered, speaks of hope, perseverance, and resilience in the face of life’s challenges. To all who face difficulty and heartache—whether from fragile health, family concerns, financial setbacks, or a hundred other causes—Henley’s words are a stirring invitation to discover within ourselves the courage to become the master of our fate.

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 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,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.1

1 The Oxford Book of English Verse, ed. A. T. Quiller-Couch (1904), 1019.