Invictus

Invictus was written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley

After taking a poetry class this semester at Towson University I have learned a lot about poetry and how to read it. The most important thing I gleaned from the class was that you don't necessarily have to understand what the speaker means when he/she writes the words. What you need to take note of is how the poem resonates with you, the reader. I love this poem because it speaks to me in more ways than you can imagine. How does it speak to you?

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 buldgeonings 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.