Captain of My Soul ~ William Ernest Henley

Posted on by Dr. Joel Ying, MD

“I am the master of my fate,  I am the captain of my soul.”

William Ernest Henley wrote these often quoted lines of poetry in 1875 while in a hospital recovering from tuberculosis of the bone that required an amputation of one leg and surgery on the other. The title of the poem is “Invictus” which means “unconquered” or “undefeated.” Originally published without a title, it has had many titles including “Captain of My Soul” and “Song of a Strong Soul.” This poem evokes the Victorian stoicism of a “stiff upper life” as it would be called in the author’s British culture.

Invictus was a favorite poem of Nelson Mandela that helped him keep up his spirit during his years of imprisonment.

May it help you too …

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
      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 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.

Books of William Ernest Henley

          

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