Lyric Poem · Inspirational

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley · 1888

Reading room

1Out of the night that covers me,

2Black as the pit from pole to pole,

3I thank whatever gods may be

4For my unconquerable soul.

5In the fell clutch of circumstance

6I have not winced nor cried aloud.

7Under the bludgeonings of chance

8My head is bloody, but unbow'd.

9Beyond this place of wrath and tears

10Looms but the Horror of the shade,

11And yet the menace of the years

12Finds and shall find me unafraid.

13It matters not how strait the gate,

14How charged with punishments the scroll,

15I am the master of my fate:

16I am the captain of my soul.

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“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley — quilloak.com/poems/invictus

Quick facts

Poem: Invictus
Poet: William Ernest Henley
Published: 1888
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
Themes: Inspirational, Strength

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 16 lines · 4 quatrains
Line length: Long metre. Four eight-syllable lines (8.8.8.8), the hymn stanza's longer cousin.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: William Ernest Henley1849–1903
Source record: WikisourceInvictus by william-ernest-henley, Wikisource transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: 1888
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 908daf594cd5784e…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Rhyming Poems Inspirational Strength

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