Lyric Poem · Inspirational
Invictus
by William Ernest Henley · 1888
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.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“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.
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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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