Invictus: the Literary Critic

"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.

The poetry is Invictus. It is a noble poem written in 1875. William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic, and editor. Born in Gloucester, he was the eldest of a family of six children. From the age of twelve, Henley suffered from tuberculosis of the bone which resulted in the amputation of his left leg during 1868-69. His struggle to accept his amputation inspired him to write this poetry. Taken from the Latin, the word Invictus means unconquered.

After reading it for the third time, I had finally found the writer's attitude in this poetry. My perspective might be different from the writer's meaning because I use different illustration to feel the attitude or the spirit of this magnificent poetry. Before we analyze the attitude of it, we must first acknowledge the tone of each word in this poetry. The tone that the writer has put may give two impressions, either relieving or encouraging, depends on the reader's mood and condition.

To feel the writer's feeling, I use my own illustration. The situation might not be identically like my latter example, but it probably has the same spirit. I begin with: imagine there is a man sitting in a basement. It is a pretty neat room; with a study desk, a working chair, and a sofa placed in the middle of it. The sitting man sits on his working chair while he's reading a letter. Unfortunately, the letter tells a very bad news: that man's son died in his line of duty.

Feeling empty, lost, and mentally shocked, the man can do nothing except sighing. But instead of being surrendered, he chooses to keep moving on with his life. He has lost his beloved son but still he has to be responsible to his life. With this kind of attitude he expresses his feeling of never give up, never surrender, never back down through letters.

From the example, we could understand the writer's attitude. His wise personality and the way he sees his fate motivates anyone who read Invictus. That makes the tone of this poetry sounds brave.

Using syntactic analysis, it is seen that the subject of the poem is often occurred in first person perspective. It is seen by looking at the use of "I" which sometimes been replaced by "my" or "me". The verbs are pretty interesting. Verbs in this poetry are tying one to another. If the verbs on the first two lines indicate gloomy meanings, such as "cried" or "looms", the last two lines in the same stanza turn those sad meanings into motivation words, such as "thank" or "finds". And also there are so many positive meanings adjective in this poetry, words like "unbowed" and "unafraid". In a way, the adjectives strengthen the poetry's attitude.

The best part of this poem is the last two lines in the last stanza. It is a nice connotation to understand the writer's feeling. It has a very deep meaning. For me, it is clearly a vulgar picture of William Ernest Henley's soul.

There are lot of sense devices in this poetry. The first line in the first stanza and the second and third in the second stanza are personifications. The writer used personification because he wanted to show his expression in more artistic way. In order to give deeper meaning to how he feels, he personified his situations. Metaphors can be found on the first, second, and third line in the third stanza. It is also can be found on the second line in the last stanza. These metaphors used mostly for dramatization; to express the writer's feeling poetically. Simile can only be found on the second line in the first stanza. Same as metaphors, it is expected to touch the reader's sense.

As a whole, Invictus is one of the best noble poetry I have ever read. Although it combines explicit and implicit meanings yet makes this poetry easy to understand. The sense devices are also well written. Each of its words are working together and make a strong unity. At the same time, the poetry is encouraging yet giving splendid impression of braveness and struggle. Spending some of my time to feel and analyze it has made me feel stronger than before. Nothing more I can say except "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."




Written by William Ernest Henley (Poetry) - 1875
Written by Dimas Rizky Pramana (Essay) - 2010