Reflecting
upon the words
The poem
"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley is a dark, depressing poem.
The
speaker is most-likely to be Henley himself since the poem was written during
his recovery in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh of Scotland. “Out of the night
that covers me” The night that Henley speaks of is most-likely to be his
disease, tubercular arthritis. He has accepted his faith and no longer seeks
useless hopes but is determined in whatever might come.
The
speaker prays, thanking "whatever Gods may be" for his
"unconquerable soul". The speaker is in some type of despair and yet
he is rather undaunted by his misery. He prays not for the strength to get him
through this, but rather, thanks the gods for what strength he already has.
With no complaint or cry for help or of pain, he has overcome the circumstances
he is in, he has taken his chances and beginning to accept reality. Unlike
majority of the population during his time, Henley was an avowed atheist, so
the only place he could look for strength was himself.
"In
the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced nor cried aloud./Under the bludgeoning
of chance". The third stanza is the last stanza of real deep, dark,
depressing, and heavy description of feeling. It hits the reader hard because
the circumstance Henley mentions seems to be aggravating instead of getting
better. It shows a glimpse of what death may be like. The speaker also speaking
of the bludgeoning of chance. He knows that there is no certainty in his
situation. Nothing seems to frighten the speaker, however.
The
speaker remains indifferent throughout the poem, even though all the detailed
descriptions of death, "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." Death does not faze the speaker. He/She is not worried. Death
is merely an end to the speaker's suffering. He is not concerned with anything
that lies beyond death, such as an afterlife. Death is personified in this
stanza.
It
is shown when Horror is capitalized and the line from the first stanza
"Black as the Pit from pole to pole" refers to Hell as the Pit.
He/She is his own god, guide, and judge. He/She is the captain, running his own
life, and in charge of his soul. "I am the master of my fate/I am the
captain of my own soul." Here the speakers realizes his/her fate and comes
to terms with this truth.
This
poem is similar to Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
because the soldiers in this poem are performing a suicide brigade, knowing
their plans will fall through, but they do it anyway. The speaker of this poem
comes to terms with death, and goes through, preparing for its outcome.
