User:Wilafortezza/Invictus

Poetic Analysis
Latin for 'unconquered,' the poem "Invictus" is a deeply descriptive and motivational work filled with vivid imagery. With four stanzas and sixteen lines, each containing eight syllables, the poem has a rather uncomplicated structure. The poem is most known for its themes of will-power and strength in the face of adversity, much of which is drawn from the horrible fate assigned to many amputees of the day— gangrene and death.

Each stanza takes considerable note to William Ernest Henley's perseverance and fearlessness throughout his early life and over twenty months under Lister's care. In the second stanza, Henley refers to his strength that helped him through a childhood defined by his struggles with tuberculosis when he says "I have not winced nor cried allowed." In the forth stanza, Henley alludes to the fact that each individual's destiny is under the jurisdiction of themselves, not at the mercy of the obstacles they face, nor otherworldly powers.

Those who have taken time to analyze "Invictus" have also taken notice of religious themes, or the lack there of, that exist in this piece. There is agreement that much of the dark descriptions in the opening lines make reference to Hell. Later, the fourth stanza of the poem alludes to a phrase from the King James Bible, which says, at Matthew 7:14, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Despite Henley's evocative tellings of perseverance and determination, worry was on his mind; In a letter to a close companion, William Ernest Henley later confided, "I am afeard my marching days are over." when asked about the condition of his leg.