"Invictus" is a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley. It was
written in 1875 and published in 1888 in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses, where
it is the fourth poem in the section Life and Death. It originally had no title. Early
printings contained only the dedication To R. T. H. B.—a reference to Robert Thomas
Hamilton Bruce, a successful Scottish flour merchant and baker who was also a literary
patron. The title "Invictus" was added by editor Arthur Quiller-Couch when the poem
was included in The Oxford Book of English Verse .
Text
Importance William Ernest Henley is best known by virtue
of this single poem. One of Henley's legs was amputated due to
complications arising from tuberculosis.Immediately after the amputation, he received news that
another operation would have to be done on his other leg. However, he decided to enlist
the help of a different doctor named Joseph Lister. Under Lister's care he was able to
keep his other leg by undergoing intensive surgery on his remaining foot. While recovering
from this surgery in the infirmary, he was moved to write the words of "Invictus". This
period of his life, coupled with the reality of an impoverished childhood, plays a major
role in the meaning behind the poem; it is also the prime reason for this poem's existence.
Influence C. S. Lewis included a quotation from the
last stanza in Book 5, chapter 3 of his early autobiographical work The Pilgrim's Regress.
In the 1942 film Casablanca, Captain Renault, an official played by Claude Rains recites
the last two lines of the poem when talking to Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart,
referring to his power in Casablanca. In the 1945 film Kings Row, Parris Mitchell,
a psychiatrist played by Robert Cummings, recites the first two stanzas of "Invictus"
to his friend Drake McHugh, played by Ronald Reagan, before revealing to Drake that his
legs were unnecessarily amputated by a cruel doctor.
Franklin D. Roosevelt mentions that this is one of his favorite poems. His friend and
advisor, Cordell Hull reads the entire poem aloud as a tribute to Roosevelt.
The fourth stanza was quoted by Lachesis to Zane in Piers Anthony's novel On a Pale Horse,
the first of his Incarnations of Immortality series.
While incarcerated on Robben Island prison, Nelson Mandela recited the poem to other prisoners
and was empowered by its message of self-mastery. In the movie Invictus, Mandela gives the captain
of the national South African rugby team the poem to inspire him to lead his team to a
Rugby World Cup win, telling him how it inspired him in prison. In reality, as opposed to the
movie, Mandela gave the captain, Francois Pienaar, a copy of the "The Man in the Arena"
passage from President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt's speech Citizenship in
a Republic instead. The American Heavy Metal band Virgin Steele
take influence from the poem for their 1998 release Invictus. In the song of the same
name, many of the lyrics take influence from the poem.
The last stanza of the poem was used by Jack Donaghy to inspire Liz Lemon in the 30 Rock
episode "Everything Sunny All the Time Always". The line "bloody, but unbowed" was the Daily
Mirror's headline the day after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. It was also quoted by
Lord Peter Wimsey in the Dorothy Sayers novel Clouds of Witness, in reference to his failure
to exonerate his brother of the charge of murder.
The Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi stated, "This poem
had inspired my father, Aung San, and his contemporaries during the independent struggle,
as it also seemed to have inspired freedom fighters in other places at other times."
The Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh quoted the poem in its entirety as his final statement.
The poem's last stanza was quoted by US President Barack Obama at the end of Obama's speech
at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in South Africa and published on the front cover of
the December 14, 2013 issue of The Economist. See also
If— The Man in the Arena
References
External links Works related to Invictus at Wikisource
Quoted in full at start of Zero Six Bravo. A factual account of Special forces action
in Second Gulf War published by Quercus 2013