InvictusWilliam Ernest Henley
Invictus
by William Ernest Henley · first published 1900
7mentions
4recommended by
6HN commenters
2015–2022first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
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I'm a fan of 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…
on “Ask HN: Who are your favorite poets?” ↗…implied expression of "so it isn't really something I can do anything about right now". That is the attitude I found to be holding myself back in a dark past. What turned the page for me was reading "Invictus" from Henley, who was a man that was absolutely beaten and battered by life, and still refused to give up: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever…
on “Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination” ↗It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Love this poem by William Ernest Henley - “Invictus”
on “A Stoic Philosopher in a Hanoi Prison: I am the captain of my soul” ↗There are a handful of poems that helped me on the road to adulthood. This was one of them. Others are - Invictus, Henley - Do not go gentle into that good night, Thomas - Desiderata, Ehrmann - The Man in the Arena (Citizenship in a Republic ), Roosevelt (prose, not poem)
on “If – A Poem by Rudyard Kipling” ↗…appreciate when a point is succinctly and aesthetically encoded, but not poetry for the sake of poetry. Seems like the vast majority of it is just ambiguity masquerading as depth. One of my favorite poems is Invictus by William Earnest Henley, so I tried reading a lot more of his poems, but they all seemed like a chore.
on “Why poetry is good for the rational mind” ↗…based on his friend W.E. Henley, who had a leg amputated at the knee due to TB. Incidentally, after Lister (the pioneer of modern antiseptic surgery) saved his other foot, Henley wrote the famous poem Invictus, which ends with the lines - I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
on “Paper Scraps Recovered from Blackbeard's Cannon” ↗…note if the peephole cover moved and unfolded Hatcher's sheet of low-grade paper toweling on which he had printed with rat dropping, without comment or signature, the last verse of Ernest Henley's poem Invictus: It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."
on “Master of My Fate – Stoicism from a Vietnam Prisoner of War [pdf]” ↗