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 bludgeoning 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 punishment the scroll,
I
am the master of my fate;
I
am the captain of my soul.
[1] William Ernest Henley was born in 1849 at Gloucester,
England, the eldest of six children born to William and Mary Morgan Henley. His
father was a bookseller and stationer. From 1861-67 Henley studied at the
venerable Crypt Grammar School, his first years under the brilliant and
academically distinguished headmaster T. E. Brown. William saw in Brown a poet
and “man of genius - the first I’d ever seen.” This was the start of a lifelong
friendship. At 12, William developed tuberculosis of the bone, which led a few
years later to the amputation of his left leg below the knee. His fierce
refusal to be discouraged by this setback finds voice in his well-known Invictus (quoted above) a poem said to
be inspired by this period in his life.
In 1867, William he passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination and soon afterward moved to London where he attempted to establish himself as a journalist. But his work over the next eight years was interrupted by long periods in hospital because his right foot had also become diseased. He fought the diagnosis that a second amputation was the only way to save his life, placing himself under the care of the pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. After three years in hospital (1873-75) he was discharged. Lister’s treatment had not effected a complete cure, but Henley was able to lead a relatively active life for nearly 30 years thereafter.
Henley resumed publishing and married. In 1888 he and his wife had a daughter, Margaret. Henley became editor of the Scots Observer, an Edinburgh journal which he inspired with his vigorous and combative personality. It was transferred to London in 1891 as the National Observer and remained under Henley’s editorship until 1893. Though the paper’s fame was mainly confined to the literary class, it was a lively and influential publication. It found utterance for the growing imperialism of its day, and among other services to literature gave to the world Rudyard Kipling’s Barrack-Room Ballads.
In 1867, William he passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination and soon afterward moved to London where he attempted to establish himself as a journalist. But his work over the next eight years was interrupted by long periods in hospital because his right foot had also become diseased. He fought the diagnosis that a second amputation was the only way to save his life, placing himself under the care of the pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. After three years in hospital (1873-75) he was discharged. Lister’s treatment had not effected a complete cure, but Henley was able to lead a relatively active life for nearly 30 years thereafter.
Henley resumed publishing and married. In 1888 he and his wife had a daughter, Margaret. Henley became editor of the Scots Observer, an Edinburgh journal which he inspired with his vigorous and combative personality. It was transferred to London in 1891 as the National Observer and remained under Henley’s editorship until 1893. Though the paper’s fame was mainly confined to the literary class, it was a lively and influential publication. It found utterance for the growing imperialism of its day, and among other services to literature gave to the world Rudyard Kipling’s Barrack-Room Ballads.
Henley’s literary
life led to friendships with other writers. Robert Louis Stevenson based his Treasure Island character Long John Silver on
Henley. Another friend, J. M. Barrie, was charmed with the Henley’s young
Margaret. Young and sickly, she could not speak properly; she would refer to
Barrie as her “Friendy-Wendy.” Barrie took the “Wendy” and used it as the name
of the female protagonist in his Peter Pan;
this is the origin of the now-common female name. Margaret died in 1894 at the
age of 5. Eight years later, Henley died and was buried by her side. (Source: Wikipedia)
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