More Another Time, PG, On What This Poem Means To Me
Invictus
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 bludgeonings 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 punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 2:21 PM
7 Comments:
I've always loved this stirring poem, especially the final paragraph.
I like it too, although it has been argued that it is anti G-d, anti-religion. The author suffered a lot and persevered. I think, perhaps, he's saying that he's captain and master not in the ultimate sense but meaning that he is foing is best. he doesn't say that he is creator or owner of his soul...
I was shocked when Timothy McVeigh chose this poem as his last words. I didn't know till then that this poem was out there in the world.
Before my school became the private Jewish school I attended it had been The Henley School. And that poem was inscribed on marble on the front of the building.
A teacher in the school used to say he felt that the school was cursed because that poem hung out front. I disagree on his take on the poem.
This author agrees with Dr. Fredman, may he rest in peace.
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/367-timothy-mcveighs-invictus).
How can it be anti-God & anti-religion when in its first lines it thanks "whatever gods there be" for the soul?
For me, more than anything else, it's about the greatness of the human spirit, and I have no doubt that's what it was intended to convey.
The claim of the article I linked to, or maybe it's another one I saw, is that in that line he's doubting that there are any gods in plural with a small g and theat he's sure thaere's no G-d with a capital g - an if there is he's alluded that he won't bow to him.
You and I are on the same page about this.
Truth be told, I am not entirely unbiased in the matter; I was taken at once by the language of the poem and by the stark nobility of its images, so I am perhaps not open to uncomplimentary inferences. Besides, I generally mistrust deconstructionist readings of literature's subtexts, which purport to know what an author really meant when he says the exact opposite.
It’s quite appreciable that such information is being shared through a huge network. Keep it up.
The sweep and apparent majesty of this poem thrill me, as a word-lover. But McVeigh ruined it for me. I saw its darker side then. In my mind it will always be linked to the Oklahoma City slaughter.
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