| 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
Commentary
The title for the movie “Invictus” is the same as one of William Ernest Henley’s poems. The movie is about Nelson Mandela’s rise from being a prisoner to the president of his country. He showed by the way he lived his life that he was the “master of his fate” and “captain of his soul.” As president, he turned enemies i
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