Editing Invictus (section)

== Analysis ==
Latin for "unconquered",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latinitium – Online Latin Dictionaries |url=https://www.latinitium.com/latin-dictionaries?t=lsn24756 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121103720/https://latinitium.com/latin-dictionaries/?t=lsn24756 |archive-date=2022-11-21 |access-date=2020-12-13 |website=Latinitium |language=en-US}}</ref> the poem "Invictus" is a deeply descriptive and motivational work filled with vivid imagery. With four stanzas and sixteen lines, each containing eight syllables, the poem has a rather uncomplicated structure.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Edward H. |date=1974 |title=Two Anticipations of Henley's 'Invictus' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3817033 |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=191–196 |doi=10.2307/3817033 |issn=0018-7895 |access-date=2020-10-30 |jstor=3817033|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The poem is most known for its themes of willpower and strength in the face of adversity, much of which is drawn from the horrible fate assigned to many amputees of the day—[[gangrene]] and death.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gangrene – Symptoms and causes|url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gangrene/symptoms-causes/syc-20352567|access-date=2020-10-30|website=Mayo Clinic|language=en|archive-date=2020-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101090858/https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gangrene/symptoms-causes/syc-20352567|url-status=live}}</ref>

Each stanza takes considerable note of William Ernest Henley's perseverance and fearlessness throughout his early life and over twenty months under [[Joseph Lister|Lister]]'s care.<ref name=":0" /> In the second stanza, Henley refers to the strength that helped him through a childhood defined by his struggles with tuberculosis when he says "I have not winced nor cried aloud."<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hwk9sr|title=A book of verses /|first=William Ernest|last=Henley|date=July 17, 1889|publisher=New York|hdl=2027/hvd.hwk9sr}}</ref> In the fourth stanza, Henley alludes to the fact that each individual's destiny is under the jurisdiction of themselves, not at the mercy of the obstacles they face, nor other worldly powers.

Those who have taken time to analyze "Invictus" have also taken notice of religious themes, or the lack thereof, that exist in this piece. There is agreement that much of the dark descriptions in the opening lines make reference to [[Hell]]. Later, the fourth stanza of the poem alludes to a phrase from [[Jesus]]'s [[Sermon on the Mount]] in the [[King James Version|King James Bible]], which says, at [[Matthew 7:14]], "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Despite Henley's evocative tellings of perseverance and determination, worry was on his mind; in a letter to a close companion, William Ernest Henley later confided, "I am afeard my marching days are over"<ref name=":0" /> when asked about the condition of his leg.