Composition

Outer composition

The poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley has a rather straightforward outer composition. The poem consists of four stanzas each with four lines. This structure is not unusual for poems of the period when it was written.

The poem uses an alternate rhyme scheme (ABAB). This means that the first and third verses rhyme with each other, while the second verse rhymes with the fourth:

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. (ll. 1-4)

This type of rhyme adds musicality to the poem and makes the lines flow more easily. The rhyme pattern does not change at all throughout the poem.

Inner composition

The poem’s inner composition is centered around the speaker’s determined attitude in the face of the darkness and suffering he is facing. 

In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker begins by presenting the situation he is in: “Out of the night that covers me” (l.1). This immediately captures the reader’s attention, as we realize the speaker is going through a crisis. However, the last two lines of the stanza offer a message of defiance and hope, which contra...