Perspectives

Literary movement

The poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley was written in the Victorian age and evokes an attitude that mirrors that of Victorian stoicism. The term stoicism recalls the ancient philosophy with the same name that promoted indifference to pleasure and pain and acceptance of everything that happens. In the Victorian mindset, this referred to a visible lack of emotions and a desire to show resilience in the face of adversity. 

This resilient attitude is suggested in “Invictus” in the second stanza, when the speaker claims that he has not “winced or cried out loud” (l. 5) despite what he has suffered. This points to the idea of enduring hardships without complaining. 

One of the themes of Victorian poetry was the conflict between religion and science. Although we do not really see this explicitly in “Invictus”, the lack of religious elements can be considered telling. The poet does not draw comfort from any higher power, but fr…

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Textual perspectives

We could compare the poem “Invictus” with Dylan Thomas’ poem “Do not go gentle into that good night”. In the poem, the speaker urges his…