Invictus

“Invictus” invites the reader in, from its dramatic opening line that pulls the reader immediately into the dilemma of the speaker to everything else in the poem. As an example of High Victorian wisdom literature, “Invictus” is designed for clarity of expression and accessibility of form. Henley is not interested in provoking analysis or experimenting with poetic form. The language here is straightforward, inviting. The poet resists elaborate word play or layered symbolism. The goal is instruction. The poem is brief, readable in a single sitting. And, in keeping with this didactic imperative, the poem’s themes are uncomplicated by irony. The diction is direct, even conversational. The poem aims to inspire; like a motivational speaker or a TED video, like a minister in church or a coach at halftime, “Invictus” is designed for mass and immediate consumption, geared to reach (and teach) the widest reach possible.

Hence the form is conventional and accessible. The poem is executed in four blocks: four tidy four-line stanzas, called quatrains. Within each quatrain, the poem maintains a strict (and familiar) rhyme scheme. The best way to offer the poem’s radical message of humanity’s cosmic aloneness is to package that radical message in a poem that looks, scans, and even reads like a conventional poem.