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William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley Books

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Poems

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Views and reviews

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A Book of Verses

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Invictus

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“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.”

PoetryNelson MandelaInvictus1875
Book:Invictus
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“Or ever the knightly years were gone, with the old world to the grave, I was a King in Babylon and you were a Christian Slave. I saw, I took, I cast you by, I bent and broke your pride... And a myriad suns have set and shone, since then upon the grave, Decreed by the King in Babylon, to her that had been his slave. The pride I trampled is now my scathe, for it tramples me again. The old remnant lasts like death for you love, yet you refrain. I break my heart on your hard unfaith, and I break my heart in vain.”

WorldYearsHeartHardChristianLastsBreakSunGoneSawsPrideKingsMy HeartSlaveCastsKarmaGravesBrokeVainBentRefrainOld WorldRemnantsBreaking My HeartBabylon
Author:William Ernest Henley
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“Life - give me life until the end, That at the very top of being, The battle-spirit shouting in my blood, Out of the reddest hell of the fight I may be snatched and flung Into the everlasting lull, The immortal, incommunicable dream.”

LifeGivingMayEndsDreamSpiritFightingHellBloodBattleGive MeImmortalEverlastingShoutingLulls
Book:London Voluntaries ; The Song of the Sword, and Other Verses
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“Love, which is lust, is the Lamp in the Tomb. Love, which is lust, is the Call from the Gloom. Love, which is lust, is the Main of Desire. Love, which is lust, is the Centric Fire. So man and woman will keep their trust, Till the very Springs of the Sea run dust. Yea, each with the other will lose and win, Till the very Sides of the Grave fall in. For the strife of Love's the abysmal strife, And the word of Love is the Word of Life. And they that go with the Word unsaid, Though they seem of the living, are damned and dead.”

MenLifeSeemsRunningDesireFallWinningSidesLosesLove IsFireSeaSpringMen And WomenGravesLustDustStrifeLampsTombsGloomUnsaidDesire Love
Book:The Works of W. E. Henley: Poems
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“Out of the night that covers me, Black is 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.”

GivingYearsMaySoulMatterNightBlackChanceFateStrengthTearsMastersCircumstancesHorrorGiving UpPunishmentMy SoulGatesShadeCriedBloodyCaptainsWrathPitsFind MeDon't Give UpMenaceClutchUnafraidUnconquerableOne Tree Hill VoiceoverTree HillOne Tree Hill LifeOne Tree Hill LoveOne Tree Hill MemorableUnconquerable WillOne Tree Hill Friendship
Author:William Ernest Henley
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“Between the dusk of a summer night And the dawn of a summer day, We caught at a mood as it passed in flight, And we bade it stoop and stay. And what with the dawn of night began With the dusk of day was done; For that is the way of woman and man, When a hazard has made them one. Arc upon arc, from shade to shine, The World went thundering free; And what was his errand but hers and mine - The lords of him, I and she? O, it's die we must, but it's live we can, And the marvel of earth and sun Is all for the joy of woman and man And the longing that makes them one.”

MenWorldWayMadeDoneEarthJoyNightDiesLordSunMinesSummerMen And WomenLongingShiningCaughtMoodFlightDawnShadeJulyHazardsArcsDuskStoopsErrandsSummer DaysSummer NightsEarth And Sun
Book:Poems
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“Behold me waiting—waiting for the knife.... The thick, sweet mystery of chloroform, The drunken dark, the little death-in-life.... [F]ace to face with chance, I shrink a little: My hopes are strong, my will is something weak. ...I am ready But, gentlemen my porters, life is brittle: You carry Cæsar and his fortunes—steady!”

LittlesFacesLife IsStrongWaitingDarkChanceMysteryReadySweetWeakFortuneMedicalGentlemanKnivesSteadyThickShrinksAcesSarsChloroform
Author:William Ernest Henley
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“It is the artist's function not to copy but to synthesise: to eliminate from that gross confusion of actuality which is his raw material whatever is accidental, idle, irrelevant, and select for perpetuation that only which is appropriate and immortal.”

ArtistMaterialsFunctionConfusionAppropriateImmortalCopiesIdleIrrelevantGrossSelectRaw MaterialsActuality
Book:The Works of William Ernest Henley: Views and reviews
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“There are two men in Tolstoy. He is a mystic and he is also a realist. He is addicted to the practice of a pietism that for all its sincerity is nothing if not vague and sentimental; and he is the most acute and dispassionate of observers, the most profound and earnest student of character and emotion.”

IfsMenTwoCharacterEmotionPracticeStudentsProfoundSincerityVagueSentimentalObserversEarnestMysticRealistDispassionate
Book:Views and Reviews: Essays in Appreciation: Literature
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