Religion

WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

"Invictus"

William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) suffered ill health as a boy and . . young

man but eventually became an 1nfluent1al man of letters in Victorian En.

gland A poet playwright, and essayist, he also served as editor of · ' . . . several periodicals over the course of his career. In this capacity he introduced to the public such writers as H. G. Wells and William Butler Yeats, whose work is included in other chapters of Leading Lives That Matter.

"lnvictus," which means "unconquered," is a cry of defiance; the poet insists that he alone is "the master of my fate ... the captain of my soul." This assertion is made even though he has experienced "the bludgeonings of chance" and even though his head is "bloody." Moreover, the darkness with which the poem begins is persistent, and the world in which it is set is bleak. The speaker's mastery, in other words, does not seem to be over events. Against whom or what, then, is he declaring his independence? What is the character of the "mastery" he claims to have?

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.

From Modem British Poetry, ed. Louis Untermeyer (188s-1977). See http:Jlwww.bartleby.com/t0J/

434

THOMAS LYNCH

d this place of wrath and tears seY011 s but the Horror of the shade, ioo!l1 t the menace of the years ;,nd ye nd shall find, me unafraid. finds, a

rs not how strait the gate,

• "PaSSed On•

It!l1atte h . h h ow charged wit punts ments t e scroll, tl the master of my fate: 1 a!l1 the captain of my soul. I a!l1

THOMAS LYNCH

"Passed On"

Thomas Lynch grew up in Michigan, where his father ran a funeral home. He also became an undertaker, work he has found both significant and meaningful. In addition to this work, he writes poems and essays filled with wisdom about the human condition gleaned from his years of dealing with the dead and those who mourn for them . His books include The Un- dertaking; Still Life in Milford; and Bodies in Motion and al Rest. He now spends part of each year in Ireland in a cottage once inhabited by his grandparents.

The reading below could have been included in several different parts of this book. It uses the vocabulary of vocation . It gives us a glimpse into a family that balances life with work. It shows how one boy, and then many of his descendants, chose the work they would do. It is included here be-

. . I h . b h' h he is writing around cause Lynch brings the vocat1ona c 01ce a out w 1c . . to the question of

to a conclusion that gives one important answer whether we can control what we shall do and become. As his mother pu~s

h t d es Lynch attribute t e it, "God works in strange ways." To w at exten °

From Christian Century, July 13, 2004, p. 29.

435