A Book of Verses (1888) is the first collection of William Ernest Henley. It opens with In Hospital, a sequence of poems written at the Edinburgh Infirmary, and contains the untitled poem later called Invictus.
In Hospital
The sequence In Hospital describes Henley's long stay at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1873–1875: the waiting room, the operation, the nurses, the other patients and the day he was discharged.
Written partly in free verse, these poems were among the first in English to describe hospital life so realistically.
Invictus
Henley wrote the poem in 1875. In the 1888 book it was untitled and dedicated to the Scottish merchant Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce; the title Invictus, Latin for 'unconquered', was given by the editor Arthur Quiller-Couch in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).
In four short stanzas, the poem expresses defiance and self-mastery in the face of suffering.
Afterlife
The book was published by David Nutt in London in 1888. Invictus became one of the most quoted poems in English.
Nelson Mandela recited it to fellow prisoners on Robben Island, and it gave its title to Clint Eastwood's film Invictus (2009).
Anecdotes
Mandela's poem
During his long imprisonment on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela recited Invictus to other prisoners, finding strength in its message of self-mastery.
A Latin title
The word Invictus, 'unconquered', was not Henley's. It was chosen by Arthur Quiller-Couch for The Oxford Book of English Verse in 1900.
Frequently asked questions
When was Invictus written?
In 1875, while Henley was in hospital in Edinburgh; it was published in 1888.
What is In Hospital?
A sequence of poems describing Henley's stay at the Edinburgh Infirmary.
Who gave the poem its title?
Arthur Quiller-Couch, in The Oxford Book of English Verse in 1900.