"Invictus" is a short poem by the Victorian era British poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). Henley wrote it in 1875, and in 1888 he published it in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses, in the section titled "Life and Death (Echoes)".
Portrait of William Ernest Henley by Leslie Ward, published in Vanity Fair, 26 November 1892.
William Ernest Henley
Arthur Quiller-Couch, the editor who came up with the title, "Invictus"
William Ernest Henley was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the one-legged Henley might have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's character Long John Silver, while his young daughter Margaret Henley inspired J. M. Barrie's choice of the name Wendy for the heroine of his play Peter Pan (1904).
William Ernest Henley
Plaque marking Henley's place of birth.
William Ernest Henley
Henley's gravestone, Cockayne Hatley.