Invictus (poem)
Invictus is a short Victorian poem by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was first published in 1875 in a book called the Book of Verses , then untitled. The title Invictus ( German Unbeaten ) gave the poem Arthur Quiller-Couch in 1901 when he included it in The Oxford Book of English Verse , which he published.
The poem
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background
Henley was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis at the age of twelve . A few years later, his doctors amputated one of his legs below the knee. When the surgical removal of the other leg was proposed in 1873, Henley resisted this amputation. Eventually Joseph Lister was able to save the second leg at Edinburgh Hospital. The poem describes Henley's fight against the disease after a two-year convalescence period .
reception
- Nelson Mandela quoted from the poem and drew strength and comfort from it during the years of his imprisonment. This is taken up in the film Invictus - Unconquered . US President Barack Obama quoted the last stanza of the poem on the occasion of his speech at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela on December 10, 2013. Stephan Weidner ( Der W ) has taken over passages in his song Justitia from album IV or based the lyrics on the poem.
- In 2001, the sentenced to death American terrorist Timothy McVeigh waived his right to speak one last word before his execution. Instead, he left a handwritten letter in which he quoted the poem.
- In 2002 the artist Swawa published the completely set poem on the album Hear the Voice with her solo project Carved in Stone .
- In 2014, the poem was set to music by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for Prince Harry's Invictus Games and sung by John Sumner.
- In 2015, Lexxa Singh quoted the poem in Renegades - The Series .
Web links
Wikisource: Invictus - Sources and full texts (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ William Ernest Henley: A Biographical Sketch
- ↑ Nelson Mandela: 10 surprising facts you probably didn't know - CNN
- ↑ Mandela memorial: 10 key moments from Barack Obama's speech - City Press ( Memento of February 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Der W - Justitia Lyrics
- ^ Defiant McVeigh dies in silence. In: news.bbc.co.uk. June 11, 2001, accessed January 2, 2017 .
- ↑ 2004 - Hear the Voice; 11: Invictus. In: carvedinstone.de/discography
- ↑ Coldplay's Chris Martin to write opening anthem for Prince Harry’s . In: Evening Standard . ( standard.co.uk [accessed November 11, 2018]).
- ↑ Invictus Games Foundation: Invictus Games Anthem penned by Chris Martin, of Coldplay. September 10, 2014, accessed November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Invictus in the Internet Movie Database (English) , Trivia section .