Quote of the Week

I got a CBC newsletter today and noticed many things, but one caught my eye. On the bottom of the page, was a quote "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." from William Ernest Henley. No offence, BUT WHAT IS WITH ALL THE WILLIAM NAMES IN HISTORY!? Now that is off my chest, I wondered who his guy is and what on Earth he is talking about. Before I looked him up, I pictured a Dark Ages peasant, standing in a courtroom as the speaker listened off a long list of his offences. This man's reaction is a look of calm and peace. He knows that no one controls his fate and soul, but himself. Now I dared to type his name into Google. Apparently my first thought of a Dark Ages peasant was totally off, Henley was born in the mid 1800's and even lived to the early 1900's. Thank you Wikipedia. He wasn't a peasant at all either. He was a rather notorious English poet, who wrote "Invictus", critic and editor. His life is semi-typical late 1800's, but his father's name was William as well, no offence, but REALLY?! Anyway, the quote was apparently from the last line of "Invictus", his most famous poem from 1875. When, Henley was 17, his foot from below the knee was amputated to save his life. Five years earlier, he had contracted tuberculosis in the bone of his foot. As it progressed, doctors claimed that cutting off the affected area would save him. The whole poem was pretty though. 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.

He defies and accepts death at the same time, which is interesting. Considering the circumstances, I guess that I may have been wrong with my first guess to the origin, but the feeling of those few lines could describe many. By the way, if I seem spaztic, I apologize, I am on a sugar high.