Invictus

2010年的一則英文人行道: Invictus
2012年發現此名詩有完整的解釋

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/invictus-1#ixzz1kOL5Mafm 整首詩的解釋

What does 'invictus' mean? Invictus is the Latin word for "unconquered." It is also the title of a nineteenth-century poem written by William Ernst Henley. Henley wrote the poem as he lay in a hospital bed, recovering from the amputation of his leg after a long battle with tuberculosis of the bone. During Nelson Mandela's 27-year captivity as a political prisoner, he kept a copy of the inspirational poem on the wall of his cell. Mandela was released from prison on this date in 1990. Director Clint Eastwood's acclaimed film Invictus tells the story of how Mandela, South Africa's first black president, joined forces with the captain of the national rugby team, François Pienaar, to get South Africa's Springboks to the Rugby World Cup finals. They saw it as a way to begin the healing of a nation that had been torn apart by apartheid.

Text

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.

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." — William Ernst Henley, the final stanza of his poem, "Invictus"


bow² (bou)

v., bowed, bow·ing, bows. v.intr.

1. To bend or curve downward; stoop.
2. To incline the body or head or bend the knee in greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgment, submission, or veneration.
3. To yield in defeat or out of courtesy; submit. See synonyms at yield.

unbowed
(ŭn-boud')
adj.

1. Not bowed; unbent.
2. Not subdued; unyielding: "My head is bloody but unbowed" (W.E. Henley).
   

"Strait" in the first line of the stanza means "narrow," and the image of a gate implies captivity or impasse, but yet these two words also imply the possibility of passing; the entrance to Heaven is often described as a narrow gate. The scroll of punishments is likely a reference to the divine penalties or trials assigned to the poet by God. It could also be taken as a play on 'straight the gait' in reference to his health problems, which had cost him one of his legs.