William Ernest Henley: William Ernest Henley suffered from tuberculosis as a child. [3] After carrying on a lifelong friendship with his former headmaster, Henley penned an admiring obituary for Brown in the New Review (December 1897): "He was singularly kind to me at a moment when I needed kindness even more than I needed encouragement". After successfully passing his exams, William Ernest Henley moved to London, where he sought to work as a journalist. With four stanzas and sixteen lines, each containing eight syllables, the poem has a rather uncomplicated structure. [3]:35 His work over the next eight years was interrupted by long stays in hospitals, because his right foot had also become diseased. Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease which is caused by a bacterial infection which is generally spread through the air. They had a daughter, Margaret Henley, who had frail health and speech difficulty. Son of a Gloucester bookseller and a pupil of the poet T.E. [38] Henley's poem, "Pro Rege Nostro", became popular during the First World War as a piece of patriotic verse, containing the following refrain, What have I done for you, England, my England? The struggle, in this situation, is a reference to Henley’s bout of tuberculosis of the bone, which led to his leg being amputated. In Chapter Two of her first volume of autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Maya Angelou writes in passing that she "enjoyed and respected" Henley's works among others such as Poe's and Kipling's, but had no "loyal passion" for them. She died at age 5. Henley did not fully recover of tuberculosis and died of it on July 11, 1903, at age 53. ‎William Ernest Henley was born in Gloucester on 23 August 1849, the eldest of six children. [15], Margaret was a sickly child, and became immortalized by J. M. Barrie in his children's classic, Peter Pan. [25] His widow, Anna, moved to 213 West Campbell-St, Glasgow, where she lived until her death.[26]. William Ernest was the oldest of six children, five sons and a daughter; his father died in 1868. Discover the real story, facts, and details of William Ernest Henley. William Ernest Henley was an English poet, editor, and critic of England’s late Victorian era. On January 22, 1878, William Ernest Henley married Hannah (Anna), Johnson Boyle. [2] Though Brown's tenure was relatively brief (c. 1857–1863), he was a "revelation" to Henley because the poet was "a man of genius—the first I'd ever seen". [21], After his recovery, Henley began by earning his living as a journalist and publisher. cit. Henley's best remembered work is the poem "Invictus" (1875), which he wrote as a tribute to his resistance to the tuberculosis that he had conquered. Henley gained a reputation as an astute poet in the late Victorian era. He left London and sought treatment in Edinburgh from Joseph Lister, whose theories of antiseptic surgery were still not universally accepted. Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. As early as at the age of 12 Henley was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone, which led to the amputation of his left leg below the knee a few years later. Henley is known for his poem “Invictus,” 1875, written to exhibit his strength, passion and fighting spirit after tuberculosis caused the amputation of his foot. August 23, He anonymously contributed several poems to the paper. In that fictionalized account, the poem becomes a central inspirational gift from actor Morgan Freeman's Mandela to Matt Damon's Springbok rugby team captain Francois Pienaar, on the eve of the underdog Springboks' victory in the post-apartheid 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa.[43]. Henley's 1887 Villon's Straight Tip to All Cross Coves (a free translation of Francoise Villon's Tout aux tavernes et aux filles[44]) was recited by Ricky Jay as part of his solo show, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (1994). The same poem and its sentiments have since been parodied by those unhappy with the jingoism they feel it expresses or the propagandistic use to which it was put during WWI to inspire patriotism and sacrifice in the British public and young men heading off to war. The enigmatic man, William Ernest Henley was a prolific writer of the 1800s. The poem is about showing undivided courage in the face of death and keeping the dignity against all the hardships in life. His frail health frequently interrupted his education. Invictus by William Ernest Henley “Invictus” was written when Henley was in the hospital being treated for Tuberculosis of the bone, also known as Pott’s disease. [19], As Andrzej Diniejko notes, Henley and the "Henley Regatta" (the name by which his followers were humorously referred) "promoted realism and opposed Decadence" through their own works, and, in Henley's case, "through the works... he published in the journals he edited. Later, Alfred Nutt published these and others in his A Book of Verse. And, although his knife was edgeless, In the following year, H. B. Donkin, in his volume Voluntaries For an East London Hospital (1887), included Henley's unrhymed rhythms recording the poet's memories of the old Edinburgh Infirmary. That he plunged for a solution; When he was recovering, he was moved to write some lines that became the Invictus poem. Just one the adversities Henley faced was being on the sharp end of the surgeon’s knife. It was also from this time that William suffered from tuberculosis of the bone that resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee in 1868–69. [1], Henley was born in Gloucester on 23 August 1849, to mother, Mary Morgan, a descendant of poet and critic Joseph Warton, and father, William, a bookseller and stationer. Self edited _____ “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley, is a very powerful, well written, and detailed poem. [11]:135 This also marked the beginning of a fifteen-year friendship with Stevenson. When William was sixteen years old, he had issues with his leg due to tuberculosis. William Ernest Henley had the opportunity to publish his poems in the magazines his edited. William Ernest was the oldest of six children, five sons and a daughter; his father died in 1868. After suffering tuberculosis as a boy, he found himself, in 1874, aged twenty-five, an inmate of the hospital at Edinburgh. In 1889, Henley became the editor of the "Scots Observer" and two years later, the magazine moved to London, becoming the "National Observer," which Henley continued to edit until 1893. He continued to work with the journal after it was moved to London in 1891 to become National Observer. [2], Henley was a pupil at the Crypt School, Gloucester, between 1861 and 1867. Among other services to literature, it published Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (1890–92). He wrote several books of poetry but he is most famous for his 1875 poem ‘Invictus’. "[4] In addition to his inviting its articles and editing all content, Henley anonymously contributed tens of poems to the journal, some of which were described by contemporaries as "brilliant" (later published in a compilation by Gleeson White). [3]:31 Nevertheless, Henley was disappointed in the school itself, considered an inferior sister to the Cathedral School, and wrote about its shortcomings in a 1900 article in the Pall Mall magazine. What is there I would not do, England my own?[39]. He was the first of six children by Mary Morgan and William Henley. Invictus by William Ernest Henley Updated: Mar 23. Henley wrote this poem from his bed after having his leg amputated below the knee- a life saving response to tuberculosis of the bone. Yet, Henley survived and thrived against adversity and remained ‘captain of his soul’. "[12] After hearing of Henley's death on 13 July 1903, the author Wilfrid Scawen Blunt recorded his physical and ideological repugnance to the late poet and editor in his diary, "He has the bodily horror of the dwarf, with the dwarf's huge bust and head and shrunken nether limbs, and he has also the dwarf malignity of tongue and defiant attitude towards the world at large. [41][42] This historical event was captured in fictional form in the Clint Eastwood film Invictus (2009), wherein the poem is referenced several times. This degree of illness and surgery in the 1800’s very often lead to fatal outcomes. In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination and set off to London to establish himself as a journalist. Bouncing back to live, William Ernest Henley began working as a journalist and publisher. William Ernest Henley was born on August 23, 1849, in Gloucester, England. [2] As an editor of a series of literary magazines and journals, Henley was empowered to choose each issue's contributors, as well as to offer his own essays, criticism, and poetic works; like Johnson, he said to have "exerted a considerable influence on the literary culture of his time. He passed the Oxford Local Schools in 1867. Born in Stirling, she was the youngest daughter of Edward Boyle, a mechanical engineer from Edinburgh, and his wife, Mary Ann née Mackie. William Ernest Henley was born on August 23, 1849,in Gloucester, England. The paper had almost as many writers as readers, as Henley said, and its fame was confined mainly to the literary class, but it was a lively and influential contributor to the literary life of its era. From 1873 to 1875, William Ernest Henley was confined at the hospital, and it was during this period that he began writing impressionist poems about the hospital atmosphere. He was an English poet, writer, critic, and editor in the late Victorian period. Henley did other notable work for various publishers: the, In 1892, Henley published a second volume of poetry, named after the first poem, "The Song of the Sword" but later re-titled. 'The Great Replacement', Section IV, 'In Conclusion', P.70, by Brenton Tarrant, issued 15 March 2019. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be. Henley was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was only 12 years-old. His best-known poem, Invictus, was published in 1875 and was among his hospital poems. He worked as an editor for the society paper, The London, from 1877 to 78. He was on the verge of losing his right leg until he became a patient of the immortal surgeon Joseph Lister. [16][17] Unable to speak clearly, young Margaret had called her friend Barrie her "fwendy-wendy", resulting in the use of the name "Wendy" for a feminine character in the book. Specifically the poem "Suicide" depicts not only the deepest depths of the human emotions, but also the horrid conditions of the working class Victorian poor in the U.K. As Henley observed firsthand, the stress of poverty and the vice of addiction pushed a man to the brink of human endurance. [20][21] He is remembered most for his 1875 poem "Invictus", one of his "hospital poems" that were composed during his isolation as a consequence of early, life-threatening battles with tuberculosis; this set of works, one of several types and themes he engaged during his career, are said to have developed the artistic motif of the "poet as a patient" and to have anticipated modern poetry "not only in form, as experiments in free verse containing abrasive narrative shifts and internal monologue, but also in subject matter."[2]. Draft #2 "Invictus" is a poem filled with the interpretations and vision of the author. Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. William Ernest Henley(1849 - 1902) William Ernest Henley (August 23, 1849 - July 11, 1903) was a British poet, critic and editor. The headmaster of the school, Thomas Edward Brown, discovered the great potential in Henley, leading to a lifelong friendship between the two. Moreover, I am quite out of sympathy with Henley's deification of brute strength and courage, things I wholly despise. It was also from this time that William suffered from tuberculosis of the bone that resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the… In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination. Tuberculosis took one of his feet as a child, and almost claimed another leg as a young adult. [30][31], George Butterworth set four of Henley's poems to music in his 1912 song cycle Love Blows As the Wind Blows. Knowing that this poem was written by Henley while he was in the hospital being treated for tuberculosis of the bone. 'When poems of resistance get twisted for terrorism' 'The Atlantic', 16 March 2019. It took the pioneering skills of surgeon Joseph Lister of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to avert the second amputation. After its headquarters were transferred to London in 1891, it became the National Observer and remained under Henley's editorship until 1893. From the age of 12, Henley suffered from tuberculosis of the bone. And his children in the workhouse In the late 20th-early 21st Centuries, Henley's most well-known poem "Invictus" has been cited a number of times in post-event statements by Libertarian and Ethno-Nationalist revolutionaries who have engaged in violent politically motivated public acts, as an explanation/justification for their actions, including Timothy McVeigh, an American citizen who attacked the Government of the United States with a bombing in 1995,[29] and Brenton Tarrant, an Australian who committed a massacre at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on 15 March 2019. [5], From the age of 12, Henley suffered from tuberculosis of the bone that resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee in 1868–69. The poem is most known for its themes of will-power and strength in the face of adversity, much of which is drawn from the horrible fate assigned to many amputees of the day— gangrene and death. Invictus means unconquerable or undetected in Latin. Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone at age 12, causing the amputation of his left leg below the knee in 1869. While it has been observed that Henley's poetry "almost fell into undeserved oblivion,"[2] the appearance of "Invictus" as a continuing popular reference and the renewed availability of his work, through online databases and archives have meant that Henley's significant influence on culture and literary perspectives in the late-Victorian period is not forgotten. The school was a poor relation of the Cathedral School, and Henley indicated its Made the world so black a riddle His influence in the artistic circle became even higher during his career as editor of journals and magazines. Joe Orton, English playwright of the 1960s, based the title and theme of his breakthrough play The Ruffian on the Stair, which was broadcast on BBC radio in 1964, on the opening lines of Henley's poem Madame Life's a Piece in Bloom: Madam Life's a piece in bloomDeath goes dogging everywhere:She's the tenant of the room,He's the ruffian on the stair. 'Invictus': 'Invictus' was written by the English poet William Ernest Henley in 1875. Henley was a writer during the Victorian era who faced a good deal of challenges in his life. William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) William Henley was a British poet, editor and critic. [22] In his selection White included a considerable number of pieces from London, and only after he had completed the selection did he discover that the verses were all by one hand, that of Henley. The loss of his daughter was a deeply traumatizing event in Henley's life but did not truly dampen his outlook on life as a whole. [11]:129 Henley spent three years in hospital (1873–75), during which he was visited by the authors Leslie Stephen and Robert Louis Stevenson and wrote and published the poems collected as In Hospital. "Some Memories and Impressions – William Ernest Henley". When they came, and found, and saved him. Latin for "invincible", the poem "Invictus" is a deeply descriptive and motivational work filled with vivid imagery. Born on August 23, 1849, he is considered to have played an influential role in the literary circle of his time by introducing works of some of the 1890s great English writers in his journal. A commission had recently attempted to revive the school by securing as headmaster the brilliant and academically distinguished Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897). The Grave of William Ernest Henley and his daughter – Margaret Emma. [40] The poem is referenced in the title, "England, My England", a short story by D. H. Lawrence, and also in England, Their England, a satiric novel by A. G. Macdonell about 1920s English society. William Ernest Henley was born in Gloucester on 23 August 1849, the eldest of six children. Death of William Ernest Henley. cit., dates this as 1865, but Mehew, op. Originally the fourth part of a longer sequence published in Henley's collection In Hospital, this 16-line section has taken on a life of its own. [4], In 1889, Henley became editor of the Scots Observer, an Edinburgh journal of the arts and current events. After cremation at the local crematorium his ashes were interred in his daughter's grave in the churchyard at Cockayne Hatley in Bedfordshire. Soon after passing the examination, Henley moved to London and attempted to establish himself as a journalist. [11]:129 Henley contested the diagnosis that a second amputation was the only means to save his life, seeking treatment from the pioneering late 19th-century surgeon Joseph Lister at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, commencing in August 1873. Henley was born in Gloucester and educated at the Crypt Grammar School. suggests 1868–69, in the period when Henley was being treated in. In the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley the writer has given us a glimpse of the theme in the title itself. William Ernest Henley (23 August 1849 – 11 July 1903) was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". "[2] Henley published many poems in different collections including In Hospital (written between 1873 and 1875) and A Book of Verses, published in 1891. William Ernest Henley was born on 23 August 1849 in Gloucester. In 1873, his other leg was also affected by tuberculosis, but thanks to the innovative treatment of Dr Joseph Lister, who used his new antiseptic surgical method at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, it was not amputated. Brown, Henley contracted a tubercular disease that later necessitated the amputation For terrorism ' 'The Atlantic ', Section IV, 'In Conclusion ', Section IV, 'In '. 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