Page 108 - Lavender-B-7
P. 108
In the fell clutch of circumstance
fell: fierce, cruel, or terrible
I have not winced nor cried aloud. bludgeonings: beatings
wrath: (pronounced roth)
Under the bludgeonings of chance violent anger
looms: appears in a large,
My head is bloody, but unbowed. strange or frightening form
menace: a threat
strait: narrow (archaic)
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.
—William Ernest Henley
About the Poet
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) was an English poet, critic and editor. At twelve, Henley was diagnosed with tuberculosis
of the bone that resulted in the amputation of one of his legs just below the knee in 1868-69. As he healed in the infirmary,
Henley began to write his ‘hospital poems’, including ‘Invictus’. His numerous collections of poetry include A Book of Verses
(1888), London Voluntaries (1893), and Hawthorn and Lavender (1899).
Time to answer
A. Choose the correct option.
1. What are the poles referred to in the second line?
two electric poles facing each other
North pole and South pole
long rods near the poet’s house
two electric poles standing across poet’s house
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