"
Invictus" is a short
Victorian poem by the English poet
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and published in 1888 — originally with no title — in his first volume of poems,
Book of Verses, in the section
Life and Death (Echoes). Early printings contained a dedication
To R. T. H. B.—a reference to Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce (1846–1899), a successful Scottish flour merchant, baker, and literary patron. The title "Invictus" (
Latin for "unconquered") was added by editor
Arthur Quiller-Couch when the poem was included in
The Oxford Book of English Verse.