Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone at age 12, causing the am… [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. [45], Connell, op. William Ernest Henley was born on August 23, 1849, in Gloucester, England. He was sinking fast towards one, During his lifetime Henley had become fairly well known as a poet. 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. He received education at the Crypt School in Gloucester from 1861 to 1867. [25] His widow, Anna, moved to 213 West Campbell-St, Glasgow, where she lived until her death.[26]. William Ernest Henley was born on August 23, 1849,in Gloucester, England. 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. His other works include London Voluntaries (1893), Poems (1898), Hawthorn and Lavender (1899), and For England’s Sake (1900). Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. Invictus was a poem, succinctly written by William Henley, an English Poet, in 1875. [4], In 1902, Henley fell from a railway carriage. He left his position in 1893. As we discovered in Invictus, William Ernest Henley’s life as a child and young man was ravaged by the disease John Bunyan called the ‘captain of all these men of Death‘. "[9] Stevenson's stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, described Henley as "... a great, glowing, massive-shouldered fellow with a big red beard and a crutch; jovial, astoundingly clever, and with a laugh that rolled like music; he had an unimaginable fire and vitality; he swept one off one's feet. 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. [3]:35 His work over the next eight years was interrupted by long stays in hospitals, because his right foot had also become diseased. Unfortunately, his career was frequently interrupted by long stays in hospital due to a diseased right foot which he refused to have amputated. Yet, Henley survived and thrived against adversity and remained ‘captain of his soul’. Explore William Ernest Henley's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. cit., dates this as 1865, but Mehew, op. 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. [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. [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. Death of William Ernest Henley. A fixture in London literary circles, the one-legged Henley was also the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's character Long John Silver (Treasure Island, 1883), while his young daughter Margaret inspired J. M. Barrie's choice of the name Wendy for the heroine of his play Peter Pan (1904). [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. cit. His influence in the artistic circle became even higher during his career as editor of journals and magazines. 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. 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. When they came, and found, and saved him. On January 22, 1878, William Ernest Henley married Hannah (Anna), Johnson Boyle. [4], In 1889, Henley became editor of the Scots Observer, an Edinburgh journal of the arts and current events. He died at his residence in Woking, London. This degree of illness and surgery in the 1800’s very often lead to fatal outcomes. "[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). Later, Alfred Nutt published these and others in his A Book of Verse. Self edited _____ “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley, is a very powerful, well written, and detailed poem. [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. 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.Connell dates this as 1865, but Ernest Mehew William Ernest Henley, (1849–1903), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004–08, suggests 1868–69 while Henley was being treated in St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London According to Robert … 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]. Among other services to literature, it published Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (1890–92). Knowing that this poem was written by Henley while he was in the hospital being treated for tuberculosis of the bone. [15], Margaret was a sickly child, and became immortalized by J. M. Barrie in his children's classic, Peter Pan. [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. He passed the Oxford Local Schools in 1867. Henley’s next editing position was with the Edinburgh journal, Scots Observer. [23] The journal's outlook was conservative and often sympathetic to the growing imperialism of its time. Discover the real story, facts, and details of William Ernest Henley. 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 Crypt School, Gloucester. 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. "Some Memories and Impressions – William Ernest Henley". In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination. 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. "Invictus" was written by William Ernest Henley in 1875, while he underwent medical treatment for tuberculosis of the bone. Ultimately, he needed a below knee amputation of the left lower limb to treat the disease invading his bones (see Operation). 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… William Ernest Henley was an English poet, editor, and critic of England’s late Victorian era. After its headquarters were transferred to London in 1891, it became the National Observer and remained under Henley's editorship until 1893. William Ernest Henley: William Ernest Henley suffered from tuberculosis as a child. "[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. [11]:135 This also marked the beginning of a fifteen-year friendship with Stevenson. "[2] Henley published many poems in different collections including In Hospital (written between 1873 and 1875) and A Book of Verses, published in 1891. From 1882 to 1886, he edited The Magazine of Art, through which he promoted works of Auguste Rodin and James McNeil Whistler. William Ernest Henley was born on 23 August 1849 in Gloucester. William Ernest Henley (23 August 1849 – 11 July 1903) was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". Death of William Ernest Henley The writer died because of tuberculosis in Woking on July 11, 1903 at the age of 53. August 23, Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. [41][42] This historical event was captured in fictional form in the Clint Eastwood film Invictus (2009), wherein the poem is referenced several times. It was written by the great William Ernest Henley in 1875. Tuberculosis had affected him significantly that to save his life, the amputation of the other leg became necessary. 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. Difficult path of life was reflected in his works, that is why they excite and inspire the reader. 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. Henley gained a reputation as an astute poet in the late Victorian era. William Ernest Henley’s Invictus is a poem that conveys the idea of dealing with struggles head-on. The sum total of Henley's professional and artistic efforts is said to have made him an influential voice in late Victorian England, perhaps with a role as central in his time as that of Samuel Johnson in the eighteenth century. Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. [21], After his recovery, Henley began by earning his living as a journalist and publisher. After reading this poem over and over again you can tell the speaker is going through some sort of pain. 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