William Ernest Henley’s poems resonate deeply with independent women who embrace strength and resilience.
Here are 10 amazing Henley poems that empower and uplift, encouraging you to embrace your independence and courage.
His powerful words capture the essence of overcoming challenges and celebrating individuality.
Let’s get straight to it!
My favorite William Ernest Henley poem for independent women
#1 “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
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.
This could even be one of my favorite poems, not only because it’s very inspiring but it is also like reading an advice from a well-experienced, wise elderly.
Its stirring lines embody the spirit of an unconquerable soul, making it a perfect choice for days when you are losing faith not just on things but even on yourself.
If you need dose of encouragement to boost your confidence and cheer you up, this poem could be one of my best recommendations.
9 more William Ernest Henley poems for independent women
#2 “Why, My Heart, Do We Love Her So?” by William Ernest Henley
Why, my heart, do we love her so?
(Geraldine, Geraldine!)
Why does the great sea ebb and flow? –
Why does the round world spin?
Geraldine, Geraldine,
Bid me my life renew:
What is it worth unless I win,
Love – love and you?
Why, my heart, when we speak her name
(Geraldine, Geraldine!)
Throbs the word like a flinging flame? –
Why does the Spring begin?
Geraldine, Geraldine,
Bid me indeed to be:
Open your heart, and take us in,
Love – love and me.
#3 “When You Are Old” by William Ernest Henley
When you are old, and I am passed away
Passed, and your face, your golden face, is gray
I think, whate’er the end, this dream of mine,
Comforting you, a friendly star will shine
Down the dim slope where still you stumble and stray.
So may it be: that so dead Yesterday,
No sad-eyed ghost but generous and gay,
May serve you memories like almighty wine,
When you are old!
Dear Heart, it shall be so. Under the sway
Of death the past’s enormous disarray
Lies hushed and dark. Yet though there come no sign,
Live on well pleased: immortal and divine
Love shall still tend you, as God’s angels may,
When you are old.
#4 “O, Have You Blessed, Behind The Stars” by William Ernest Henley
O, have you blessed, behind the stars,
The blue sheen in the skies,
When June the roses round her calls? –
Then do you know the light that falls
From her beloved eyes.
And have you felt the sense of peace
That morning meadows give? –
Then do you know the spirit of grace,
The angel abiding in her face,
Who makes it good to live.
She shines before me, hope and dream,
So fair, so still, so wise,
That, winning her, I seem to win
Out of the dust and drive and din
A nook of Paradise.
#5 “We Shall Surely Die” by William Ernest Henley
We shall surely die:
Must we needs grow old?
Grow old and cold,
And we know not why?
O, the By-and-By,
And the tale that’s told!
We shall surely die:
Must we needs grow old?
Grow old and sigh,
Grudge and withhold,
Resent and scold? . . .
Not you and I?
We shall surely die!
#6 “The Skies Are Strown With Stars” by William Ernest Henley
The skies are strown with stars,
The streets are fresh with dew
A thin moon drifts to westward,
The night is hushed and cheerful.
My thought is quick with you.
Near windows gleam and laugh,
And far away a train
Clanks glowing through the stillness:
A great content’s in all things,
And life is not in vain.
1877
#7 “The Full Sea Rolls And Thunders” by William Ernest Henley
The full sea rolls and thunders
In glory and in glee.
O, bury me not in the senseless earth
But in the living sea!
Ay, bury me where it surges
A thousand miles from shore,
And in its brotherly unrest
I’ll range for evermore.
1876
#8 “O, Gather Me The Rose” by William Ernest Henley
O, gather me the rose, the rose,
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind it!
For with the dream foregone, foregone,
The deed forborne for ever,
The worm, regret, will canker on,
And Time will turn him never.
So well it were to love, my love,
And cheat of any laughter
The fate beneath us and above,
The dark before and after.
The myrtle and the rose, the rose,
The sunshine and the swallow,
The dream that comes, the wish that goes,
The memories that follow!
#9 “Your Heart Has Trembled To My Tongue” by William Ernest Henley
Your heart has trembled to my tongue,
Your hands in mine have lain,
Your thought to me has leaned and clung,
Again and yet again,
My dear,
Again and yet again.
Now die the dream, or come the wife,
The past is not in vain,
For wholly as it was your life
Can never be again,
My dear,
Can never be again.
1876
#10 “Space And Dread And The Dark” by William Ernest Henley
Space and dread and the dark –
Over a livid stretch of sky
Cloud-monsters crawling, like a funeral train
Of huge, primeval presences
Stooping beneath the weight
Of some enormous, rudimentary grief;
While in the haunting loneliness
The far sea waits and wanders with a sound
As of the trailing skirts of Destiny,
Passing unseen
To some immitigable end
With her grey henchman, Death.
What larve, what spectre is this
Thrilling the wilderness to life
As with the bodily shape of Fear?
What but a desperate sense,
A strong foreboding of those dim
Interminable continents, forlorn
And many-silenced, in a dusk
Inviolable utterly, and dead
As the poor dead it huddles and swarms and styes
In hugger-mugger through eternity?
Life – life – let there be life!
Better a thousand times the roaring hours
When wave and wind,
Like the Arch-Murderer in flight
From the Avenger at his heel,
Storm through the desolate fastnesses
And wild waste places of the world!
Life – give me life until the end,
That at the very top of being,
The battle-spirit shouting in my blood,
Out of the reddest hell of the fight
I may be snatched and flung
Into the everlasting lull,
The immortal, incommunicable dream.