Out of the night that covers me
OUT of the night that covers me,Black as the Pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the yearsFinds, 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.
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- unbowed a.
- Not bent or arched; not bowed down. [Pref. un- not + bowed.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Out of the night that covers me is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Out of the night that covers me, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/out-of-the-night-that-covers-me.html, id L12387.
Form and metre
Out of the night that covers me is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB meA · poleB · beA · soulB
- 2 ABAB circumstanceA · aloudB · chanceA · unbowedB
- 3 ABAB tearsA · shadeB · yearsA · unafraidB
- 4 ABAB gateA · scrollB · fateA · soulB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| OUT of the night that covers me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Black as the Pit from pole to pole, | 8 | ········ |
| I thank whatever gods may be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For my unconquerable soul. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| In the fell clutch of circumstance | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I have not winced nor cried aloud. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Under the bludgeonings of chance | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| My head is bloody, but unbowed. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Beyond this place of wrath and tears | 8 | ········ |
| Looms but the Horror of the shade, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And yet the menace of the years | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It matters not how strait the gate, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How charged with punishments the scroll, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| I am the master of my fate: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I am the captain of my soul. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.