William Ernest Henley

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Henley, W. E. ( William Ernest Henley) (1849–1903), a pupil of T. E. Brown, suffered from boyhood from tubercular arthritis and had a foot amputated. His ‘Hospital Sketches’, poems first published in the Cornhill in 1875, record this grim ordeal; his best-known poem, the defiant and stoic ‘Invictus’ (‘Out of the night that covers me’) was written in 1875. While in hospital he was introduced by L. Stephen to R. L. Stevenson, who became a close friend and with whom he collaborated in several plays. He did a great deal of miscellaneous literary work, much of it as editor of the Magazine of Art (1881–6), The Scots Observer, continued as the National Observer (1888–94), and the New Review (1895–8); he was a courageous and independent editor, publishing important work by Hardy, Kipling, Stevenson, Yeats, H. James, and H. G. Wells, among many others. He also compiled anthologies, and edited Slang and Its Analogues (7 vols, 1890–1904). He had considerable influence on his contemporaries, particularly in his defence of realism and activism. His volumes of poetry include A Book of Verses (1888), The Song of the Sword and Other Verses (1892), London Voluntaries (1893), and For England's Sake (1900), some of which, notably the last, expound his jingoistic patriotism. Stevenson acknowledged him as the inspiration behind the creation of Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

William Ernest Henley 1849–1903, English poet, critic, and editor. Although crippled by tuberculosis of the bone, he led an active, vigorous life. As editor of several reviews successively, he introduced to the public a galaxy of young writers, including Kipling, Wells, and Yeats. Although his verse is noted for its bravado and spirit of defiance, his poetry could be equally delicate and lyrical. His best-known poems include "England, My England," and "Invictus," which concludes with the famous lines "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Henley's volumes of verse include A Book of Verses (1888), The Song of the Sword (1892), and For England's Sake (1900). He collaborated on four plays with Robert Louis Stevenson, with whom he enjoyed a long friendship.

Bibliography: See biography by J. Connell (1949, repr. 1971); study by J. H. Buckley (1945, repr. 1971).