The Powerful Message Behind Invictus

Although I normally evaluate the poetry instead of just leaving it bare, this poem, Invictus, by Willian Ernest Henley, really caught my eye. I want to know what you guys think of it, and what your interpretation of the poem is this time. Enjoy!

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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.

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In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

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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.

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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.