Poetry

[David Rockwood]

In my sport psych class we are currently working on Mental Toughness. For the first time, I am having my students memorize a poem-- "Invictus" by William Ernst Henley-- to emphasize the aspect of mental toughness that I call "absolute refusal to give up." It could also be used to illustrate the difference between internal and external locus of control. The students actually got a kick out of it.

 

Here is the content of the poem:

 

Invictus

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.

 

Have great day,

 

Coach Rockwood