|
[[File:HenleyRodin.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Bust of Henley by Rodin]]
[[File:W E Henley, grave.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Henley's gravestone, Cockayne Hatley]]
Вероятно, самым знаменитым его произведением было стихотворение "[[Непокоренный]]", написанное в 1875 года. Считается, что оно послужило для автора своего рода манифестом жизненной силыстойкости после ампутации ноги.
В 1890 г. Хенли опубликовал "Наблюдения и обзоры", сборник критических статей, которую он назвал "чем-то вроде мозаики из лоскутков из барахла, собранного за четырнадцать лет журналисткой работы". В 1892 году он опубликовал второй поэтический сборник, названный по названию первого стихотворения "Песнь меча" (далее был переименован в "Лондонские импровизации").
В 1890 г. Хенли опубликовал "Мысли и , Henley published ''Views and Reviews'', a volume of notable criticisms, which he described as "less a book than a mosaic of scraps and shreds recovered from the shot rubbish of some fourteen years of journalism". The criticisms, covering a wide range of authors (all English or French save [[Heinrich Heine]] and [[Leo Tolstoy]]) were remarkable for their insight. In 1892, he published a second volume of poetry, named after the first poem, "The Song of the Sword" but re-titled "London Voluntaries" after another section in the second edition (1893). Robert Louis Stevenson wrote that he had not received the same thrill of poetry so intimate and so deep since [[George Meredith]]'s "Joy of Earth" and "Love in the Valley". "I did not guess you were so great a magician. These are new tunes; this is an undertone of the true [[Apollo]]. These are not verse; they are poetry". During 1892, Henley also published three plays written with Stevenson: ''Beau Austin'', ''[[Deacon Brodie]]'' and ''Admiral Guinea''. In 1895, Henley's poem, "[[Macaire]]", was published in a volume with the other plays. ''Deacon Brodie'' was produced in Edinburgh in 1884 and later in London. [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree]] produced ''Beau Austin'' at the Haymarket on 3 November 1890.
Henley's poem, "Pro Rege Nostro", became popular during the [[First World War]] as a piece of patriotic verse. It contains the following refrain:
: What have I done for you, England, my England?
: What is there I would not do, England my own?
The poem and its sentiments have since been parodied by those unhappy with the [[jingoism]] they feel it expresses or the [[propaganda|propagandistic]] use it is put to. "[[England, My England and Other Stories|England, My England]]", a short story by [[D. H. Lawrence]] and also ''[[England, Their England]]'' the novel by [[A. G. Macdonell]] both use the phrase.
While incarcerated on [[Robben Island]] prison, [[Nelson Mandela]] recited the poem "[[Invictus]]" to other prisoners and was empowered by its message of self-mastery.<ref>Daniels, Eddie (1998) ''There and back: Robben Island, 1964–1979''. p.244. Mayibuye Books, 1998</ref><ref>{{Cite news
| title = Nelson Mandela: a very short introduction
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=2EFHq0C1LSAC&pg=PA157&dq=Nelson+Mandela:+a+very+short+introduction+invictus#v=onepage&q&f=false
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
| accessdate =
| quote = 'Invictus', taken on its own, Mandela clearly found his [[Victorian era|Victorian]] ethic of self-mastery given compelling expression within the frame of a controlled rhyme scheme supported by strong, monosyllabic nouns. It was only a small step from espousing this poem to assuming a Victorian persona, as he could do in letters to his children. In ways they predictably found alienating, he liked to exhort them to ever-greater effort, reiterating that ambition and drive were the only means of escaping an 'inferior position' in life"
| first=Elleke
| last=Boehmer
| year=2008}}</ref> In the 2009 movie [[Invictus (film)|''Invictus'']], produced and directed by [[Clint Eastwood]], the poem is referenced several times. It becomes the central inspirational gift from Mandela, played by [[Morgan Freeman]], to [[South Africa national rugby union team|Springbok]] [[Rugby football|rugby]] team captain [[François Pienaar]], played by [[Matt Damon]], in advance of the post-[[apartheid]] Rugby World Cup hosted in 1995 by South Africa and won by the underdog Springboks.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1057500/ IMdB page].</ref>
The famous Finnish female writer [[Hella Wuolijoki]] has mentioned in her memoirs ''Enkä ollut vanki'' that the poem "Invictus" also inspired and encouraged her during her incarceration in Katajanokka/Skatudden prison in Helsinki at the end of World War II.<ref>Hella Wuolijoki: ''Enkä ollut vanki''. Helsinki, 1945.</ref>
==References==
| 