"Invictus" and the Captain of our fate

William Ernest Henley once wrote a poem around 1875 entitled "Invictus" after recovering from intensive surgery on his remaining foot (the other was amputated). The words to the famous poem are below:

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.

Henley felt a sense of empowerment upon his recovering. Coupled with the reality of his impoverished childhood, the words of the poem flowed from his pen and expressed his feelings of control and autonomy from the powers of "whatever gods" that may exist, from the "Horror of the shade," from the "punishments [of] the scroll." The poem has been the source of inspiration to many undergoing hardships, again verbalizing the idea that we are the ultimate controllers and wielders of our fate.

There is a song by the band Brave Saint Saturn under the same name that sings quiet a different tune. Reese Roper, lead singer and author of the song, tells of the utter dependence that the Christian soul has on the one, true God. At nearly every point, BS2 counters Henley's poem with the biblical response of Christianity. See some of these parallelisms below.

• While both begin with the idea of their current existence in darkness (Henley writes that "the night that covers me" is "black as the pit from pole to pole"; and Roper writes that what was once brilliant is now flickering cold and burning to ash, with the ideas of shadows and night present in the background), the two authors cope differently with their circumstances.
• Henley's worldview consisted of a detached, lackluster acknowledgement of "whatever gods" that may be. His complete absence of the judgment to come and the "Horror of the shade" is unmistakable and only contributes to his own idea of autonomy from and supremacy to all external forces and powers around him, whether they be human or divine. Roper, however, is submissive to his belief in the great "Light of the world," to the one, unique, invincible, unbreakable, unstoppable King who is supreme over all of history, creation, and life.
• Henley describes his soul as "unconquerable," not wincing or crying aloud when bad things befall him, nor bowing his head when he is a victim of tragic circumstance. On the other hand, Roper expresses that he is quite lost in his current situation, that he is guilty of harboring inflamed bitterness and that he is choking on his own pride. 
• Henley is unafraid of both his past and his foreboding, ominous future. His reasoning is that he considers himself to be the "master of [his] fate" and the "captain of [his] soul." He is not threatened at all by the looming punishments of the scroll or even by the gods which he earlier thanks for his unconquerable soul. Roper, on the other hand, explains that his guilt leads to a brokenness of heart, to a repentance for what he has done to the great World Light, to the One who now parts the overhanging shadows, destroys his blindness, and establishes a government of eternal peace. With His reign comes a bright morning light that will never end. He is, to Roper, the "captain of [his] salvation" (Hebrews 2:10, King James Version).

In Henley's poem, the word "invictus," which literally means unconquerable or invincible, is a reference to himself. Roper's version of "Invictus," however, does not refer to his own invulnerability as Henley's did - rather, Roper both admits that he is quite vulnerable and beaten down and incapable of changing these circumstances, and acknowledges that it is Christ Jesus alone who is, in fact, invincible and unconquerable and able to bring him out of his tragic situation into His wonderful presence, where there is "fullness of joy" and "pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11, ESV).