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“Invictus” follows a predictable ABAB rhyme scheme throughout. This simple rhyme scheme is very typical for a poem from the Victorian period, and as such it lends the verse a traditional and unaffected quality. The consistency of the rhyme scheme might also be said to reflect the poem’s thematic emphasis on self-determination and the unconquerability of the human spirit. That said, Henley also introduces subtle variations that give the otherwise regular rhyme scheme additional interest. As an example, consider the poem’s second stanza (lines 5–8):

     In the fell clutch of circumstance
           I have not winced nor cried aloud.
     Under the bludgeonings of chance
           My head is bloody, but unbowed.

One point worth noting here is that, whereas most of the poem’s rhymes feature one-syllable words, both rhyme pairs here consist of polysyllabic words. The rhymes all fall on the final, stressed syllable, so they don’t sound noticeably different from the poem’s other rhymes. However, the sheer number of polysyllabic words here creates an effect of excess and complication, one that subtly mirrors the stanza’s violent imagery. Further complicating the sonic effect of this stanza is the partial internal rhyme created by the word “winced,” which has the same -nce- sound as in “circumstance” and “chance.” Not incidentally, the -nce- sound also creates a slant rhyme with the -ing of “bludgeonings.”

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