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The poem goes:
In this poem, Henley gave the world the familiar phrases "my head is bloody, but unbowed" and "I am the master of my fate". These lines have been quoted many times by people who may not realize their source. They seem a hyperbolic epitome of the "stiff upper lip" that popular culture has made a traditional British virtue, and a handy image of stoicism in the face of disaster.
In the United States, this poem has become popular among paratroopers, many of whom commit it to memory to give them emotional support should they become a prisoner of war.
The poem recently gained further notoriety by being quoted by the American terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who quoted it in a communiqué released shortly before his executionCapital punishment also referred to as the death penalty is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offence or a capital crime''. Some jurisdictions that practice capital punishment restri for murderMurder is the crime of causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse, and with intent to kill them, or with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm. When an illegal death is not caused intentionally, but is caused by recklessness or ne committed in the Oklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was an attack against the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. At 9:02 am on April 19, 1995, in the street in front of the Murrah building, attackers exploded a rented Ryder truck containing about 5.