To Althea. From
prison
.
.......Richard Lovelace
(1618-1657) was a dashing, handsome, well-educated gentleman who, as a soldier
and poet, strongly defended the king during The Bishops' Wars in Scotland
(1639-1640) and the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). He held inherited estates
in Kent and freely used his personal resources to support the king's causes. He
became famous as one of the cavalier poets. (See Reason
for Imprisonment for further information on these poets.)
......."To Althea, From Prison" is
a lyric poem on the paradoxical theme of freedom during imprisonment. It was written in 1642 and published in 1649 in a poetry
collection called: To Lucasta.
.......Richard Lovelace
(1618-1657) sets "To Althea, From Prison" within the walls of Gate
House, a prison in Westminster, London. While confined there for seven weeks in
1642, he spent part of his time writing "To Althea" and another poem.
.......During a power struggle in
England between King Charles I and Parliament, Lovelace sided with the king.
Charles—King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1625 to 1649—believed
strongly that his authority was God-given and pre-eminent. This viewpoint disconcerted
Parliament. Charles further unsettled Parliament when he married a French Catholic, Princess
Henrietta Maria, and when he championed the authority of the Church of England,
insisting on preservation of its elaborate rituals in opposition to the wishes
of a large bloc of Puritans in Parliament. After Parliament took issue with his
foreign policy and his administration of the national purse, Charles dissolved
Parliament (1629) and governed without it until 1640, when he convened a new
Parliament. Sentiment against him remained strong. However, he had his
defenders—notably a group of writers known as Cavalier poets. They were
refined, cultured, fashionably dressed gentlemen—the very definition of
cavalier—who included Lovelace, as well as Thomas Carew, Robert Herrick, and
Sir John Suckling. When Parliament Puritans known as Roundheads (because of
their short haircuts compared with the luxurious locks of the cavaliers) ousted
Anglican bishops from Parliament, Lovelace presented a petition calling for
their restoration. In response, Parliament imprisoned him in Gate House.
Characters
Speaker: He is a prisoner who
declares that those who confined him cannot stop him from exercising his
ability to think and dream.
Althea: The woman to whom
Lovelace addresses the poem. Her identity is uncertain; she may even have been
a product of Lovelace's imagination. However, evidence suggests she was a woman
named Lucy Sacheverell.
The King: Charles I.
.......The eight lines in each
stanza of the poem alter between iambic
tetrameter
(with eight syllables and four iambic feet) and iambic
trimeter
(with six syllables and three iambic feet). An iambic foot consists of an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable. The rhyme scheme is
as follows: ababacdcd. The following graphic presentation
illustrates the rhyme scheme and meter in the first stanza.
........1...... .
... ..2....... ....3...............4
When LOVE..|..with UN..|..con FIN..|..èd WINGS........(iambic tetrameter)
.......1........ . ..2.......
.....3
Hov ERS..|..with IN..|..my GATES..............................(iambic
trimeter)
......1...... ...2.........
...3................4
And MY..|..div INE..|..Al THE..|..a BRINGS..................(iambic
tetrameter)
......1...... . ..2........... ....3
To WHIS..|..per AT..|..the GRATES............................(iambic
trimeter)
......1...... . ..2.........
....3.............4
When I..|..lie TANG..|..led IN..|..her HAIR...................(iambic tetrameter)
.......1...... .. ..2........ ....3
And FET..|..tered TO..|..her EYE,................................(iambic trimeter)
.......1.... .... ..2......... ....3.............4
The BIRDS..|..that WAN..|..ton IN..|..the AIR...............(iambic
tetrameter)
......1...... ... ..;..2...... ....3
Know NO..|..such LIB..|..er TY....................................(iambic trimeter)
.......Lovelace also uses
internal rhyme in the poem, as the following lines indicate:
When I lie tangled in her hair (line 5)
And fetter'd to her
eye (line 6)
Know
no such liberty (line 8)
When
flowing cups run swiftly round (line 9)
When
thirsty grief in wine we steep
(line 13)
When I
shall voice aloud how good (line 24)
..
Theme
No One Can Imprison
the Human Mind
.......A human being remains
free to think and dream—as well as to hold
fast to controversial opinions—even though his
body has limited mobility. Obviously, this theme can apply not only to a prisoner
in a cell but also to anyone limited by circumstances and conditions, such as
blindness, paralysis, geographical isolation, economic deprivation, and so
on.
Text
of the Poem
|
Summaries
and Notes
|
When Love with unconfinèd wings
|
Although
in prison, the poet is freer than the birds that fly about at
|
Hovers within my gates,
|
will.
Why? Because his mind is free. He can imagine his love,
|
And my
divine Althea brings
|
Althea,
so close to him that he becomes tangled in her hair and
|
To whisper at the grates;
|
their
gazes meet when they are only inches apart.
|
When I
lie tangled in her hair
|
è:
The grave accent over the e indicates that the letter receives
|
And fetter'd to her eye,
|
full
pronunciation: UN kon FY ned
|
The
birds that wanton in the air
|
within my gates: inside the prison; grates: bars, grill
|
Know no such liberty.
|
wanton: fly freely and aimlessly
|
When
flowing cups run swiftly round
|
Fishes
have a whole ocean from which to drink. But they are less
|
With no allaying Thames,
|
free
to drink than I am here in prison. My imagination makes
|
Our
careless heads with roses bound,
|
bottomless
cups flow with wine—without water from the
River
|
Our hearts with loyal flames;
|
Thames
to dilute it—as I and my friends wear rosy
wreaths and
|
When
thirsty grief in wine we steep,
|
toast
the king. We may mourn the loss of our rights, but still there
|
When healths and draughts go free—
|
are
toasts (healths) and draughts (the taking in of wine).
|
Fishes
that tipple in the deep
|
loyal flames: support for the king
|
Know no such liberty.
|
|
When,
like committed linnets, I
|
Though
I am in prison, I am free to sing the praises of my king.
|
With shriller throat shall sing
|
No wind,
however strong, can make as great a sound as I can
|
The
sweetness, mercy, majesty,
|
when I
sing the glories of my monarch.
|
And glories of my King;
|
committed linnets: caged birds that include canaries
and
|
When I
shall voice aloud how good
|
sparrows
|
He is, how great should be,
|
|
Enlargèd
winds, that curl the flood,
|
|
Know no such liberty.
|
|
Stone
walls do not a prison make,
|
The
walls and iron bars that surround me cannot imprison me,
|
Nor iron bars a cage;
|
for my
mind remains free. Because I am innocent of wrongdoing,
|
Minds
innocent and quiet take
|
I
regard prison as a hermitage, a retreat where I can concentrate
|
That for an hermitage;
|
on
what matters to me—my love for Althea and
the principles by
|
If I
have freedom in my love
|
which
I live. Only angels have as much freedom as I do.
|
And in my soul am free,
|
|
Angels
alone, that soar above,
|
|
Enjoy such liberty.
|
.
.......To
emphasize and support his theme, Lovelace uses repetition. Notice, for example,
that seven clauses begin with when. Notice also that the first
three stanzas each end with Know no such liberty and that the final
stanza ends with Enjoy such liberty.
.......Repetition also helps to form the structure of the poem in that
each stanza has a single sentence with several clauses.
Alliteration
When Love with
unconfinèd wings (line 1)
When I
lie tangled in her hair (line 5)
Know
no such liberty (line 8)
When
thirsty grief in wine we steep (line 13)
Anaphora
Our careless heads with roses bound
Our hearts with loyal flames (lines 11-12)
When thirsty
grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free—(lines 13-14)
When I shall voice aloud how good /
He is, how great should be (line 21-22)
Metaphor
When Love with unconfinèd wings
Hovers within my gates (lines 1-2)
|
Paradox
The entire poem rests on this paradox: the imprisoned speaker
is a free man.
|
Our hearts with loyal flames (line 13)
Freedom and
Captivity
The poem is structured round the paradoxes thrown up by freedom and
captivity. For most prison writers, true freedom is internal, not external.
This is true for religious writers, too. Donne wrote, ‘I/Except you' enthrall
mee, never shall be free’ (‘Batter my heart’). Lovelace proposes three such
examples of this paradox before deriving his conclusion in the final stanza.
Freedom through
love
The first paradox is that of human love. He can lie
‘tangl'd in her hair/ And fetterd to her eye’, yet know emotional freedom
unknown to the birds (some versions of the poem have ‘gods’), even though the
birds are usually a symbol of freedom as they soar in the
air. The imagery of the first stanza already
suggests a prison visit, with the ‘Gates/ Grates’ rhyme. If he does not mean a
prison literally, then he presumably is talking about the human body as a figurative prison, a somewhat platonic symbolism.
Other freedoms
The second stanza suggests the freedom of alcohol.
The alcohol stirs up his patriotism. Maybe they make loyal pledges and toasts
(‘Healths’). Again, this freedom is compared to the fish, who move in a liquid
medium but do not know this inner freedom of spirit. The third expression of this
paradox is to do with freedom of speech. Even when ‘like committed Linnets’ (a
caged songbird), he can still ‘voyce aloud’ his political allegiance. In this
he is freer than the wind, that can make as much noise as it likes anywhere,
since again it is an inner freedom.
What is the tone
of the poem "To Althea, From Prison" by Richard Lovelace?
Overall, the poem is a declaration of independence that some might
interpret as being almost defiant. The speaker is imprisoned, away from the
woman he loves because of his loyalty to the King whose enemies have captured
him. However, he does not find this a situation to be mourned or regretted.
Instead, he affirms the freedom of his mind and spirit. Because his
thoughts can not be taken from him, he is able to remember and imagine the time
and pleasures he shared with his lover. Despite the consequences of his loyalty
to the King, he remains steadfast in loudly proclaiming "how good He
is."
The speaker exults in the freedom of his spirit. Prison is not a
punishment; the victory of mind over physical location is celebrated in this
poem.
How might one
explain the opening stanza of the poem "To Althea, from Prison," by
Richard Lovelace?
The opening stanza of Richard Lovelace’s poem “To Althea, from
Prison” can be explicated as follows:
WHEN love with unconfined wings
When Cupid, the classical god of love (who is usually depicted as a
young boy who has wings and is therefore capable of flying freely)
Hovers within my Gates;
hovers within the gates of the prison in which I am presently
confined
And my divine Althea brings
and when Cupid brings the virtuous and beautiful woman whom I love,
whose name is Althea (and whose name, in Greek, means “healer”)
To whisper at the Grates;
so that she can whisper to me through the iron grates of my prison
cell
When I lye tangled in her hair
and when I lie tangled in her hair (either literally or perhaps only
metaphorically, since it is hard to imagine at first how he, while imprisoned,
can lie tangled in her hair literally [although see comments below])
And fettered to her eye;
and when I am imprisoned by looking at her beautiful eye(s),
The birds that wanton in the Air,
Then (I have to declare) that (even) the birds that are free to fly
through the air
Know no such liberty.
Do not possess the kind of freedom that I possess.
The line in this poem that causes the most interpretive difficult is
the line declaring that the speaker lies “tangled” in the hair of Althea.
The verb “lye” implies that he is not merely touching her hair but that somehow
he is touching it as they lie together. Prisoners in the seventeenth century,
especially those who were prominent or wealthy, could often have visitors to
their cells, and so perhaps this fact explains how Althea might actually have
lain with the speaker in his cell. Or perhaps the speaker uses the word
“tangled” in a merely metaphorical sense: as he gazes upon her hair, he feels
tangled in it. The verb “lye,” however, seems very literal.
How might one paraphrase
and explain the meaning of the second stanza of Richard Lovelace's poem
"To Althea, from Prison"?
The second stanza of Richard Lovelace’s poem “To Althea, from
Prison” reads as follows:
When flowing Cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,
[10]
Our careless heads with Roses bound,
Our hearts with Loyal Flames;
When thirsty grief in Wine we steep,
When Healths and draughts go free,
Fishes that tipple in the Deep [15]
Know no such Liberty.
These lines might be paraphrased and analyzed as follows: when cups
of wine, freely filled and refilled, are passed around and consumed and when
that wine is not diluted either in flavor or in alcoholic content by having
water from the River Thames (the main river in London) mixed with it; and when
we wear crowns of roses on our heads (heads which are free from cares); and
when we feel in our hearts the fire of loyalty (probably loyalty to King
Charles I, who was in conflict with Parliament at the time this poem was
written, although “loyal” here may also imply loyalty to one’s friends); and
when we drown our sorrows by drinking wine; and when we are free to drink
abundantly to the health of others and propose toasts to their health as we do
so drink; when all these events occur, then the very fish that drink from the
sea are not as free as we feel, even if we are imprisoned. This stanza
seems to imply either (1) drinking with fellow prisoners; or (2) drinking with
friends who visit the speaker in prison; or (3) both. Such visits were not
uncommon.
The first stanza of the poem had emphasized the consolations that
feminine beauty could provide to the imprisoned speaker. This stanza implies
that consolations that can be provided by (probably) male friends and
fellowship and by shared drinking. In both this stanza and the first stanza,
the speaker implies that although he may be imprisoned physically, in his mind
and soul and spirit he is essentially free. In other words, he responds to his
predicament with a kind of Christian stoicism. The Christian flavor of
his response will become clearer and clearer as the poem proceeds.
How might one
paraphrase and explain the third stanza of the poem "To Althea, from
Prison," by Richard Lovelace?
The third stanza of Richard Lovelace’s poem titled “To Althea, from
Prison,” reads as follows:
When (like committed linnets) I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, Mercy, Majesty,
And glories of my King; [20]
When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how Great should be,
Enlargèd Winds, that curl the Flood,
Know no such Liberty.
This stanza might be paraphrased and analyzed in the following ways:
when I (like encaged songbirds) sing even more loudly and forcefully than a
bird could sing and when I use my singing to celebrate the goodness,
compassion, and grandness of my king (King Charles I); and when I proclaim how
virtuous he is and how great in power he should be (that is, if he
were properly appreciated by his subjects, some of whom are rebelling against
him); then, when all these events occur, not even the freely flowing winds that
stir up waves on the sea will know no greater liberty than I know.
Paradoxically, the speaker in this stanza engages in the very kind
of singing he imagines himself doing in the future. This stanza, then, calls a
kind of subtle attention to the fact that he is already fulfilling the promises
this stanza makes.
Notice the progression of the poem so far: from an emphasis on love
of women (in stanza one), to an emphasis on fellowship with (probably male)
friends (in stanza two); to an emphasis on love and loyalty to the king (in the
present stanza). The poem is organized in such a way that it becomes
progressively more serious and broader in its implications with each new
stanza. In a sense, the poem also moves up the so-called “Great Chain of Being”
(which explained the hierarchy of the universe). It is not surprising,
then, that heavenly angels are mentioned in the fourth and final stanza.
Please explain the fourth stanza
from "To Althea, from Prison" by Richard Lovelace.
A courtier of King Charles I, Lovelace, this Cavalier poet, wrote
this famous and oft quoted stanza describing what can not bind
freedom and offering an analogy showing what can experience
freedom the way he experiences it, the way he knows it. In order to understand
the fourth stanza, we have to see it in relationship to the others.
The first three stanzas describe three instances when Lovelace knows unbounded
freedom. This is a freedom, a "liberty," that is not rivaled by the
freedom of birds of the air, not known by fish in the deep sea, not felt
by storm winds that toss the sea waves.
The birds that wanton in the Air,
Know no such Liberty.
[...]
Fishes that tipple in the Deep
Know no such Liberty.
[...]
Enlargèd Winds, that curl the Flood,
Know no such Liberty.
The fourth stanza turns and gives the paradoxical counterpoint to
the three stanzas going before. In the fourth, instead of saying where he knows
and experiences freedom and liberty, as before, Lovelace says, instead, what he
will not recognize as a prison; what he will not recognize as a captivity that
subdues and robs his liberty.
Lovelace famously says that walls do not rob freedom, do not rob liberty; that
iron bars do not bind liberty; and that innocent minds are not harmed by walls
and bars. He then summarizes the meaning of the first three stanzas and states
that (1) innocence sees imprisoning chains and bars as a religious
"Hermitage," a place where divine love is contemplated; (2) that he
has freedom in the love he speaks of; (3) that in his hermitage of iron and
stone, his soul is free.
The ending analogy states that only Angels "that soar" in
the heavens, far above mortal walls and iron bars, know the freedom and liberty
he knows. The fourth stanza thus speaks of true liberty and gives comfort to
Lovelace's beloved from whom he is separated.
Stone Walls do not a Prison make,
Nor Iron bars a Cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an Hermitage.
If I have freedom in my Love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above,
Enjoy such Liberty.
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