To Althea, From Prison Literary Elements

The speaker is a man who has been imprisoned for his support of the king. His love for the king and for the woman Althea make it so that even in jail he feels free in his soul. He speaks from a first-person perspective

The poem uses an ABAB rhyme scheme. The poem is made up of four octaves, or four stanzas of eight lines each. The meter alternates throughout the poem. The odd lines are in iambic terameter. In other words, there are a total of eight syllables made up of four sets of iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one). The even lines are in iambic trimeter, or three sets of iambs. This alternating of longer and shorter lines gives the poem a ballad-like rhythm that has made it easy to adapt to music.

Metaphors

The speaker metaphorically describes Althea’s eyes as a “fetter” that attaches him to her as a shackle would.

Similies

The speaker compares himself to “committed linnets” or finches in cages.

Alliteration: the “w” sound in “wine we”

Alliteration: the “s” sound in “shriller throat shall sing / The sweetness”

Alliteration: the “a” sound in “Angels alone”

Assonance: the repeated “o” sounds in “love with unconfined sings / Hovers”

Assonance: the repeated “i” sounds in “divine Althea brings / To whisper”

Assonance: the repeated “i” sounds in “Minds innocent and quiet”

Though the speaker is in prison, he is actually more free than birds, fish, winds, and angels. This is an example of situational irony because one would normally expect someone imprisoned to describe how unfree they feel in their confinement.

Cavalier poetry, lyric poetry, prison poetry, drinking poetry

The poem takes place in a prison with “gates,” “grates,” “stone walls,” and “iron bars.”

The tone of the poem is faithful, optimistic, and resigned

The protagonist is the speaker, who has been imprisoned for his loyalty to the king. The implied antagonists are the pro-parliamentarians in the English Civil War.

The poem’s major conflict is finding liberty even within imprisonment. The speaker argues that that liberty is a matter of the mind and soul. If one has a pure heart and is loyal to what they love, they can feel free even when they are trapped.

The poem reaches its climax in the memorable lines of the final stanza: “Stone walls do not a prison make, / Nor iron bars a cage.” This is where the poem lays out its argument about internal freedom most clearly.

The description of Cupid’s wings as “unconfined” in the first line foreshadows the larger theme of imprisonment and freedom.

The reference to “love” is an allusion to Cupid, the god of love and desire in Greek mythology.

The line about “careless heads with roses bound” alludes to the symposia of ancient Greece, such as those described by the poet Anacreon who was an influence on Lovelace and other Cavalier poets.

The “unconfined wings” are a synecdoche for Cupid.

The “eye” of Althea is a synecdoche for her gaze as the two lovers look intently at each other.

The “shriller throat” of the speaker is a synecdoche for his unpleasant voice.

The use of the verb “tipple” to describe fishes suggests that they are drinking the water they swim in the same way the drinking party in the third stanza drink their wine. The idea is that the fish are getting drunk just as humans do.

The poem suggest that winds and birds can enjoy liberty just as humans do.

The song of “committed linnets” is compared to the praises that the speaker makes for his king.

The poem is based on a serious of hyperbolic statements suggesting that the speaker is as free as birds, fish, winds, and angels even though he is in fact in a prison cell.