Comprehensive notes covering To Althea, from Prison by Richard Lovelace.
A combination of information from the textbook, The Complete Poetry Resource (Sixth Edition), as well as additional class and video notes.
Written by an 85% < English HL Student
Written when he was in prison the first time
To Althea, From Prison Althea = his lover
When – subordinate clause
When Love with unconfinèd wings Personifies love
Hovers within my gates, Referring to prison
And my divine Althea brings
When she comes to visit him
To whisper at the grates;
Their love is not confined
When I lie tangled in her hair,
And fettered to her eye, Tied
The Gods that wanton in the air, Move around freely
Know no such Liberty. The Gods don’t have the same freedom as he
Love for lover has
Love for king
When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames, Metonomy – referring to England
Our careless heads with roses crown’d, Referring to the English monarchy
Our hearts with loyal flames; Metaphor
When thirsty grief in wine we steep, Reference to drinking – The puritans were not allowed
When healths and draughts go free, to drink (the popular social movement at the time)
Fishes that tipple in the deep Drink excessively (associated with the monarchy)
Know no such Liberty. The fish don’t have the same freedom as he has
When, like committed linnets, I Songbird
With shriller throat shall sing Everything praises the King
The sweetness, Mercy, Majesty,
And glories of my King; Personifies
When I shall voice aloud how good Ode or a rebellion
He is, how great should be,
Enlargèd winds, that curl the flood,
The winds don’t have the same freedom as he
Know no such Liberty.
has
Stone walls do not a prison make, Mind over matter – a physical prison cannot
Nor iron bars a cage; Proverb imprison the mind
Minds innocent and quiet take Introvert
That for an hermitage. Hermitage = a hermit’s home
If I have freedom in my love, Isolate themselves
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above,
Enjoy such Liberty. He is as free as the angels
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