Who is the speaker? To whom is he or she speaking?
To Althea, from prison
Richard Lovelace
Poets Life
- The speaker is the author, Richard Lovelace.
- He is speaking to Althea
- Speaking both to and about her
- Born in 1618
- To a wealthy family in Wollwich
- Oldest son
- Very well educated
- Made a petition of the restoration of the Anglecan Bishiops
- Wrote the poem in 1642
- Was a soldier and eventually died from all his wounds
- Although he was born into a wealthy family lost all his money because of his support to th royalist cause
Challenging words
The Text of Poem
- fettered- a restraint with chains usually around the ankles
- wanton- to behave in a sexually immodest way
- allaying- to deminish or put to rest
- tipple- to drink alchohol
- linnets- a dark finch(bird) with red features
- hermitage- a dwelling of a religiously discipline person
When Love with unconfined wings
Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the gates;
When i lie tangled in her hair
And fettered to her eye,
The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.
When, like comited linnets, I
With shriller throat will sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty,
And glories of my King;
When i shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be
Enlarged winds, that curl the flood
Know no such liberty.
What is the subject and theme?
- subject- A prisoner content with his imprisonment
- theme- freedom and love
When flowing cuprs run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and drafts go free,
Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hemitage;
If i have freedom in my love
If i have freedom in my love
And in my soul i am free,
Angels alone, that soar above
Enjoy such liberty
Literary Elements
What is the tone?
- Repetition
- Word choice
- Love-flames
- Speaking like a proud man as a former soldier
- loyalty to the king
Bibliography
- http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/lovelace/lovebio.htm