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To Althea, from Prison is a poem written by Richard Lovelace in 1642. The poem is one of Lovelace's best-known works, and its final stanza's first line ("Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage") is often quoted. Lovelace wrote the poem while imprisoned in Gatehouse Prison for to have the Clergy Act 1640 annulled.〔(To Althea, From Prison - A Study Guide )〕 Althea's identity is unknown. "She may even have been a product of Lovelace's imagination. However, evidence suggests she was a woman named Lucy Sacheverell."〔 The poem is quoted in the sixth chapter of Charlotte Brontë's novel ''Villette'', and may have inspired the scenario of Emily Brontë's much-admired poem ''The Prisoner''. == Text == To Althea from Prison Richard Lovelace （1618-1658） When love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at the grates; When I lie tangled in her hair And fettered to her eye, The gods that wanton in the air Know no such liberty. When flowing cups 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 draughts go free, Fishes that tipple in the deep Know no such liberty. When like committed linnets I With shriller throat shall 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. 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 inmy love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above, Enjoy such liberty. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「To Althea, from Prison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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