On the Castle of Chillon
On the Castle of Chillon - context Summary
Composed After Visiting Chillon
Written and published in 1816 after Byron’s visit to the Castle of Chillon, this poem commemorates François de Bonivard’s long imprisonment. Byron portrays the prison as a sacred site where liberty endures in the heart and where the sufferer’s martyrdom advances national freedom. The piece appears in the collection The Prisoner of Chillon and reflects Byron’s empathy with political captivity and his Romantic elevation of individual conscience over tyranny.
Read Complete AnalysesEternal Spirit of the chainless Mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty, thou art; For there thy habitation is the heart The heart which love of thee alone can bind; And when thy sons to fetters are consigned, To fetters, and the damp vault’s dayless gloom Their country conquers with their martyrdom, And Freedom’s fame finds wings on every wind. Chillon! thy prison is a holy place, And thy sad floor and altar, for ’twas trod, Until his very steps have left a trace, Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, By Bonnivard. May none those marks efface! For they appeal from tyranny to God.
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