# A Prisoner explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by George MacDonald.

## What happens

The speaker, trapped in a decaying and locked house, pleads for liberation—whether by breaking the glass, dashing the door, or demolishing the entire structure—so that their soul may be set free.

## Themes in this chapter

### Suffering and Purification

The speaker's physical and spiritual confinement in a ruined house symbolizes suffering that demands a violent, purifying liberation.

### Longing for Immortality

The desperate plea for the soul to go free reflects a yearning for transcendence beyond mortal decay.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The imprisoned speaker who cries out for release from the decaying house.

## Key lines

> The hinges are so rusty / The door is fixed and fast; / The windows are so dusty / The sun looks in aghast: / Knock out the glass, I pray, / Or dash the door away, / Or break the house down bodily, / And let my soul go free!

The house is so old and neglected that even the sun is shocked peering through the grimy windows. I beg you—smash the glass, tear off the door, or demolish the whole building—so my spirit can escape.

_The speaker's imprisonment in a dilapidated house serves as a metaphor for spiritual bondage, and the call for violent destruction underscores the urgency of liberation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/a-prisoner
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_8_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters