Poems about prison transport readers into incarceration, painting a somber picture of life behind bars. They evoke emotions of isolation, desperation, and longing for freedom.
Through powerful imagery and emotive language, these poems explore the human condition in a confined space, touching upon themes of regret, redemption, and the search for meaning within the constraints of prison walls.
‘Amethyst Beads’ by Eavan Boland alludes to Greek mythology and the suffering of a child, Persephone, after she was separated from her mother, Demeter.
A child crying out in her sleep
Wait for me. Don’t leave me here.
Who will never remember this.
Who will never remember this.
‘Missing My Daughter’ by Stephen Spender is a poem about a speaker’s desire to see his daughter and how he feel trapped in a prison of loneliness.
This wall-paper has lines that rise
Upright like bars, and overhead,
The ceiling's patterned with red roses.
On the wall opposite the bed
‘The Prisoner’ by Emily Brontë describes an interaction between the speaker, a prison warden, and a captive held within a dungeon crypt.
In the dungeon-crypts, idly did I stray,
Reckless of the lives wasting there away;
“Draw the ponderous bars! open, Warder stern!”
He dared not say me nay —the hinges harshly turn.
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