How we cite our quotes: I cite by line number only in this module.
Quote #1
And mine has been the fate of those
To whom the goodly earth and air
Are bann'd, and barr'd—forbidden fare: (lines 8-10)
The speaker makes his situation a universal one – he has shared the same "fate" as many others who have been imprisoned.
Quote #2
There are seven columns, massy and grey,
Dim with a dull imprison'd ray, (lines 29-30)
In the dungeon, even the stray "ray" of light that has made its way in through a crack in the wall seems "dull" and "imprison'd."
Quote #3
That iron is a cankering thing,
For in these limbs its teeth remain (lines 38-39)
The chains that bind the prisoner seem to leave lasting, festering marks on him that never heal. Is he talking about literal wounds, or psychological wounds?
Quote #4
Our voices took a dreary tone,
An echo of the dungeon stone (lines 63-4)
Even the voices of the three brothers seem unnatural in the close confinement of their dungeon. They've known each other all their lives, yet their voices sound "dreary" and unfamiliar.
Quote #5
A double dungeon wall and wave
Have made— […] (lines 113-4)
The position of the castle's dungeon right along the side of the lake makes it a "double dungeon." It's a little like Alcatraz prison used to be in the San Francisco Bay: once you got over the wall, you had a large body of water to get through, too – making it a "double dungeon."
Quote #6
My very chains and I grew friends,
So much a long communion tends
To make us what we are: — even I
Regain'd my freedom with a sigh. (lines 389-392)
By the end of the poem, the speaker has gotten so used to his confinement that he can't imagine being free. The "long communion" he's had with his thoughts have made him a kind of hermit and he's stopped even desiring freedom.