Chains and Captivity
You can't tell us you didn't see this one coming – after all, the poem is about a "prisoner." But what do all these chains and images of captivity represent, broadly speaking? Byron was writi...
The Pillars
The seven pillars in the dungeon represent the seven members of the speaker's family who have suffered for their beliefs. Pillars are designed to hold something up, so it makes sense that these men...
The Bird
There are a lot of birds in this poem, which makes sense, given that it's about imprisonment. We often talk about being "free as a bird," and the image of a caged bird is often used to describe cap...
Light
The dungeon in Chillon is, by and large, really dark and dim. Yet there's a ray of light that finds its way into the dungeon at various moments in the poem. What might that light represent? A glimm...