On Chillon
by Lord George Gordon Byron

English romantic poet and satirist. Principal works include Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage (1812-18), The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair and The Giaour (1813), Lara (1814), The Prisoner of Chillon (1816), Beppo (1817), Don Juan (1819), The Two Foscari (1821), Sardanapalus and Cain (1821), Werner, The Age of Bronze and The Island (1823). His letters and journals, many of them apparently written with an eye for publication are also considered to be part of his opus. Byron enjoyed a vast and durable reputation as a poet and his character, unconventional lifestyle and poetic style have synthesised to create the image of the Byronic hero.

Other romantic poets include Keats, Burns, Coleridge and Wordsworth.

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On Chillon
by Lord George Gordon Byron

Eternal 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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On Chillon by Lord George Gordon Byron