What do you mean by " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" in the poem a home song wrote by

Henry Van DykeWhat do you mean by " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" in the poem a home song wrote by
It means that your mind makes a prison for you. You can be in prison just by your social attitudes and fixations in life. If you work at a job that you hate and you would really like to be somewhere else, don't you think that you're in prison? If you are fixated on the idea that you have to have all of these possessions and in order to afford them you work 60 hours a week, aren't you in prison? We are all in prison even though we may not be behind a stone wall or bars. The question is do we want to get out and if we do, then how do we go about setting ourselves free. We are imprisoned by habits. We are imprisoned by social conventions. We are imprisoned by ideologies. We are in prison because we take the easy way out. This prison has lulled us to sleep and we are quietly complacent and bored, even depressed and don't even want to admit it. In order to taste freedom, it takes an act of bravery. Who among us can break their bonds and do what you really want to do and be with who you really want to be with. And even that doesn't make us free. Maybe freedom has to do with the mind breaking itself free and wandering into eternal life. You can sing and dance while in prison and convince yourself that you are free but until you can fly, you will still be bound by the limitations of earthly life.
I never hear this that I don't think of Elvis' home, Graceland. It was certainly beautiful and Elvis bought it for his mother, who died not long after. But Elvis had to have that wall put up to keep his fans out because they would have torn him to pieces if they could have gotten their hands on him. So, to me at least, Graceland was Elvis' prison. He was a prisoner of circumstances.What do you mean by " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" in the poem a home song wrote by
it means your mind and your thoughts and attitudes are what make the cage or your freedom, not your outer circumstances.
I've no idea who Henry van Dyke was, but if he used those words he was quoting Richard Lovelace. They are the opening lines from "To Althea, from prison," written in 1642 when Lovelace was indeed in gaol.What do you mean by " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" in the poem a home song wrote by
It means you need guards, sanctions, land, dogs, fences, guns, razor wire, towers, lights, horns, a warden. And a whole lot more to make a prison.. the cage? peh! Iron bars in a row is barely a fence, you've got to sodder them together.



Common sense bro?
It means your spirit remains free no matter where you're locked up.
It means that no matter your circumstances, you are the one that determines your freedom.

You can be imprisoned and still feel free.
it means that your spirit can not be imprisoned.



If you like this kind of poetry may I suggest you read the Prisoner of Chillon by Lord Byron.



I think it is quite wonderful.