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Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty.

Approximate author period: c. 1638 AD · renaissance

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Richard Lovelace
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1638 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Familiar Quotations, ninth edition (1905 printing) (1905 AD)

To Althea from Prison, iv.

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.