The Prisoner of Chillon (Unabridged‪)‬

A narrative poem of 14 stanzas, written by Lord Byron following a visit to the Château of Chillon on Lake Geneva in 1816. It was inspired by the story of 16th-century Swiss monk and patriot François Bonivard, held captive in the dungeons of Chillon between 1532 and 1536.

The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue in which the prisoner reflects on the fates of his father and five brothers, and chronicles his own sufferings and the glimmerings of hope which exist in the beauty just outside his dungeon walls.