Prisoner of Chillon, The

DESCRIPTION: "My hair is grey, but not with years, Nor grew it white In a single night, As men's have grown from sudden fears." The poem goes on for almost 400 lines to describe prison life, but this was all Alice Kane remembered
AUTHOR: George Gordon, Lord Byron
EARLIEST DATE: 1816 (date of composition)
KEYWORDS: prison hair
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 56, "The Prisoner of Chillon [My hair is white]" (1 fragment)
Roud #25370
NOTES [43 words]: Although Byron's poem is long, a story of an actual monk who was imprisoned for four years, Alice Kane remembered only the first four lines -- and those were a recommendation of her father's of something to write were she given lines. Hardly traditional. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC056A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.