Cirrus@Austlit

'Composed during his imprisonment and introduced in Word Pictures of Prison Life.' (t.p.)

Preface: 'I do not claim for the following Songs and Poems any merit beyond that which attaches to them owing to the place where they were written and the method of composition. The place was a prison, and the majority were composed at night in the darkness and silence of my cell. Pegasus, possessing wings, was in a position to surmont the walls and carry my lyrical efforts to a secure haven.
Shelley says- 'Some men are cradled into poetry by wrong, They learn in suffering what they teach in song'
The poet prophesied truly, and if but one line of the many I have penned brings air to -A cause which lacks assistance, A wrong that needs resistance,
I shall have my reward.' Walter Rodway.