The poem “Dressed in Chains” doesn’t mention the poet’s name which shows that the poet wants to maintain privacy. He does mention that he is 20 years old. The title also gives us an idea that the character is locked up in jail. The point of view is in the first person view because the author uses the words “I” and “My”. This is shown is the first stanza and also in other stanzas.
The tone is set as him being upset with his life. He still tries to remain “like a good obedient soldier who’s not allowed to show his emotions”. The mood of the poem is him being helpless towards his life. This man is trapped in prison and he defines himself as a human without directions and without a home.
The purpose of this poem was to show the reader how bad it is to be in jail. There is a lot of emotional pain felt by the people who do a long time is jail. The poet mentions that he wants to scream and cry. He tells us the reasons why we don’t want to be in his shoes.
The poet’s point of the poem is a lesson for the reader. The lesson is that we shouldn’t do anything that would get us in trouble. Being in jail is really depressing. You might think it’s not a big deal but being in jail makes your life helpless. You can’t make any progression towards life when you’re in jail. The poet used metaphors like “to that place of unconscious magic”.