Between the two poems, however, there are differences as well as similarities - the most obvious being probably intimately linked with the different dispositions of the two poets. ... The sufferings of the two men may be traced in both poems as going through several analogous stages. ... He prefers to make friendship with the spiders and mice with which he shares his cell and he sees himself as "the monarch of each race" following the example of Milton's Satan ("Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven", Paradise Lost Book I; 263). ...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate