Abroad

The poem refers to a desire to travel "abroad," leaving behind the speaker's life (2). No specific country or other destination is named. Instead, this setting serves to underscore the speaker's desires: to explore the world, or perhaps to flee their religious duties. It represents a world full of unrestrained possibilities. They are non-specific possibilities, but still the opposite of the restraint symbolized by the collar in the title. In many ways "abroad" represents the speaker's imagined existence without religious devotion.

Home

If the poem's only named setting is "abroad," and the speaker never actually goes there, then it actually takes place somewhere else. In contrast to "abroad," we can think of this primary setting, where the speaker is planning this journey, as "home." The speaker seems frustrated with this space, feeling that it has failed to provide what a home should. However, the poem's conclusion, with God addressing...