Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane is a poem by Knight, Etheridge. The poem centers on a heroic character called Hard Rock. Knight's poem is an allegory of the oral tradition. The author describes Hard Rock as a legend to all inmates, as his exploits are well known among the inmates. Because of his defiance, Hard Rock is sent to a hospital for the criminally insane. When he returns, Hard Rock has been lobotomized and transformed into a different man. He is not the strong prisoner that other inmates have heard of, he is a sightless shell of his former self. The poem is actually about a hero who falls after a lobotomy operation. The authorities used lobotomy to quell the Hard Rock Rebellion and that wasn't right. The main themes of the poem are rebellion, oppression and imprisonment. The theme of imprisonment is evident in the poem Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane. Hard Rock was a tough inmate, silenced by lobotomy. Hard Rock was a hero to the other prisoners, and this gave him the authority to take action against him to meet his challenge. The punishment given to him was unfair because, in addition to shortening his life, it altered his body and movements. Authorities are used to oppressing people who express what they believe is not right. Foucault's Panopticon theory can be applied in this poem. According to Foucault, we are witnessing a cultural transition from the old traditional discipline of prisoners to a European disciplinary system (314). In this new disciplinary model, inmates always assume that they are under constant surveillance by guards and begin to monitor themselves. The Panopticon is the process that induces prisoners into a state of consciousness and... middle of paper... the Hospital for the Criminally Insane." Poet.org. Academy of American Poets, 1997-2003. Network. 11 March 2014.Foucault, Michel. “Panopticism”. Fifth edition. David Barholomae and Anthony Petrosky Etheridge. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986. PrintSzasz, Thomas. Mental Illness and Physical Treatment in the first half of the twentieth century. California: University of California, 1997. Print.Knight, Etheridge . (1933-1991), American poet Hard Rock returns to prison for the criminally insane (l. 7-10). Introduction to Poetry, The. J. Paul Hunter, ed. 3d ed., 1986) WW Norton & Company.Print.