FIRST PAPER
Subject : # 14217 Poesia Anglesa dels segles XIX i XX Grupo C
Student´s name : Sanchis Santacatalina, Francisco Miguel
Title of the paper : England in 1819
Author
or topic : Shelley,
Percy Bysshe
“ENGLAND IN 1819”
An old, mad, blind, despis'd, and dying king,
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn--mud from a muddy spring,
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,
A people starv'd and stabb'd in the untill'd field,
An army, which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edg'd sword to all who wield,
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay,
Religion Christless, Godless--a book seal'd,
A Senate--Time's worst statute unrepeal'd,
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.
Percy Bysshe Shelley.
This poem is
written By Shelley in november of 1819 the main purpose is to show us the real
situation in England and concretely the Peterloo Massacre Occurred at St Peter
Fields in Manchester, England in the 16th August in 1819, where
during a concentration of workers who want a reduction of the bread price and
be represented in the parliament, but this concentration was finally violent
and the cavalry charge into the presents and the result was very tragic. Eleven
people killed and almost five hundred injuried.
Shelley was a man
who was against the political power and advocate for liberty, Shelley was
totally disagree with the abuse of power by the politicians, kings and people
who have the power.
Shelley wrote poems like “Ozymandias” and this “England in
1819” to dennounce this fact and to propugne the liberty for each one.
The first verse “An old, mad, blind, despis'd, and dying king” (England
in 1819 1) is referred to the king of England at this time the king
George III who was a mad king due to a disease, was uncapable of reign over the
Englishmen properly and it becames in a dilemma because in one hand he was the
king, and on the other hand, he Didn’t know if he was doing the things well or
not but finally in 1810 his eldest son was ruled as a Prince Regent and later
became the king George IV so the problem was that the country was in a madman
hands.
In this two following verses the second and the
third one in the poem
“Princes, the
dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn--mud from a muddy spring,” (England in 1819 2-3)
Shelley criticize
the Nobility which he called Princess, and he uses a metaphor like “the dregs
who flow through public scorn” is a language very violent to attack the power
of the nobility and his way of doing nothing to improve the situation of the
low and workers classes without any benefit for this class. “mud from a
muddy spring” (England in 1819 3)
It refers to such a form to hide all the affairs that the powerful man can
do because they have the power and they didn’t want that nobody know it.
“Rulers who
neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,” (England in 1819
4-5)
The next two verses are referred to the
Rulers of the counties, and the factories rulers always powerful men who nobody
see never, know never about him, but he Is like a “leech-like to their
fainting country cling” (England in 1819 5) is a metaphor about the animal
who clings on you and provoke you that you are losing wour strength and it each
time is more stronger.
“Till they drop,
blind in blood, without a blow,
A people starv'd and stabb'd in the untill'd field,” (England in 1819
6-7)
This two verses are referred to the English worker class people, who are opressed because the king and the rulers establish the laws, the price of the bread, and people each time was more difficult to eat and they were hungry if they dennounce it, the army attacked their they haven’t got voice in the parliament. The journeys in the factories were too long, the people came back to their house very tired, without much money, and they became weaker, because they work a lot and they can’t eat much.
“An army, which
liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edg'd sword to all who wield,
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay,” (England in 1819
8-10)
At those three verses Shelley refers to
the Peterloo Massacre, and dennounce the liberticide caused by the army who
steal the liberty of all the workers and told us that the army will protect the
laws and if for this protection, they need to slay somebody, they will do it.
“Religion Christless, Godless--a book seal'd,” (England in 1819 11)
At this line Criticise the Religion and the decadence of the God and Christ. Is a book already locked, so Christ and the religion start to be their decline and less important than before when the purists have the power in England, Religion was one of the important column of the state and at this poem Shelley dennounce that religion became powerless.
A Senate--Time's worst statute unrepeal'd, (England in 1819
12)
At this verse Shelley dennounce that the Statute is awful because is unrepealed due to the lack of presence of people from all the classes in England. If the low classes didn’t have presence at the senate they will follow doing whatever they want, and this statute should change, because is ancient and only help to rich people.
Are graves, from
which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day. (England in 1819 13-14)
These are two final lines, which we can
observe that is a sort of optimism which explain us that “a glorius phantom” (England in 1819 13). Perhaps describe a
phantom because he really don’t be as optismistic as he show us, but he believe
in something that save the State and illumine the dark period of England at
this time.
Metre and Rhyme
The poem was a sonnet, has fourteen lines
and it is written by Shelley in Iambic Pentameter that is to say, that have two
pair of syllables the first Short and unstressed and the second one long and
stressed adn each line has five feet, each foot is the group of this pair of
syllables.
The Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 28 nov. 2007
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_in_1819>.
˘
‘ / ´ / ´ / ´ / ´ /
above we have a
case of the iambic pentameter in which the poem was written.
The rhyme is
(a-b-a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-c-c-d-d) and the
poem have a masculin rhyme.
“king-spring-cling” (a)
---- “flow-know-blow” (b) ---- “field-wield-seal’d-unrepeal’d” (c) ----
“prey-slay-may-day” (d)
External Factors
Percy Bysshe Shelley was a Romantic poet who was
married with Harry Westbrook in 1811 with she he had two children, William and
Elena. He invited his friend Hogg to share his house and his wife, but she
didn’t accept and abandon her. He promoted the free love and his believes on
atheism causing on him the expulsion of the Oxford University. Later he repeat
the same episode with Mary Shelley Frankestein writter. Finally in 1818
he travelled definitively to Italy with the stepsister of Mary who was the mother
of the daughter of Lord Byron and travelled to Italy to give it to him. The son
of Percy William died in 1818 due to fever and a year later died his daugther
Elena.
During this year and impulsed by the Peterloo
Massacre he decided to wrote this England in 1819 to condemn the abuse
of power from the English Powerful men, and Shelley who was a Libertary man
dennounce these facts through few poems like The Masque of Anarchy And Men of England. Later
on in 1822 he was died on July 8th while he was sailing in his boat
to Lerici, he is buried with Mary in the protestant cemetery of Rome.
The Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 28 nov. 2007
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley>.
He was friend of Lord Byron and John Keats these Three men died really youngs,
and they live in Italy their last years of their lifetime. Keats died before
Shelley and he wrote Adonais for him, and Byron was in the funeral of Shelley.
Shelley write England in 1819 in
this year but until 1839 it was not published. All his works went to one
direction, the reach of freedom, abolish the power from the powerful man,
Atheism, Advocate for the lower classes and a Vegetarian man, and dennouncer
about the mistreatment of animals.
Academic year 2007/2008
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
Francisco Miguel Sanchis Santacatalina
franmi6 @alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press