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A poem that depicts the political and social conditions of England in 1819, criticizing the monarchy, the aristocracy, the church, and the law. The poem expresses the hope for a glorious phantom to burst from the graves and illuminate the day.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley: “England in 1819”
With the comparatively tinier “England in 1819,” Shelley at...
- Percy Bysshe Shelley: “England in 1819”
Learn about the themes, symbols, and poetic devices of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "England in 1819", a sonnet expressing his anger and hope for his country. The poem attacks the monarchy, aristocracy, religion, and laws, and envisions a national rebirth.
A sonnet by the Romantic poet Percy Shelley, denouncing the injustices of the British monarchy and the Peterloo massacre of 1819. Learn about the context, the allusions, and the poetic devices of this angry and politically direct poem.
- Summary of England in 1819
- Structure of England in 1819
- Literary Devices in England in 1819
- Analysis of England in 1819
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Shelley, or at least the personahe is utilizing for this poem, describing how the king os “old, mad, blind” and even despised at the beginning of the poem. All the aristocracy in fact is corrupt and totally out of touch with their people. Those same people are taken advantage of and forced to suffer for the happiness of the rich. Religion is fallin...
‘England in 1819’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a fourteen-line sonnet that is contained as is traditional within a single stanza of text. The lines follow a rhyme scheme of ABABABCDCDCCDD. This is not a standard rhyme scheme for a sonnet but a reader familiar with Petrarchan sonnets should be able to spot some of the markers of this form.Shelley also...
Shelley makes use of several literary devices in ‘England in 1819’. These include but are not limited to alliteration, allusion, and caesura. An allusion is an expression that’s meant to call something specific to mind without directly stating it. In this case, there are several allusionsto the current (at that time) state of English life. See the ...
Lines 1-4
In the first lines of ‘England in 1819’ the speaker starts off with a bang. He calls the king “old, mad, blind, despised, and dying”. Each of these words comes as something of a shock with their stressed syllables. They also work as a hook to pull the reader in, making someone want to find out more about this terrible king (King George III) and the state of the world in 1819. The poet goes on, adding that it’s not just the king who is useless, the princes are too. This alludes to the fact tha...
Lines 5-7
In the next lines, the speaker describes the princes and all those or royal blood as “leechlike”. This similecompares them to creatures, far from human, who feed off of others. In this case, they are feeding off society—those they are supposed to protect. Moving away from the princes and towards those the speaker sees as truly mattering, he adds that the people are “starved and stabbed”. This excellent example of alliteration describes how oppressed the English people are. They are hungry and...
Lines 8-14
Shelley describes the army in the following lines of ‘England in 1819’. Here, he says that they are two-sided. They are used by the government to repress the liberty that the English people deserve. The people are further repressed by the laws their government passes. They benefit the wealthy and further harm the poor and middle class. Religion has also been impacted. It is not, the speaker says, “Godless” and “Christless”. It has lost everything that made it what it was. The bible is sealed...
A political poem that critiques the corruption and decay of English society in 1819. The poem uses a sonnet form, alliteration, allusion, and caesura to express the poet's liberal vision and hope for change.
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
Summary. The sonnet describes a very forlorn reality. The poem passionately attacks, as the poet sees it, England's decadent, oppressive ruling class. King George III is described as "old, mad, blind, despised, and dying". [2] .
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- 1819
Shelley’s poem, ‘England in 1819’, fits with this period in its clear protest against the existing system and its sympathy for ordinary citizens and their suffering. Sonnet Structure.
