England in 1819
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An old, mad, blind, despised, 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 starved and stabbed in the untilled field,--
An army which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,--
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;
Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed,--
A Senate--Time's worst statute unrepealed,--
Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst to illumine our tempestuous day.
"England in 1819" is a political sonnet by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and reflects his liberal ideals. [1] Composed in 1819, it was not published until 1839. Like all sonnets, "England in 1819" has fourteen lines and is written in iambic pentameter; however, its rhyming scheme (a-b-a-b, a-b-c-d, c-d-c-c, d-d) differs from that of the traditional sonnet (a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g).
The poem passionately attacks England's decadent, oppressive ruling class. King George III is "old, mad, blind, despised, and dying." The "leech-like" nobility ("princes") metaphorically suck the blood from the people, who are oppressed, hungry, and hopeless, their fields untilled. Meanwhile, the army is corrupt and dangerous to liberty, the laws are harsh and useless, religion has lost its morality, and Parliament (the "Senate") is a relic. In addition, the civil rights of the Catholic minority are non existent "Time's worst statute unrepealed". In a startling burst of optimism, the last two lines express the hope that a "glorious Phantom" may spring forth from this decay and "illumine our tempestuous day."
