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Poem #1605)
The Masque of Anarchy (extract) XXXVII.
"Men of England, Heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty mother,
Hopes of her, and one another,
XXXVIII.
"Rise, like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew,
Which in sleep had fall'n on you.
XXXIX.
"What is Freedom? Ye can tell
That which Slavery is too well,
For its very name has grown
To an echo of your own.
XL.
"'Tis to work, and have such pay,
As just keeps life from day to day
In your limbs, as in a cell
For the tyrants' use to dwell:
XLI.
"So that ye for them are made,
Loom, and plough, and sword, and spade;
With or without your own will, bent
To their defense and nourishment.
XLII.
"'Tis to see your children weak
With their mothers pine and peak;
When the winter winds are bleak:
They are dying whilst I speak.
XLIII.
"'Tis to hunger for such diet,
As the rich man in his riot
Casts to the fat dogs that lie
Surfeiting beneath his eye.
XLIV.
"'Tis to let the Ghost of Gold
Take from toil a thousand fold,
More than e'er its substance could
In the tyrannies of old:
XLV.
"Paper coin--that forgery
Of the title deeds, which ye
Hold to something of the worth
Of the inheritance of Earth.
E
XLVI.
"'Tis to be a slave in Soul,
And to bold no strong controul.
Over your own wills, but be
All that others make of ye.
XLVII.
"And at length when ye complain,
With a murmur weak and vain,
'Tis to see the tyrant's crew
Ride over your wives and you:
Blood is on the grass like dew.
XLVIII.
"Then it is to feel revenge,
Fiercely thirsting to exchange
Blood for blood-and wrong for wrong:
DO NOT THUS, WHEN YE ARE STRONG.
XLIX.
"Birds find rest in narrow nest,
When-weary of the winged quest;
Beasts find fare in woody lair,
When storm and snow are in the air.
E 2
L.
"Asses, swine, have litter spread,
And with fitting food are fed;
All things have a home but one:
Thou, oh Englishman, hast none!
LI.
"This is Slavery-savage men,
Or wild beasts within a den,
Would endure not as ye do:
But such ills they never knew.
LII.
"What art thou, Freedom? Oh! could Slaves
Answer from their living graves
This demand, tyrants would flee
Like a dream's dim imagery.
LIII.
Thou art not, as impostors say,
A shadow soon to pass away,
A superstition, and a name
Echoing from the eaves of Fame.
LIV.
"For the labourer thou art bread,
And a comely table spread,
From his daily labour come,
In a neat and happy home.
LV.
"Thou art clothes, and fire, and food
For the trampled multitude:
NO-in countries that are free
Stich starvation cannot be,
As in England now we see.
LVI.
"To the rich thou art. a check;
When his foot is on the neck
Of his victim; thou dost make
That he treads upon a snake.
LVII.
"Thou art Justice--ne'er for gold
May thy righteous laws be sold,
As laws are in England:--thou
Sheild'st alike the high and low.
"Thou art Wisdom-Freedom never
Dreams that God will damn for ever
All who think those things untrue,
Of which priests make such ado
LIX.
"Thou art Peace-never by thee
Would blood and treasure wasted be,
As tyrants wasted them, when all
Leagued to quench thy flame in Gaul,
LX.
"What if English toil and blood
Was poured forth-, even as a flood!
It availed,--oh Liberty!
To dim --- but not extinguish thee.
LXI.
"Thou art Love--the rich have kist
Thy feet, and like him following Christ,
Give their substance to the free,
And through the rough world follow thee.
LXII.
"Oh turn their wealth to arms, and make
War for thy beloved sake,
On wealth and war and fraud: whence they
Drew the power which is their prey.
LXIII.
"Science, and Poetry, and Thought,
Are thy lamps; they make the lot
Of the dwellers in a cot
So serene, they curse it not.
LXIV.
"Spirit, Patience, Gentleness,
All that can adorn and bless,
Art thou: let deeds, not words, express
Thine exceeding loveliness.
LXV.
"Let a great assembly be
Of the fearless, of the free,
On some spot of English ground,
Where the plains stretch wide around.
LXVI.
"Let the blue sky overhead,
The green earth, on which ye tread,
All that must eternal be,
Witness the solemnity.
LXVII.
"From the corners uttermost
Of the bounds of English coast;
From every but, village, and town,
Where those who live and suffer, moan
For others' misery and their own:
LXVIII.
"From the workhouse and the prison,
Where pale as corpses newly risen,
Women, children, young, and old,
Groan for pain, and weep for cold;
LXIX.
"From the haunts of daily life,
Where is waged the daily strife
With common wants and common cares,
Which sow the human heart with tares;
LXX.
"Lastly, from the palaces,
Where the murmur of distress
Echoes, like the distant sound
Of a wind alive around;
LXXI.
"Those prison-halls of wealth and fashion,
Where some few feel such compassion
For those who groan, and toil, and wait,
As must make their brethren pale;
LXXII.
"Ye who suffer woes untold,
Or to feel, or to behold
Your lost country bought and sold
With a price of blood and gold;
LXXIII.
"Let a vast assembly be,
And with great solemnity
Declare with measured words, that ye
Are, as God has made ye, free!
LXXIV.
"Be your strong and simple words
Keen to wound as sharpened swords,
And wide as targes let them be,
With their shade to cover ye.
LXXV.
Let the tyrants pour around
With a quick and startling sound,
Like the loosening of a sea,
Troops of armed emblazonry.
LXXVI.
"Let the charged artillery drive,
Till the dead air seems alive
With the clash of clanging wheels,
And the tramp of horses' heels.
LXXVII.
"Let the fixed bayonet
Gleam with sharp desire to wet
Its bright point in English blood,
Looking keen as one for food.
F
LXXVIII.
"Let the horsemen's scimitars
Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars,
Thirsting to eclipse their burning
In a sea of death and mourning.
LXXIX.
"Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms, and looks which are
Weapons of an unvanquished war.
LXXX.
"And let Panic, who outspeeds
The career of armed steeds,
Pass, a disregarded shade,
Thro' your phalanx indismay'd.
[The next three stanzas are italicised]
LXXXI.
"Let the laws of your own land,
Good or ill, between ye stand,
Hand to hand, and foot to foot,
Arbiters of the dispute.
LXXXII.
"The old laws of England--they
Whose reverend heads with age are grey,
Children of a wiser day;
And whose solemn voice must be
Thine own echo--Liberty!
LXXXIII.
"On those who first should violate
Such sacred heralds in their state,
Rest the blood that must ensue,
And it will not rest on you.
LXXXIV.
"And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there;
Slash, and stab, and maim, and hew;
What they like, that let them do.
LXXXV.
"With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear and less surprise,
Look upon them as they stay
Till their rage hasdied away:
LXXXVI.
"Then they will return with shame,
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek,
LXXXVII.
"Every woman in the land
Will point at them as they stand
They will hardly dare to greet
Their acquaintance in the street:
LXXXVIII.
"And the bold, true warriors,
Who have hugged Danger in wars,
Will turn to those who would be free
Ashamed of such base company:
LXXXIX.
"And that slaughter to the nation
Shall steam up like inspiration,
Eloquent, oracular,
A volcano heard afar:
XC.
"And these words shall then become
Like Oppressions thundered doom,
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again--again--again.
XCI.
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable NUMBER!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fall'n on you:
YE ARE MANY-THEY ARE FEW.
THE END
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley 
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