Poetry of English Romanticism, Week 5, Practicals1

We divided Shelleys poetry into two groups. In the first group are poems that are easy to understand
and speak to us very directly about all sorts of political issues in a very basic manner. Those are: Song to
the Men of England, England in 1819, and Ozymandias. All three poems are very understandable, but
there are certain technical and formal aspects that should be highlighted. The other group is what we
called more difficult Shelley, and those are two poems: To a Skylark and Ode to the West Wind. They
are hard to understand because they address platonic issues and ideals.

The only song among Shelleys poems is Song to the Men of England, which is also the easiest one. It is
really a song and is meant to be sung; the title is quite peculiar and tells us a great deal about the way
the poem is to be read, discussed and understood. Shelley decided to write about something, he himself
did not truly understand it. The entire song is directed to the men of England. But who are they? Men of
England are actually workers of England, i.e. the working class. Because of the addressee the song is
more suitable way to put things. It is because songs are primarily directed to ordinary people that
Robert Burns was also writing about (My Heart is in the Highlands). The difference is that, unlike Burns,
Shelley was not the man of the people. His class position and background had nothing to do with those
people he is speaking to in this particular song. This is why Shelley is very frequently referred to as the
lousy liberal, someone who addresses all those burning issues without having to do something with
them in terms of his personal experience. The song stands like something that has nothing to do with
the environment of those workers who should react to it. However, in terms of lyrics reminds us of a
communist song (Ustajte vi prezreni na svijetu, vi suznji koje mori glad). There are certain similarities
in terms of the rhetoric of both of these songs. The way things are put that makes this particular song a
labor song or song of working classes that is supposed to inspire and create some sort of social change.

David Carter discusses the 19th century worker songs in America; he sees the basic characteristics of
every worker song: The song tells the story simply, heroes and villains are identified, struggles and
crises are amplifiedsongs become means of uniting against and coping with a common enemy.
Duality is present again heroes vs. villains, the oppressed vs. the oppressor. On the one hand there are
men of England, and on the other hand there are lords who make them low. The idea of fighting
together in order to change the situation is where Shelley comes in and offers a solution: Dont let
others use what you produce. Dont work for others, work for yourselves. This is that Shelleyan idea of
bloodless revolution, of bloodless change. Dont go out and kill for it, just ignore them and work for
yourselves. And that is what means to work for a better life, to fight together in order to have a better
life. In terms of that problem which Shelley addresses at the very beginning of the song, Shelley asks the
workers why they work so hard for those lords who oppress them. That means that what they produce
isnt really theirs, doesnt belong to them. The idea of alienation is one of the key ideas that Karl Marx
promoted as well. One of the seven types of alienation by Marx is when the worker gets alienated from
his work because it doesnt belong to him; it belongs to the capitalist, to the lord. We see that present in
Shelleys work much before Marx appeared on the scene. As the song contains typical elements of a
worker song, he uses simple and direct language. This simplicity doesnt apply only to lyrics but also to
the music where one pattern gets repeated throughout the song. The entire song is about rhetorical
questions and the answers are more than obvious. And finally, the last stanza presents some sort of an
outcome which is to be seen as a dark scenario if nothing is done. So, if you dont do anything about
your situation, this is what you will get.

Another poem is England in 1819; it is seemingly very easy to understand, very simple in terms of
structure and content. However, it is a poem that has a great deal of references that should be kept in
mind in order to understand what the poem is really about. Sonnets were primarily meant to talk about
personal issues. It is only with Milton that we get a new dimension of a sonnet - sonnet became political
as well. Shelley uses Milton as his inspiration, not Shakespeare or Spencer. England in 1819 is a very
political song. However, every sonnet has something personal and subjective to it. Shelleys personal
attitude is something we should read from the poem as such. Formally speaking, rhyme pattern is the
pattern of the so called Italian sonnet (8+6 is the structure of the sonnet). In the first eight lines one
idea is developed, and then the turning point takes place after which the following six lines have a
different attitude and tone related to the same topic. The rhyming scheme of the so called English
sonnet that we have seen from Shakespeare and Spencer includes the final couplet or the rhyming
scheme at the very end that is supposed to serve as a punch line, to deliver the message of the sonnet.

Shelley does not only list things objectively, but his personal attitude is also voiced throughout the poem
and we should be aware of that. Shelley is careful to have this English sonnet kind of appearance
where the last couplet would be the punch line where the whole message of the poem the message is
summed up. Because in the first twelve lines he just lists things; it is the so called catalogue of things.
The last two lines tell us what he sees in these things and how they are to be perceived. The old, mad,
blind, despised and dying king is obviously the King George who was declared insane in 1811. Another
very important event is the Peterloo Masssacre that took place on August 16, 1819 which was very
bloody. Even though there are many names and institutions referred to in this poem, it is again very
simple, talking about the oppressors and the oppressed. Heroes and villains are identified, heroes are
good and villains are bad. The first line requires so much energy to be read out loud, and you get the
feeling of that anger expressed there. This is the historical reality of England in 1819, but it is also
Shelleys personal emotion that he uses here to talk about it. When you take a look at the sonnet, there
is something very original, something that we are normally not used to when it comes to the structure
of the sonnet. The sonnet is actually one sentence, the first 12 lines are the subject, and the last 2 lines
are a complement. So, in terms of the rhyming scheme we are familiar with it but this is something new
and original.