England in 1819
by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
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 leechlike to their fainting country cling
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow.
A people starved and stabbed in th' untilled field;
An army, whom 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.
Source: The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume Two, Seventh Edition (2000)
For a detailed analysis and examination of the historical context in which this poem was penned, see:
Percy Bysshe Shelley: “England in 1819” A letter, a list, a sonnet, and the state of a nation by Christopher Spaide
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Kate Morgan Reade: "Liberticide"!
What an expressive, accurate word.
Thanks to my favorite Percy Bysshe Shelley, there is a word to express what is going on now.
Whether the great poet coined the word, I will search its origins.
And the portrait:
"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,"
And this, from the great Poet who wrote the Essay, "The Necessity of Atheism":
"Religion Christless, Godless—a book sealed;"
Thank you so much for sharing such a wealth of thought.
Shelley died so very young.
Newman Ivey White wrote a beautiful biography of the great poet, first in two giant volumes, and then an original, new work in one volume.
The Norton Edition of Shelley complains the main poetry and prose of the great Poet, and, in the personage of Donald H. Reiman, who complains that this volume (which he edited) fails to include certain other poems and essays, for which Reiman's impossibly expensive volumes in a tedious "authoritative edition", the poetry (Johns Hopkins University) so far in at least 7 volumes, each at an impressive $142.00 per volume (!!), and volume I (with how many projected volumes??) of Percy Bysshe Shelley's Prose (with such important essays as a Defense of Poetry and The Necessity of Atheism) through Oxford University start at $325.00 for the first volume.
So, for now, I am satisfied, quite pleased, actually, by the Norton Edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley's Poetry and Prose.
I have wanted to collect the authorized version of all of the young Poet's works, but . . . my budget is a lot more limited.
Great post!