“Song to the Men of England” Introduction

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“Song to the Men of England” Summary

“Song to the Men of England” Themes

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  Inequality, Exploitation, and Revolution

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Song to the Men of England”

• Lines 1-4

  Men of England, wherefore plough
  For the lords who lay ye low?
  Wherefore weave with toil and care
  The rich robes your tyrants wear?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Wherefore feed and clothe and save
  From the cradle to the grave
  Those ungrateful drones who would
  Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
  Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
  That these stingless drones may spoil
  The forced produce of your toil?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
  Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?
  Or what is it ye buy so dear
  With your pain and with your fear?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  The seed ye sow, another reaps;
  The wealth ye find, another keeps;
  The robes ye weave, another wears;
  The arms ye forge, another bears.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:
  Find wealth—let no imposter heap:
  Weave robes—let not the idle wear:
  Forge arms—in your defence to bear.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—
  In halls ye deck another dwells.
  Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
  The steel ye tempered glance on ye.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-32

  With plough and spade and hoe and loom
  Trace your grave and build your tomb
  And weave your winding-sheet—till fair
  England be your Sepulchre.

  

  

  

  

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“Song to the Men of England” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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“Song to the Men of England” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Wherefore
• Plough
• Lay ye low
• Ye
• Toil
• Drones
• Scourge
• Spoil
• Balm
• Sow
• Reaps
• Deck
• Tempered
• Glance
• Plough and spade and hoe and loom
• Winding-sheet
• Sepulchre

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Song to the Men of England”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Song to the Men of England” Speaker

“Song to the Men of England” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Song to the Men of England”

More “Song to the Men of England” Resources

• External Resources

  • Shelley's Rediscovered Political Poetry — Learn more about Shelley's polemical poetry in an article about a recently rediscovered poem he wrote while he was a student at Oxford University.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a dramatic reading of the poem.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Shelley's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Keats-Shelley Museum — Visit the website of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Museum to learn more about how Shelley fit into the Romantic movement.

  • Portraits of Shelley — See some images of Shelley at London's National Portrait Gallery.

  • The Post-Napoleonic Depression — Learn more about the tumultuous period of English history when this poem was written.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley

  • England in 1819

  • Love’s Philosophy

  • Music, When Soft Voices Die

  • Mutability

  • Ode to the West Wind

  • Ozymandias

  • Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples

  • The Question

  • To a Skylark