Shelley's Sonnet, "England in 1819"
Sonnet, "England in 1819"Percy Bysshe Shelley |
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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. |
