Comparing Shelley's Presentation Of Social Classes In Men Of England And London

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Recommended: P. B. Shelley, and romanticism

Percy Shelley is known as one of the greatest romantic poets of his time and is also noted as one of the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley’s work “Men of England” talks about the dispute between two classes in England, rich and the poor, and discusses how the working class should bind together to have a revolution. The poem mentions England’s government at the time and how their king, George III, is going insane. This poem will be compared and contrasted with William Blake’s “London” which talks about the disparaging situation that London is facing due to the prior generation’s mistakes made by the government. Some comparisons that will be demonstrated are the talk about the lower class of society in both poems as well as the discouraging tone that both poems present. In contrast, the …show more content…

“Men of England” touches on the idea that a workers’ revolution will flourish from the mistreating of the lower class society. The author, towards the middle, gives some words of motivation to the people to get them angry “The seed ye sow, another reaps; The wealth ye find, another keeps; The robes ye weave, another wears: The arms ye forge, another bears.” (17-20)
Shelley is stating to the poor nobles that everything they do is for the rich nobles and nothing is done for their selves. These words are used to make the poor nobles mad and make them realize that they are human too and that they deserve just as much respect and treatment as a rich noble receives in society. In the next stanza, it serves as an important point to the poem because this presents to the reader that something is about to happen, Shelley states “Sow seed-but let no tyrant reap: Find wealth-let no impostor heap: Weave robes-let not the idle wear: Forge arms-in your defence to bear.”

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