Importance Of Individualism In Song To The Men Of England

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The Romantic Movement that spanned from the late 18th to the mid-19th Century was a period of tremendous change where the Enlightenment period’s scientific, restrictive values were replaced with ideals of equality and freedom. Mary Wollstonecraft’s The Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) advocates for reformed universal education in order to promote individualism as well as encouraging the de-establishment of existing social hierarchy to achieve an egalitarian society. In support of this, Percy Shelley’s poem Song to the Men of England (1817) also reflects the Romantic ideals of individualism and idealism. Mary Wollstonecraft appeals to logic amongst her audience in order to promote the importance of individualism and education in one’s …show more content…

Song To the Men of England is a revolutionary poem which directly appeals to the repressed common folk of England to confront those with power in the inequitable social class system of late 18th Century England. England, during this time also had a rigid hierarchical system where over 50% of the population were categorised as the Common Folk, a class where the majority lived for subsistence. In reaction to this, many Romantic poets including Shelley wrote to challenge this unjust system. The poem has a simple four-line stanza with AABB rhyming structure enabling the poem to be understood by the uneducated population promoting the Romantic principle of equality as opposed to Wollstonecraft’s more sophisticated use of language. Shelley argues for freedom from constraints through his rhetorical opening statement “Men of England, wherefore plough / For the lords who lay ye low?” Shelley further criticises the Common Folk’s acceptance of their powerlessness when he questions “Have ye leisure, comfort, calm, / Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?” which through cumulative listing and his cynical tone evinces the upper class’ puissance provoking change towards greater equality and individualism. Shelley escalates his argument to examine the potential consequences of allowing the existing social stratification to remain through morbid imagery in “With plough and spade and hoe and loom / Trace your grave and build your tomb” and by doing so, Shelley examines the ironic nature of the lower class’ existence. Hence, Song to the Men of England explores the need to challenge power in order to gain freedom in line with the Romantic principle of

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