Activities from class.

2. LIFE AND WORKS
• Percy Bysshe Shelley was born into a wealthy Sussex family
which eventually attained minor noble rank—his grandfather, a
wealthy businessman, received a baronetcy in 1806.
• The young Shelley entered Eton, a prestigious school for boys,
at the age of twelve, where he discovered the works of a
philosopher named William Godwin
• He embraced the ideals of liberty and equality espoused by
the French Revolution, and devoted his passion and persuasive
power to convincing others of the his beliefs.
• He made the personal acquaintance of William Godwin in
London, and promptly fell in love with Godwin's daughter
Mary Wollstonecraft, whom he was eventually able to marry

3. LIFE AND WORKS
• In 1822, Shelley drowned while sailing in a storm off the Italian
coast. He was not yet thirty years old.
• Central thematic concerns: beauty, the passions, nature,
political liberty, creativity
• Keats believed in beauty and aesthetics for their own sake. But
Shelley was able to believe that poetry makes people and
society better

4. ENGLAND IN 1819
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 tempestous day.

5. TASK 1: TRICKY WORDS
1. Highlight the words you don’t understand in the poem.
2. Google the definition of the word and write it above the
word in the poem

6. PETERLOO MASSACRE AUGUST 19, 1819
• The poem is based on King George III of
England, 81 at the time of the poem’s
composition in 1819 and declared insane in
1811
• Shelley was outraged by the Peterloo
Massacre. On August 19, 1819, a peaceful
protest occurred in St Peter’s Field,
Manchester by members of the working
class seeking political reform
• However, they were attacked without
provocation by mounted troops, 11 people
were hacked to death

7. TASK 2: FIND THE MATCHING HALF
1. Your task in groups of two or three is to create a poster
with the poem in order over the left hand side and
the modern translation in order over the right hand
side.
2. Write the title of the poem across the top of the poster
3. Blue-tak the sections you were handed to the poster
where you think they should go
4. The person who is thinking about choosing this poem
instead of Keats should keep the poster for future
reference.

8. 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.
Emotive
language =
intense
dislike for
king
Imagery
and
metaphor –
‘murky’
judgment
Simile – nobles
are likened to
leeches
Liberticide
=
destruction
of freedom
Metaphor
for army –
highlights
irony. Irony – laws
are meant to
favour peace
and promise
hope
Paradox –
highlights
‘misfit’
nature of
England at
time.
Metaphor for
Religion (ironic);
reinforces tone
Metaphor + allusion –
revolution in France.
For a small poem, there’s a lot in it!

9. EXAMPLES FROM CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

10. PURPOSE AND POSITIONING
1. Why do you think Shelley wrote this poem? Did he want to
inform, entertain, share experiences, satirise a social
practice, persuade, confront, or anger the reader? Shelley
wrote this poem with the intention of…
2. What does Shelley want the reader to believe? Shelley
wants the reader to believe that…
3. Is the poem typical of the Romantic era? How so? The poem
is typical of the Romantic era because…
4. Give an example from contemporary society that could
illustrate the poem’s relevance today. The poem can be
likened to today’s society because of its portrayal of….

11. SAMPLE COMMENTARIES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSgaFiSSL8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmqAH4JbG08