England in 1819 Summary

Poem Reading Essay: England in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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In “England in 1819” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet focuses on his surroundings critiquing the prevailing political climate in England and the place of the royalty in the British society. The sonnet has one stanza with fourteen lines. To Shelley, poets need to engage with the society, and power is one of his concerns. Those who hold power ultimately determine the direction of the society, they may work to improve the societal well-being, but they may also cater to the needs and interest of the ruling class while ignoring the plight of the commoner. This is an analysis of “England in 1819” focusing on his political beliefs and hopes that the English people would be better off without the uncaring royalty.
The opening two lines set the stage to explore the idea that the political situation in England in 1819 was oppressive. “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King; Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow.” Shelley establishes the case for a change in the political situation to loosen the political power wielded by the monarchy, while alluding that the King was not admired by the subjects, The poem is a political satire, and the ideas were radical at the time, but Shelley likens the political class to leeches who leave the people in poverty with no political freedom.
The poem is a lyric sonnet, with an iambic pentameter and a rhyming scheme of ABABABCDCDCCDD. The choice of the iambic pentameter allows the poet to use syntactic breaks on the meter, allows him to slow down and express his outrage at the corruption prevailing in the government structure as overseen by the monarchy. However, the rhyming pattern does not occur similar to other sonnets. Shelley laments about the social and political climate in England, and by using an unconventional form of the Sonnet structure and this emphasizes the view that the English society was dysfunctional in 1819 for the rulers disregarding the then people. Shelley’s approach also alters the thematic structure of the sonnet, and the first six lines focusing on the ruling class including the king and princes, while lines eight to fourteen focus on hope for change.
Shelley saw through the sham of the society where the rulers in England were despised, but unlike other people chose to write about this. In line 3, Shelley states, “Through public scorn? mud from a muddy spring.” This shows that even the public was disgusted with the ways of the king and his sons who disrespected the subjects by ignoring their plight even as they massed wealthy and limited political freedom. Despite the English rulers being out of touch, the people did not engage in civil disobedience. In the next line he wrote that, “Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know.” This signifies the prevailing notion that the ruling class was not aware about the issues affecting the subjects, and even their reactions to complaints or criticism was likely to be met with unjustified force.
Shelley also uses metaphors to highlight differences in the lives of the English royalty and the subjects. In lines 2-3 he associates the princes with dregs sim...