The Masque of Anarchy

“England in 1819” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1839)

This political sonnet was also a response to the Peterloo Massacre. Unlike The Masque of Anarchy, this poem attacks the ruling class and King George III. This poem also expresses his ultimately optimistic outlook. This poem closes with one of Shelley’s most famous lines where he hopes that a “glorious Phantom” will spring forth from the decay to “illumine our tempestuous day.”

excerpt from Queen Mab by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1813)

The first of Shelley’s longer poetic works, this poem is written as if it were a fairy tale set in an earthly utopia. In the work, Shelley explains his key philosophical and political points that include atheism, vegetarianism, and free love. His hopeful optimism is reflected in the poem’s central argument that humanity can reform and improve itself.

“Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1811)

This anti-war and anti-imperialist work was written to raise money for an imprisoned Anglo-Irish journalist who was jailed for libeling politician Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, a man referenced by Shelley in The Masque of Anarchy. This poem criticizes the British Government, the lack of freedom of the press, corruption, the Napoleonic War, and poverty in Britain.