Assignment 9 Conformity and Rebellion- Drew

Song: To the Men of England

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Men of England, wherefore plough

For the lords who lay ye low?

Wherefore weave with toil and care

The rich robes your tyrants wear?

Wherefore feed and clothe and save

From the cradle to the grave

Those ungrateful drones who would

Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?

Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,

That these stingless drones may spoil

The forced produce of your toil?

Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,

Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?

Or what is it ye buy so dear

With your pain and with your fear?

The seed ye sow, another reaps;

The wealth ye find, another keeps;

The robes ye weave, another wears;

The arms ye forge, another bears.

Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:

Find wealth—let no imposter heap:

Weave robes—let not the idle wear:

Forge arms—in your defence to bear.

Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—

In hall ye deck another dwells.

Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see

The steel ye tempered glance on ye.

With plough and spade and hoe and loom

Trace your grave and build your tomb

And weave your winding-sheet—till fair

England be your Sepulchre.

Shelley was actually kicked out of Oxford for his works such as this. I chose this particular poem because of it's revolutionary sentiment, especially against the concept of corrupt higher power. I like the idea presented in his opening stanza asking the working men of England why they toil to make their masters wealthy when they are poor and destitute. I was drawn to the images he chooses. He criticizes the "drones" of not caring about the welfare of the people and calls on "the Bees of England" to rise up against these "stingless drones." I am also intrigued by the last paragraph, a suggestion of what will become of this working class should they not rise up: You'll be digging your own grave, weaving your own graveclothes until your dead body is forever interned beneath the soil of the country who oppressed you.


Percy Shelley. "A Song: "Men of England"" Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 7 Nov. 2014. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/183987.