Analysis of The Mask Of Anarchy
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
I.
As I lay asleep in Italy
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
II.
I met Murder on the way-
He had a mask like Castlereagh-
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven blood-hounds followed him:
III.
All were fat; and well they might
Be in admirable plight,
For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed them human hearts to chew
Which from his wide cloak he drew.
IV.
Next came Fraud, and he had on,
Like Eldon, an ermined gown;
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to mill-stones as they fell.
V.
And the little children, who
Round his feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,
Had their brains knocked out by them.
VI.
Clothed with the Bible, as with light,
And the shadows of the night,
Like Sidmouth, next, Hypocrisy
On a crocodile rode by.
VII.
And many more Destructions played
In this ghastly masquerade,
All disguised, even to the eyes,
Like Bishops, lawyers, peers, or spies.
VIII.
Last came Anarchy: he rode
On a white horse, splashed with blood;
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse.
IX.
And he wore a kingly crown;
And in his grasp a sceptre shone;
On his brow this mark I saw-
'I am God, and King, and Law!'
X.
With a pace stately and fast,
Over English land he passed,
Trampling to a mire of blood
The adoring multitude.
XI.
And a mighty troop around,
With their trampling shook the ground,
Waving each a bloody sword,
For the service of their Lord.
XII.
And with glorious triumph, they
Rode through England proud and gay,
Drunk as with intoxication
Of the wine of desolation.
XIII.
O'er fields and towns, from sea to sea,
Passed the Pageant swift and free,
Tearing up, and trampling down;
Till they came to London town.
XIV.
And each dweller, panic-stricken,
Felt his heart with terror sicken
Hearing the tempestuous cry
Of the triumph of Anarchy.
XV.
For with pomp to meet him came,
Clothed in arms like blood and flame,
The hired murderers, who did sing
'Thou art God, and Law, and King.
XVI.
'We have waited, weak and lone
For thy coming, Mighty One!
Our purses are empty, our swords are cold,
Give us glory, and blood, and gold.'
XVII.
Lawyers and priests, a motley crowd,
To the earth their pale brows bowed;
Like a bad prayer not over loud,
Whispering-'Thou art Law and God.'-
XVIII.
Then all cried with one accord,
'Thou art King, and God, and Lord;
Anarchy, to thee we bow,
Be thy name made holy now!'
XIX.
And Anarchy, the Skeleton,
Bowed and grinned to every one,
As well as if his education
Had cost ten millions to the nation.
XX.
For he knew the Palaces
Of our Kings were rightly his;
His the sceptre, crown, and globe,
And the gold-inwoven robe.
XXI.
So he sent his slaves before
To seize upon the Bank and Tower,
And was proceeding with intent
To meet his pensioned Parliament
XXII.
When one fled past, a maniac maid,
And her name was Hope, she said:
But she looked more like Despair,
And she cried out in the air:
XXIII.
'My father Time is weak and gray
With waiting for a better day;
See how idiot-like he stands,
Fumbling with his palsied hands!
XXIV.
'He has had child after child,
And the dust of death is piled
Over every one but me-
Misery, oh, Misery!'
XXV.
Then she lay down in the street,
Right before the horses' feet,
Expecting, with a patient eye,
Murder, Fraud, and Anarchy.
XXVI.
When between her and her foes
A mist, a light, an image rose,
Small at first, and weak, and frail
Like the vapour of a vale:
XXVII.
Till as clouds grow on the blast,
Like tower-crowned giants striding fast,
And glare with lightnings as they fly,
And speak in thunder to the sky,
XXVIII.
It grew-a Shape arrayed in mail
Brighter than the viper's scale,
And upborne on wings whose grain
Was as the light of sunny rain.
XXIX.
On its helm, seen far away,
A planet, like the Morning's, lay;
And those plumes its light rained through
Like a shower of crimson dew.
XXX.
With step as soft as wind it passed
O'er the heads of men-so fast
That they knew the presence there,
And looked,-but all was empty air.
XXXI.
As flowers beneath May's footst
Scheme | ABBBC ADEFF AGGHHH EXIJJ BHXKK AGGBA ELLCC EXMCC CINCX COOMX BPPQQ CDDRR CBBII ERRAB ESSTT ENRUU EVVVX EQQWW CRRRR CCCXX CXXXX CLXYY CDDCC EZZBB E1 1 AB ECC2 2 EOOAA E2 2 3 3 CDDHH COOYY CG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 111010100 110111001 011101111 11001011 1 1110101 110111 1011111 1011101 1 1010111 1010001 11110111 11110111 1111111 1 1110111 101111 1111111 1111111 1 0010101 1111101 10100101 1111111 1 11010111 001101 1110100 101011 1 010111 011001 10110101 11010111 1 1110011 1011111 11110101 1100010 1 0110101 00110101 1111111 1110101 1 1011001 1010111 1010111 001010 1 0010101 1110101 1010101 1010111 1 01100101 1110101 1110010 1011010 1 101011111 1010101 1010101 1111101 1 01101010 11111010 1001001 10101100 1 1111111 1011101 010100111 1110101 1 1110101 1110101 101011010111 11100101 1 10010101 1011111 10111101 10011101 1 1111101 1110101 1001111 1111101 1 01000100 10111001 11111010 111101010 1 1110100 11010101 1010101 00111 1 1111101 110101010 01010101 1111100 1 11110101 0011111 1111101 0111001 1 11011101 11010101 11100111 1001111 1 1111101 0011111 10100111 1001100 1 1111001 1010101 01010101 1010100 1 1010001 01011101 1110101 101101 1 1111101 110110101 01110111 01010101 1 11010101 101011 011111 11011101 1 1111101 01010101 0111111 10101101 1 11111111 10011111 1110101 01111101 1 1100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,908 |
Words | 763 |
Sentences | 58 |
Stanzas | 31 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2 |
Lines Amount | 153 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 3:49 min read
- 772 Views
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"The Mask Of Anarchy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29268/the-mask-of-anarchy>.
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