The Masque of Anarchy

work by Shelley

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June 30, 2026

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The Masque of Anarchy is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in response to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. This event involved the brutal dispersal of a radical meeting in Manchester by cavalry, which became a symbol of oppression for reformers. Shelley's poem advocates for nonviolent political protest and aims to awaken the British people to action against tyranny. It was considered too radical for publication during Shelley's lifetime and first appeared after the reform elections of 1832. The poem is a significant work of political protest in English literature.12

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Percy Bysshe Shelley
Political protest works and poets as the unacknowledged legislators of the world
…Massacre in England by writing The Masque of Anarchy and several radical songs that he hoped would rouse the British people to active but nonviolent political protest. Later in 1819 he sent to England Peter Bell the Third, which joins literary satire of William Wordsworth’s Peter Bell to attacks on…
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…Massacre in England by writing The Masque of Anarchy and several radical songs that he hoped would rouse the British people to active but nonviolent political protest. Later in 1819 he sent to England Peter Bell the Third, which joins literary satire of William Wordsworth’s Peter Bell to attacks on…
Read More