Explication: Shelley's England in 1819

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,--
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn,--mud from a muddy spring,--
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,          5
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,--
A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,--
An army, which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,--
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;          10
Religion Christless, Godless--a book sealed;
A Senate,--Time's worst statute unrepealed,--
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestous day.

Large Issues

     The speaker of the poem is clearly dramatizing the current state of England in 1819, hence the title. The theme of the poem is obviously very dark and pessimistic. It questions the present established power's ability to rule. The identity of the speaker here is not quite clear; as in the case of "To Wordsworth", the speaker could be Shelley himself, but I am more inclined to believe that the speaker's identity is purposely made ambiguous due to the fact that many people in England felt this way at the time it was written. The audience of the poem is, arguably, just as ambiguous. The speaker could be addressing citizens of other nations who may not have a full understanding of the dire situation that England is in. Another possibility is that the speaker is merely documenting this for future generations in order for them to understand how their ancestors must have felt at this time. The third possibility I see is that the speaker is simply lamenting his or her emotions. As far as plot goes, the poem does not necessarily move anywhere, it is really just a description of how the speaker views England. The speaker's motivation to speak at this moment is clearly based in feelings of despair and disbelief regarding the state of his or her country.

Details

     Form- in terms of meter, the poem is considered a sonnet. However, the rhyme scheme varies greatly from traditional sonnets as it is structured as ABABABCDCDCCDD. It should also be noted that all of the subjects of the first six lines are that of nobility. It is only after these lines that the speaker mentions everyone else. It is in this way that the structure of the poem is out of order, underlining the speaker's sentiments regarding England at the time.

     Rhetoric- the speaker's statements are mainly descriptive in nature, as the poem is really just one large description. Nothing about the rhetoric really seems odd in any way.

     Syntax– the first twelve lines of the poems contain subjects, verbs, and objects that are all primarily negative or have negative actions. 

     Vocabulary- as in the case with the poem's syntax, most of the vocabulary is very negative, dark, or pessimistic in nature.

Patterns

     Rhetorical Patterns- many of the lines begin with a subject, then go on to describe that subject in the rest of the line and the line after, such as lines 7–9: "A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,--/An army, which liberticide and prey/Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,--".

     Figurative Language- the poem is full of dark similes and metaphors, such as comparing nobles to rulers to leeches and princes to "mud from a muddy spring". It is mainly through this that the speaker's overall cynicism is achieved.