The Mask of Anarchy

E221996

The Mask of Anarchy is a political poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley that fiercely condemns tyranny and calls for nonviolent resistance in the wake of the Peterloo Massacre.

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Label Occurrences
The Mask of Anarchy canonical 2

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf poem
political poem
addresses British government repression
working-class rights
advocates nonviolent mass action
author Percy Bysshe Shelley
callsFor moral and political awakening of the oppressed
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
criticizes authoritarian rule
state violence
editorOfFirstPublication Leigh Hunt
firstPublishedIn The Examiner
firstPublishedInYear 1832
form lyric poem
genre political poetry
protest poetry
historicalContext Peterloo Massacre
includedIn collections of Shelley’s political writings
influenced Chartism
surface form: Chartist movement

later nonviolent resistance movements
inspiredByEvent Peterloo Massacre
language English
literaryMovement Romanticism
literarySignificance one of the earliest modern statements of nonviolent resistance in English literature
meter primarily iambic tetrameter
notableLine "Rise like Lions after slumber"
"Ye are many—they are few"
placeOfComposition Italy
politicalOrientation radical
reformist
portrays personified abstractions of political vices
posthumousPublication true
referencedBy Mahatma Gandhi
political activists
rhymeScheme varied rhyme scheme
subjectMatter massacre of peaceful protesters at St Peter's Field, Manchester
theme civil liberties
class struggle
condemnation of tyranny
moral responsibility
nonviolent resistance
peaceful protest
political oppression
tone indignant
prophetic
satirical
usesAllegoryFor British political figures
writtenInYear 1819

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Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Percy Bysshe Shelley notableWork The Mask of Anarchy
Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote The Mask of Anarchy