Song to the Men of England
Men of England, wherefore ploughFor the lords who lay ye low?Wherefore weave with toil and careThe rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,From the cradle to the grave,Those ungrateful drones who wouldDrain your sweat--nay, drink your blood?
Wherefore, Bees of England, forgeMany a weapon, chain, and scourge,That these stingless drones may spoilThe forced produce of your toil?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?Or what is it ye buy so dearWith 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 impostor heap;Weave robes,--let not the idle wear;Forge arms,--in your defence to bear.
Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;In halls ye deck another dwells.Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye seeThe 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 fairEngland be your sepulchre.
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- stingless a.
- Having no sting.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- sepulchre n.
- The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song to the Men of England is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #4798; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Song to the Men of England, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/song-to-the-men-of-england.html, id L16349.
Form and metre
Song to the Men of England is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, as Wikipedia: Song to the Men of England has it. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABB ploughA · lowA · careB · wearB
- 2 AABB saveA · graveA · wouldB · bloodB
- 3 --AA forge · scourge · spoilA · toilA
- 4 AABB calmA · balmA · dearB · fearB
- 5 AABB reapsA · keepsA · wearsB · bearsB
- 6 AABB reapA · heapA · wearB · bearB
- 7 AABB cellsA · dwellsA · seeB · yeB
- 8 AA-- loomA · tombA · fair · sepulchre
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Men of England, wherefore plough | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| For the lords who lay ye low? | 7 | ······· |
| Wherefore weave with toil and care | 7 | /˘····· |
| The rich robes your tyrants wear? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save, | 7 | /˘····· |
| From the cradle to the grave, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Those ungrateful drones who would | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Drain your sweat--nay, drink your blood? | 7 | ······· |
| Wherefore, Bees of England, forge | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Many a weapon, chain, and scourge, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| That these stingless drones may spoil | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The forced produce of your toil? | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Have ye leisure, comfort, calm, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Shelter, food, love's gentle balm? | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Or what is it ye buy so dear | 8 | ········ |
| With your pain and with your fear? | 7 | ······· |
| The seed ye sow, another reaps; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The wealth ye find, another keeps; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The robes ye weave, another wears; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The arms ye forge; another bears. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Sow seed,--but let no tyrant reap; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Find wealth,--let no impostor heap; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Weave robes,--let not the idle wear; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Forge arms,--in your defence to bear. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In halls ye deck another dwells. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see | 8 | ········ |
| The steel ye tempered glance on ye. | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| With plough and spade, and hoe and loom, | 8 | ········ |
| Trace your grave, and build your tomb, | 7 | ······· |
| And weave your winding-sheet, till fair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| England be your sepulchre. | 6 | /˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.