http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre
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‘The iron rod of penury still compels Her wretched slave to bow the knee to wealth, And poison, with unprofitable toil, A life too void of solace to confirm The very chains that bind him to his doom. Nature, impartial in munificence, Has gifted man with all-subduing will. Matter, with all its transitory shapes, Lies subjected and plastic at his feet, That, weak from bondage, tremble as they tread. How many a rustic Milton has passed by, Stifling the speechless longings of his heart, In unremitting drudgery and care! How many a vulgar Cato has compelled His energies, no longer tameless then, To mould a pin or fabricate a nail! How many a Newton, to whose passive ken Those mighty spheres that gem infinity Were only specks of tinsel fixed in heaven To light the midnights of his native town!
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I add the note that his biographers generally state Shelley's radical tilt to be due directly to his (was it father-in-law?) William Godwin.
- Bill
Eric Beck wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 11:25 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>> On Jan 15, 2009, at 12:03 PM, Eric Beck wrote:
>>
>>> Indeed. I always thought Byron was a shallow fop until I read Don
>>> Juan. Incredible. How come no one seems to take him seriously?
>> Because he was funny and sexy?
>
> That sounds right to me.
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