Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed and clothe and save,
From the cradle to the grave,
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat -nay, drink your blood?
Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With 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 imposter 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 see
The 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 fair
England be your sepulchre!
FATMA KAYA
ReplyDeleteThe poem is about the calsh between two classes of society; the poor working class and rich nobles. It’s mainly about workers that are oppressed and exploited by the ruling class. In the first two lines he divides the society into two parts: the workers and the ones exploiting them (tyrants). In this way the poet criticizes the system and the fact that workers are mistreated. He wants to know the reason why they let themselves to be exploited.
It’s interesting that the poet is from a noble family. He sees things from a noble viewpoint. He has noticed the conditions of workers so tells them to stand up for their rights and not let the upper class of the society to exploit them. He refers to the lords as ‘tyrants’ indicating that their absolute power and this is also an evidence for his strong desire for a political reform. He felt that the only way to gain freedom was overthrowing the order. In the second stanza he compares the lords with ‘vampires’ which are immortal bloodsuckers leaving their victims powerless and death. He also refer them as drones (a drone is a male bee that does no work and harmless because it hasn’t got a sting. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee) to insult them and mock of them. In addition to this he calls the workers ‘the bees of England’ who are working for the benefit of their country.
He believes that the society must undergo some changes. In the 5th stanza he’s trying the workers to realize how the lords are benefitting them. After the 4th stanza he uses more strong imperative tone and as the poem progresses it gets harsher.
In the last 3 stanzas of the poem the frustration level rise so much that he tells them that all they are capable of is just digging their own graves. He gives up commanding them to work for themselves and overthrow the tyrants and says to hide in their holes and cells. The last stanza especially is also very insulting for workers. I think he try to create an anger and urgency to make the workers to rebel.
this poem is mainly about the social classes.
ReplyDeletethere are workers and also their employers. he thinks that the stiation of the society is getting worse day by day. he gives examples from that aspect. for example he says 'your lords wear the cloths that you weave. you are struggling and put your all effort to do sth. but at the end, it will have nothing to do with you. because your efforts go for somebody else. you can not even benefit from the things that you do with a great affort. they are exploiting you.
and poet wants them to move and do sth for themselves. he says that you should wear the robes that you weave, but not others. dont let them control and exploit you.
and at the last stanza, he argues that you dont need others, you can even dig your own grave and weave your winding-sheet( a cloth kind of thing that is used to cover the corpse)
and england in which you have no right to work for your own life and pleasure will be your tomb.
GULNOZA NURULLAEVA:
ReplyDeleteTo me, the most interesting phrase in this poem is "Bees of England". Here the writer resembles the working class of England to bees who work all their lives to serve the Bee Queen (in this case the English rulers) which doesn't have to do anything at all.
But Shelley doesn't just blame the english governors for the struggle of the working class, he thinks the latter are guilty for letting themselves to be exploited. Still, Shelley feels empathy for them; therefore, he wants them to take some action, stand up for their rights and do something.
The overall purpose of "Song to the Men of England" is to motivate the laborers to revolt. Shelley recognizes that they work only to have their products and profits seized by the ruling class; however, he urges that they take action rather than just complaining about their problems.
Öznur Öztürk
ReplyDeleteThe metaphore 'bees' is important here.It symbolizes the working class.This poem reflects not only its period, but also today.We know that in different parts of the universe some people work ,but they cannot get their money.Just the people for whom the workers work has changed.It was queens and kings in the past.Now it is richer countries and richer people
Nagihan Kısa
ReplyDeleteyeah, ı agree all the comments but on the other hand in the 2nd stanza line 3 the term 'ungrateful drones' paid my attention.First of all, drone means the bees which doesn't work and do anything.-Ungrateful drones- With this group of words the poet looked down on the 'NOBLES' by sayin' -ungrateful-. To him, the nobles are not important but then in 4th line draining their sweat-nay and drinking their blood..Although they are ungrateful creatures, they are sucking the workers' blood.In other words, they are exploiting the workers. So, with this irony while the poet seems to be despising the nobles actually he despises the lower society -workers- too.And in general the poet addresses the workers and wants them to resist the people in high status. According to him, they can do whatever they like, they can live wherever they want. your voice is can be heard if you really wish. That's all about yours. Freedom is in your hands..
Firstly when we look at the name of the poem, we can easily see that it is about diferent people who lives in England in different life condition. Actually this poem describes the life that the industrialization destroyed. Poem tells us about that times when the classification between people was so common -the richest to poorest- The poet wants the poor workers to be aware of their situation and wants them to do somthings to change this. Sometimes he insults them but sometimes he try to praise them to be aware of their rights.
ReplyDeleteWith these poem, poet want to show the insultion of the workers who work for noble people. He wants the workers to be independent also want them to understand that they don't need to serve for anyone and need not to be treated like slaves.
ReplyDeleteFor the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
we can see this will in these lines.
And he bacome so frustrated to workers who don't do anything for themselves that he says they create their own graves
In the poem the poet criticezes the people.Firstly he says the workers they do not have to serve the noble people.He calls them as "bees of England."But he is angry with them, because they are exploited by rich people but they don't resist.
ReplyDeleteThe seed ye sow another reaps;
The wealth ye find another keeps;
The robes ye weave another wears;
The arms ye forge another bears
As we see in these lines he says the workers that:You work,but others (noble people)use your doings.He wants them to change this situation...
In poem, poet wants to wake the workers up to defence their basic rights. As the worhers always work as 'BEES' but they can't get anything worthy in return for their efforts. They are under such a big suppression that they don't even know for what they are working. After criticising their obedience to the lords, he completes his poem by reminding the truth that England will cause to their death and they will die as miserable slaves.
ReplyDeleteJiyan Taher
ReplyDeleteIn this poem the poet’s addressee are the ordinary people “Bees of England” in England or worker class in England. By asking question the poet says those people that they producing rich clothes for their oppressive rulers who look down on them. Also he says that they are producing weapons, they’re used by the rulers. They use that power to control workers. Without workers, these rulers don’t have power. The worker gives the power to rulers.
He wants then to do not live under the suppressed rule of the “tyrants”. He wants them to understand that they don’t need to serve for anyone. He wants them to work for themselves
Then he says that they digging their grave if they go on like this and England will be their grave.
it is really explicit that Percy Shelley’s “Song—To the Men of England” is meant to be an reinforcement for the workers of England.. The speaker refers to the lords as “tyrants”sometimes he calls them “stingless drones” “idle” he wants sometimes the reader to see them, immortal vampires capable of sucking the blood and life out of their victims.
ReplyDeleteActually the poem shows how things are, how things should be, and how things are again.
He is aware of the absurdity and unfairness of things.
the tone of the message changes through the end of the poem.His language is romantic and sensitive in the beginning of the poem than it changes and becoming harsher and last stanza gives a sense of urgency and anger.
This poem shows the message that shelly wants to put across.He wants the 'bees of england' (the workers) to become independant and not live under the surpressed rule of the 'tyrants'. He want them to understand that they don't need to serve for anyone and need not to be treated like slaves.
ReplyDeleteas the poem progresses the tone gets harsher.He starts to insult the workers.The images become smaller and smaller.In the end his frustration level rises so much that he tells them that all they are capable of is diggint their own graves.
This poem shows the message that shelly wants to put across.He wants the 'bees of england' (the workers) to become independant and not live under the surpressed rule of the 'tyrants'. He want them to understand that they don't need to serve for anyone and need not to be treated like slaves.
ReplyDeleteas the poem progresses the tone gets harsher.He starts to insult the workers.The images become smaller and smaller.In the end his frustration level rises so much that he tells them that all they are capable of is diggint their own graves.
While Shelley's call for revolt is certainlt justifiable, it should not be forgetten that Shelley himself comes from an aristocratic family with wealth and fame.
ReplyDeleteDue to that reason, even though Shelley might have sympathized with "bees of England", I don't think he can really feel for them.
His peom is about how he sees the situation, not how these workers see themselves.
Lack of their voice in the poem in addition to absence of any concrete solutions to the problems can be regarded as a failure on Shelley's behalf.
The overall themes of the poem is based on the issue of exploitation and slavery, which include, social injustice, class distinction but most importantly it is a song about life to death. The idea of death is frequent throughout the poem, "from the cradle to the grave" "drink your blood" and "trace your grave build your tomb, England be you Sepulcher" A sepulcher is a tomb or a monument. These probe a notion that the lower class are forced into a perpetuating cycle of slavery, in which like 'bees' they live to work, or rather, live to die. (inescapable death)
ReplyDelete