Poetry in Protest



The workmen have songs and the poets use verse to get their feelings of frustration or in Shelley’s case indignation across. The Corn Laws caused contention for decades and Elliott's short piece was one of his most popular. Shelley's irate 372 line poem which he penned once he heard the news about the Peterloo Massacre was so intense that Leigh Hunt postponed publishing it in The Examiner until 1832 because he was afraid to be charged with libel (4 p. 779).



4. Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D & E. New York : W. W Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. p. 779, 787, 788.
10. Elliott, Enenezer. The Splendid Village: Corn Law Rhymes; and other Poems. Corn Law Rhymes and other Poems. [Online] 1833. [Cited: May 10, 2013.] http://www.gerald-massey.org.uk/elliott/c_poems_1.htm#055.

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