John Pilger Quoting Shelley's "Mask of Anarchy" Calls for Direct Action

by @ Bookfair 2010 Fri Nov 05, 2010 06:09

AUDIO - John Pilger's Talk at London Anarchist Bookfair 2010
Presentation 30 minutes

http://london.indymedia.org/articles/5792

by W. Finnerty Fri Nov 05, 2010 08:30

Though it does not appear to be very well know at the present time, Percy Bysshe Shelley (and some of his English aristocratic associates) had a "soft spot" for the Irish.

"Priced at two shillings, it was sold for the benefit of the imprisoned Irish journalist Peter Finnerty. As the editors point out, Shelley was an active supporter of Finnerty, and he had used 'A Gentleman of the University of Oxford' on the title page of St. Irvyne."

The Peter Finnerty referred to in the excerpt above was from Loughrea in County Galway; and, the street in Loughrea now named "Barrack Street" used to be named "Finnerty Street" in his memory.

Related link: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Complete+Poetry+of+Pe...39387

by Unity Fri Nov 05, 2010 16:24

"Shelley was a professed admirer of the United Irishmen, and the events and personalities of the 1798 rebellion were crucial to his political and intellectual development. His abiding hatred for Castlereagh (who played an important role in crushing the Irish uprising of 1798) was venomously expressed in the Mask of Anarchy:

I met murder on the way -
He had a mask like Castlereagh -
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven bloodhounds followed him."

Related link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/jul/14/poetry.comment

by pat c Fri Nov 05, 2010 20:48

Byron also wrote about Castlereagh, perhaps a little less lyrical. But certainly to the point.

'Posterity will ne'er survey,
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.