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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Shelley and the 99%

The Mask of Anarchy was written in the wake of a bloody massacre of protesters in Manchester England in 1819.

I was prevented from having it read on the BBC when I was put in charge of a show of readings by Shelley. Someone intervened and convinced the host that the poem and various related ones (such as the "Ballad of the Starving Mother") were not by Shelley. I kid you not.

I wonder why...not!

So here's the glorious ending, Gandhi loved it, transmitted it to King:

Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable NUMBER!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fall'n on you:
YE ARE MANY-THEY ARE FEW.




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