Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution: Shelley’s Mask of Anarchy & the struggle for democracy

Dr David Skidmore presents a talk on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Mask of Anarchy, a poem written in response to the Peterloo Massacre and addressed to an imagined democratic public. The session looks at how people without political power can make themselves heard, using readings and discussion of selected passages to explore the poem’s symbolism, ballad-like form and political ideas.

The talk also places the work in its historical context, considering the struggle for representation, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, along with the poem’s delayed publication and later political influence. It concludes by asking what poetry can do in political life, making this a discussion-led literary event for anyone interested in poetry, ideas and democracy.