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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
INSTRUCTIONS, SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN IN PARIS, FOR THE MOB IN ENGLAND, by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK Poet's Biography First Line: Of liberty, reforms and rights I sing Last Line: Adieu, contentment, safety, peace and quiet! Subject(s): Class Struggle; Freedom; Revolutions; Liberty | |||
OF Liberty, Reforms and Rights I sing, Freedom, I mean, without or Church or King; Freedom to seize and keep whate'er I can, And boldly claim my right -- The Rights of Man: Such is the blessed liberty in vogue, The envied liberty to be a rogue; The right to pay no taxes, tithes or dues; The liberty to do whate'er I choose; The right to take by violence and strife My neighbour's goods and, if I please, his life; The liberty to raise a mob or riot, For spoil and plunder ne'er were got by quiet; The right to level and reform the great; The liberty to overturn the state; The right to break through all the nation's laws, And boldly dare to take rebellion's cause: Let all be equal, every man my brother; Why have one property, and not another? Why suffer titles to give awe and fear? There shall not long remain one British peer; Nor shall the criminal appalled stand Before the mighty judges of the land; Nor judge nor jury shall there longer be, Nor any jail, but every prisoner free; All law abolished and, with sword in hand, We'll seize the property of all the land. Then hail to Liberty, Reform and Riot! Adieu, Contentment, Safety, Peace and Quiet! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE THE WILD SWAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE QUARTET IN F MAJOR by WILLIAM MEREDITH CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER A RECEIPT FOR WRITING A NOVEL by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK |
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