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Gifts from The Morning Star
A life-affirming celebration of the Promethean spirit of socialist rebellion
With the forthcoming anniversary of the birth of Shelley, RICHARD BURGON reflects on a modern interpretation of Prometheus by poet Tony Harrison
A painting of Prometheus

THIS weekend marks the anniversary of the birth of Percy Shelley — one of the greatest poets our country has produced and, of course, someone who retains radical repute and resonance in 2018. 

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn often ends speeches by reading the final stanza of Shelley’s Masque of Anarchy — a poem written in response to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.

“Rise like Lions after slumber / In unvanquishable number / Shake your chains to earth like dew / Which in sleep had fallen on you / Ye are many — they are few.” 

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