Ballads and songs of Peterloo is an edited collection of poems and songs written following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. This collection, which includes over seventy poems, were published either as broadsides or in radical periodicals and newspapers. Notes to support the reading of the texts are provided, but they also stand alone, conveying the original publications without diluting their authenticity.
Following an introduction outlining the massacre, the radical press and broadside ballad, the poems are grouped into six sections according to theme. Shelley's Masque of Anarchy is included as an appendix in acknowledgement of its continuing significance to the representation of Peterloo.
This book is primarily aimed at students and lecturers of Romanticism and social history.
List of illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 'Rise Britons, rise now from your slumber': the revolutionary call to arms
2 'Ye English warriors': radical nationalism and the true patriot
3 'Base brat of reform': the victimisation of mother and child
4 'Your memorials shall survive the grave': elegy and remembrance
5 'Those true sons of Mars': chivalry, cowardice and the power of satire
6 'Freeman stand, or freeman die': liberty and slavery
Appendix
Select bibliography
Index of poems
Index
