Peterloo and Shelley [30min]

British Shakespeare scholar and literary biographer Jonathan Bate presents a series which examines historical events through the poetry they inspired. Jonathan travels to Manchester, the scene of the 1819 Peterloo massacre that provoked Shelley's ferocious attack on the government of the day,"The Mask of Anarchy." Poet Tom Paulin and Historian Clive Emsley are on hand to measure the weight of the poem as history and as verse. ... Visit website to read"The Mask of Anarchy."