The Masque of Anarchy The Masque of Anarchy "The Masque of Anarchy" (or "The Mask of Anarchy") is a British political poem written in 1819 (see 1819 in poetry) by Percy Bysshe Shelley following the Peterloo massacre of that year. In his call for freedom, it is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance. The poem was not published during Shelley's lifetime and did not appear in print until 1832 (see 1832 in poetry), when published by Edward Moxon in London with a preface by Leigh Hunt. Shelley had sent the manuscript in 1819 for publication in "The Examiner". Leigh
Peterloo Massacre horror felt in the Manchester region, and the feeling of indignation throughout the country became intense. James Wroe, editor of the "Manchester Observer" was the first to describe the incident as the "Peterloo Massacre", coining his headline by combining St Peter's Field with the Battle of Waterloo that had taken place four years earlier. He also wrote pamphlets entitled "The Peterloo Massacre: A Faithful Narrative of the Events". Priced at 2d each, they sold out every print run for 14 weeks and had a large national circulation. Sir Francis Burdett, a reformist MP, was jailed for three months for publishing