National Song
National Song - meaning Summary
Satire of English Institutions
Pound's short poem scorches English society with ironic mockery. It contrasts comfortable, constraining domestic life—tea, muffins, sanctioned “smutty” reading—with predatory banks and informal bawdiness. The chorus links popular amusements and financial exploitation, while the closing lines accuse authorities of policing reading to prevent exposure to new economic ideas and awkward questions. The tone is satirical and political, targeting complacency, censorship, and capitalist power in everyday culture.
Read Complete AnalysesThere is no land like England Where banks rise day by day, There are no banks like English banks To make the people pay. There is no such land of castles Where an Englishman is free To read his smutty literature With muffins at his tea. Chorus: For the French have comic papers Not that nice Britons read 'em, But the bawdy little Britons Have bank sharks to bleed 'em And to keep an eye on their readin' matter Lest they should overhear the distressing chatter Of the new economical theories And ask inconvenient queetfes.
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