Beasts of England is forbidden

The abolition of 'Beasts of England' represents a pivotal moment in the consolidation of Napoleon's authoritarian rule on Animal Farm, as the song that had once embodied the animals' revolutionary aspirations was officially banned and replaced with a hymn of praise to the new regime. This act of cultural suppression, announced by Squealer immediately after the bloody executions of animals accused of conspiring with Snowball, signaled that the Rebellion's original ideals were no longer to be voiced or remembered.

Origins and Significance of the Song

Old Major first introduced 'Beasts of England' during his seminal speech in the big barn, describing it as a tune that had come back to him in a dream—a song sung by the animals of long ago and lost to memory for generations. The words, which he sang in a hoarse but stirring voice, promised a golden future time when "Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown" and the fruitful fields of England would be trod by beasts alone. The song threw the animals into wild excitement; even the stupidest among them picked up the tune and a few words, while the clever ones, such as the pigs and dogs, had the entire song by heart within minutes. The whole farm burst into 'Beasts of England' in tremendous unison, the cows lowing it, the dogs whining it, the sheep bleating it, the horses whinnying it, and the ducks quacking it. They sang it five times in succession and might have continued all night if Mr. Jones had not been awakened and fired a gun into the barn. In the days that followed, the song became the anthem of the Rebellion, sung at the end of every secret meeting in the barn and later at the Sunday-morning assemblies after the hoisting of the green flag. It spread beyond the farm's boundaries: the pigeons taught it to animals on neighbouring farms, and it was heard in the hedges, the elms, the smithies, and even the church bells, causing human beings to tremble at its prophecy of their future doom.

The Context of the Prohibition

The abolition of 'Beasts of England' was announced by Squealer on the evening of the day when Napoleon had orchestrated a series of public confessions and executions. The animals, having just witnessed the slaughter of four pigs, three hens, a goose, and three sheep—all accused of being secret agents of Snowball—had crept away to the knoll where the half-finished windmill stood. There, huddling together in shock and misery, Clover began to sing 'Beasts of England' as a substitute for the words she could not find to express her grief. The other animals took it up, and they sang it three times over, very tunefully but slowly and mournfully, in a way they had never sung it before. It was at this moment that Squealer, attended by two dogs, approached them with the air of having something important to say. He announced that, by a special decree of Comrade Napoleon, 'Beasts of England' had been abolished and was from now onwards forbidden to be sung.

Squealer's Justification

When Muriel asked why, Squealer replied stiffly that the song was no longer needed. 'Beasts of England', he explained, was the song of the Rebellion, but the Rebellion was now completed. The execution of the traitors that afternoon, he declared, was the final act; the enemy both external and internal had been defeated. In the song, he said, the animals had expressed their longing for a better society in days to come, but that society had now been established, and therefore the song had no longer any purpose. Frightened though they were, some of the animals might possibly have protested, but at this moment the sheep set up their usual bleating of "Four legs good, two legs bad," which went on for several minutes and put an end to the discussion.

Replacement and Aftermath

In place of 'Beasts of England', Minimus, the poet pig, composed another song that began: "Animal Farm, Animal Farm, / Never through me shalt thou come to harm!" This new anthem was sung every Sunday morning after the hoisting of the flag. But somehow neither the words nor the tune ever seemed to the animals to come up to 'Beasts of England'. The old song, however, was not entirely forgotten. Years later, when the farm had grown richer but the animals themselves no better off, it was a fact that every animal on the farm knew the tune of 'Beasts of England', though no one would have dared to sing it aloud. The song had become a secret, hummed only in private, a silent testament to a hope that could no longer be openly expressed. The abolition of 'Beasts of England' thus completed the transformation of Animal Farm from a revolutionary collective into a dictatorship where even memory was policed, and where the very anthem of liberation had been replaced by a hymn to the Leader.