The last lines in both the introductory and the final verse are also symbolic:
... Of the golden future time.
The word, 'golden' is a positive symbol and is associated with wealth, prosperity and goodness. The 'future time' is an obvious reference to some unknown period in the future. Together, these lines symbolize the prosperity and grand existence the animals will enjoy once they are free of man's oppressive and exploitative rule. Their existence will be utopian.
In the second verse, 'tyrant man' is symbolic of the oppression that humans have imposed upon animals, enslaving and abusing them. To man. animals were mere objects - a means to an end. Animals were only fit for consumption. labour and to feed man's insatiable greed. 'Fruitful fields' symbolise the wealth available to animals - there is great abundance which has never been shared. Man claimed it all for himself. Once man is gone, the animals alone will share in nature's rich bounty.
The fourth and fifth verses symbolize the utopian existence which the animals will enjoy. There will be more than enough for everyone to share and everything will be just perfect.
Riches more than mind can picture, Wheat and barley, oats and hay, Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels Shall be ours upon that day.Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.
Being free of man's tyranny will enhance the animals' enjoyment of that which was taken so much for granted by humans. The animals will relish having everything to themselves, free from the disgusting taint of human intervention and manipulation.
The entire anthem is symbolic of a perfect world for the animals. Once man's oppressive rule is abolished, the animals will have their own nirvana, where everything is free and in abundance and life is without complications. The irony is just that this idealistic notion is never to be, for the animals are eventually worse off than they had ever been when man, in the form of Mr Jones and his men, had been in control.
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