Peter Linebaugh, Chapter 1 (“Introduction) and Chapter 2 (“The Two Charters) in The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All. University of California Press, 2008.

What art thou Freedom?

Thou art not, as impostors say,
A shadow soon to pass away,
A superstition, and a name
Echoing from the caves of Fame.

For the labourer thou art bread,
And a comely table spread.
From his daily labour come.
In a neat and happy home.

Thou art clothes, and fire, and food

P.B. Shelley,
The Masque of Anarchy (1819)