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Good luck making it through Animal Farm without getting the tune for Beasts of England permanently lodged in your skull. The only upside is that the song does serve as a helpful reminder of one of George Orwell’s motifs.

Video Transcription:

Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.

OK, I promise. No more singing. Besides, that single stanza is enough to lodge this fact in your head: Song is a major motif in Animal Farm.

If there’s one thing that appears over and over again in Animal Farm it’s songs and chants and poems and slogans—beginning with Old Major’s rousing anthem, “Beasts of England,” which he sings at the end of Chapter One.

So what is Orwell up to? (And you know he’s up to something, because since this book is an allegory, everything is symbolic.)

Well, in Animal Farm, the songs and poems and whatnot aren’t just charming little ditties. They’re actually propaganda, and they’re used for a malicious purpose—as social control.

What that means is that the chanting and the singing keep the working-class animals from thinking for themselves—and keep the ruling-class animals

in power.

Likewise, the songs and chants also erode the animals’ individuality. Just think about the sheep who are never identified individually. They’re just the sheep—the ones who bleat, hypnotically, in the beginning “Four legs good, two legs bad.” And later, “Four legs good, two legs better!”

Thanks, Orwell, for reminding me to think for myself.