What does Shelley mean by the question in line 27 of "Song to the Men of England"?

The answer is below

Explanation:

Line 27 of the Song to the Men of England, stated that: "Why shake the chains ye wrought?"

The Line 27 question asking rhetorically the people of England that, when their fellow country men, is arrested by them, which in turn, they put those arrested in jail or prison, the warden or police officer in charge should rather not bother shaking the prison chain to see if everyone is on it, because the witness of the steel chain rattling, also shows that the jailer man is not free either.

However, the whole of this stanza (stanza six) focused on telling the people to reap the benefits of their own work, so as to fight for what is theirs, that is, to stand up for their rights as humans and not let the upper class rich elites take advantage of them.

Shelly in line 27 is asking the men of England to stop working to enrich the the "lords" who she describes as "tyrants" in the first stanza, "ungrateful drones" in the second and "impostors" in the fifth who are consistently enriching themselves at the expense of the proletariat or working class. She challenges the latter to work to enrich themsleves instead, by keeping what they work for.

Explanation:

The poem is set in England and describes a stiation where the system has been designed to consistently enrich the capitalist class and those in power. Shelly taunts and challenges the men directly in a poem that can also be composed into a song given that it's structured in to stanzas with phrases and metaphors that are easy to decipher.

Cheers!

what passage are you referring to

you didn't show the passage, so unfortunately i cant you.