Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Andrew Marvell's An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland is a political poem that reflects on the social and cultural changes in England in 1650. The poem is a response to the return of Oliver Cromwell to England after he neutralized Irish opposition to the new English Republic. The poem is a delicate balance between celebrating Cromwell's victories and expressing sympathy for the executed King. The poem was written in a political environment where Rome was a frequent point of reference. Marvell uses Roman literature, social thought, and more recent European writings to confront the new political regime.
Marvell was a constitutional monarchist who was sympathetic to the King but believed in men over parties or principles. He hoped in Cromwell, seeing him as a ruler without personal ambition and a man of destiny. He avoided direct conflict against the new regime. The poem celebrates Cromwell's victories while also expressing sympathy for the executed King.
Structure of ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return’:
As the name suggests, Andrew Marvell's An Horatian Ode is structured as a Horatian ode.
Horatian odes take their name and form from the Roman poet Horace (1st century BC). Horatian odes differ from the more formal Pindaric ode as they would often meditate on more intimate subjects such as love or poetry itself. Unlike Pindaric odes, Horatian odes follow a simpler structure. The Horatian ode is made up of either two or four-line stanzas and has a consistent rhyme scheme and meter. It is a lyric poem that expresses feelings of joy, pleasure, or appreciation for a particular subject. Marvell wrote his poem in quatrains (stanzas of four lines). Each stanza features a rhymed couplet in iambic tetrameter, followed by a rhymed couplet in iambic trimeter. The pattern is followed throughout the poem. The rhyme scheme is AABB CCDD EEFF etc. This regular rhyme scheme reinforces the poem's formal structure, creating a sense of musicality and elegance. The poem has 120 lines set in 30 quatrains.
The Title and Historical Context:
The long-standing quarrel between Charles I and the Parliamentarians or Roundheads - a quarrel involving religious, political, and constitutional matters - broke out into open hostilities in August 1642. In the battles that followed, Oliver Cromwell soon proved himself to be the most vigorous and powerful general that the Roundheads had. He organized the New Model army which inflicted a crushing defeat upon the royal army at Naseby in 1645. Charles surrendered to his Scottish subjects, who later turned him over to the English in 1647.
Charles was kept in protective custody at Hampton Court, from which he fled to Carisbrooke Castle in November 1647. Many Englishmen, including many who fought against Charles, shrank from the prospect of executing him. They held the person of the king sacred and acknowledged him as the legal head of the state. But Charles kept dickering with the Scots and attempting to regain his lost power. Finally, a strong-minded group of men in the Parliamentary party, led by Cromwell, drove forcibly out of Parliament the members opposed to extreme measures, tried Charles for treason, condemned him, and executed him on the scaffold on January 30, 1649. In the next year, Cromwell crushed Ireland and, as Marvell predicted he would in the "Ode," speedily broke the Royalist forces in Scotland. As Lord Protector, Cromwell ruled England until his death in 1658. Today we would call him a "dictator," though he was in many ways a beneficent dictator, and though he attempted several times to find a parliamentary basis for his government. The year before his death he was offered the crown and refused it after six weeks of contemplation.
Marvell wrote this poem to commemorate Oliver Cromwell’s return to England after a military expedition to Ireland. Cromwell defeated the Irish Catholic and English Royalist Alliance in a series of battles, thereby eliminating a major threat to the newly formed English Republican government. King Charles I was executed while his son Charles II was in exile. Marvell modeled his poem on the odes of the Roman poet, Horace, who fought on the side of Roman Republicans but eventually accepted Augustus Caesar's rule and the ensuing peace. The poem is ambivalent about the rule and execution of King Charles I, even though Marvell clearly praises Oliver Cromwell’s leadership. As a constitutional monarchist, Marvell could be expected to reject what Cromwell represented, but the poem suggests he feels Cromwell was fated for his position. The poem shows a ‘transitional character…where royalist principles and admiration for Cromwell the Great Man exist side by side’. It is similar to the transition of Horace from being a staunch republican to the acceptance of Augustus Caesar’s rule, and thus it appears appropriate for Marvell to follow the Horatian ode form for his poem.
Summary of An Horatian Ode:
Stanza 1-3 Lines 1-12
“The forward youth that would appear
Must now forsake his Muses dear,
Nor in the shadows sing
His numbers languishing.
’Tis time to leave the books in dust,
And oil th’ unused armour’s rust,
Removing from the wall
The corslet of the hall.
So restless Cromwell could not cease
In the inglorious arts of peace,
But thorough advent’rous war
Urged his active star.”
In the first quatrain, the speaker suggests that the ‘arts of war’ are nobler than the arts of peace.
Marvell begins the poem by presenting Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, as a “forward youth” who must once again engage in military conflict and achieve glory. ‘Forward youth’ may mean "high-spirited," "ardent," and "properly ambitious," but it may also offer a sense of "presumptuous," and "pushing." The speaker imagines Cromwell abandoning the Muses of Poetry and leaving his “books in dust” in favor of taking up his armor and corset. Cromwell is restless because his “active star,” or destiny, urges him toward the valor of “adven’rous war.” In line 9, the speaker mentions Cromwell as ‘restless,’ which may mean "scorning indolence," "willing to forego ease," and it may also suggest negative connotations. Cromwell's "courage high" will not allow him to rest "in the inglorious arts of peace." The speaker mentions that peaceful ways were inglorious, and Cromwell’s driving force has been a desire for glory, it is a glory of that kind which allows a man to become dedicated and, in a sense, even selfless in his pursuit of it. He mentions that it may not be the fate of Cromwell to lead the nation but he urged his fate and forced through his ‘adventurous war.’
Stanza 4-6 Lines 13-24
“And like the three-fork’d lightning, first
Breaking the clouds where it was nurst,
Did through his own side
His fiery way divide.
For ’tis all one to courage high,
The emulous or enemy;
And with such to enclose
Is more than to oppose.
Then burning through the air he went,
And palaces and temples rent;
And Cæsar’s head at last
Did through his laurels blast.”
In these lines, Marvell compares Cromwell to “three-forked lightning” that breaks through the clouds where it is first nursed to strike out and carve its own fiery path. Cromwell eventually blasts through the laurels of “Caesar’s head,” which is an allusion to the head of King Charles I. Cromwell is like an elemental force--with as little will as the lightning bolt, and with as little conscience. The lightning first destroys the same clouds where it was developed. The poet uses metaphor to suggest the destructive effect of the civil war. The clouds have bred the lightning bolt, but the bolt tears its way through the clouds and goes on to blast the head of Caesar himself.
Stanza 7-9 Lines 25-36
“’Tis madness to resist or blame
The force of angry Heaven’s flame;
And, if we would speak true,
Much to the man is due,
Who from his private gardens where
He liv’d reserved and austere,
As if his highest plot
To plant the bergamot,
Could by industrious valour climb
To ruin the great work of time,
And cast the kingdom old
Into another mould.”
The speaker calls it “madness to resist or blame” Cromwell’s force because Cromwell clearly holds “Heaven’s flame” and England owes him a lot. Cromwell left his “private gardens” where he lived a peaceful and calm life, and was able to overthrow the monarchy and “cast the kingdoms old / Into another mold” using his “industrious valor” in the military world.
The speaker compared Cromwell to lightning, or the anger of Heaven’s flame, it is embodied in a human being who left the austerity and peace in favor of manliness--the strength, the industrious valor, the cunning. Cromwell’s only motive was to cast away monarchy and mold England into a republican, parliamentarian kind of state.
Stanza 10-12 Lines 37-48
“Though justice against fate complain,
And plead the ancient rights in vain;
But those do hold or break
As men are strong or weak.
Nature that hateth emptiness
Allows of penetration less,
And therefore must make room
Where greater spirits come.
What field of all the civil wars
Where his were not the deepest scars?
And Hampton shows what part
He had of wiser art,”
In these lines, the speaker mentions that Cromwell was deaf to the complaint of Justice and its pleading of the "ancient rights." Cromwell’s victories may seem to make “Justice against Fate complain,” and suggest that he has usurped the “ancient rights” of kings who once ruled over England. However, the speaker claims that these rights only hold or give way depending on the strength of the men who defend them. The poet offers another metaphor and says that nature abhors a vacuum, so when a greater body or spirit enters a particular space, the lesser spirit must “make room” for it. The speaker mentions that it was unjust to usurp and execute King Charles I but also says that a kingdom cannot be held by the mere pleading of the "ancient rights": "For those do hold or break / As men are strong or weak."
Stanza 13-15 Lines 49-60
“Where, twining subtle fears with hope,
He wove a net of such a scope
That Charles himself might chase
To Carisbrooke’s narrow case,
That thence the royal actor borne
The tragic scaffold might adorn,
While round the armed bands
Did clap their bloody hands.
He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene,
But with his keener eye
The axe’s edge did try;”
In these lines, the speaker highlights the success of Cromwell’s war strategy. Charles I’s flight from Hampton to Carisbrooke Castle proved to be disastrous for him. The speaker suggests that Cromwell cunningly (‘wiser art’) induced the king to flee to Carisbrooke, where he was trapped, captured, and then persecuted. The speaker has praised Cromwell’s manliness, ‘industrious valor’, who in desire of glory, left the ‘inglorious arts of peace,’ in favor of the ‘arts of war.’ He, through his ‘wiser art,’ succeeded in capturing the monarch and defied the pleas of ‘ancient right.’ In the following lines, he praises King Charles I.
The speaker describes King Charles I as a “royal actor” born to face the “tragic scaffold” of his execution while the armed masses look on and clap “their bloody hands.” The speaker claims that King Charles does “nothing common” or “mean” when facing his execution.
Stanza 16-18 Lines 61-72
“Nor call’d the gods with vulgar spite
To vindicate his helpless right,
But bowed his comely head
Down as upon a bed.
This was that memorable hour
Which first assur’d the forced pow’r.
So when they did design
The Capitol’s first line,
A bleeding head, where they begun,
Did fright the architects to run;
And yet in that the state
Foresaw its happy fate.”
The speaker continues to praise and describe how King Charles I faced his fate with dignity. He did not spitefully call upon God to lament his fate. Instead, Charles I meets the edge of the axe with the sharper edge of his own gaze, and “bow[s] his comely head” upon the executioner’s block as if it were a bed. The speaker describes King Charles I as the player king, the king acting in a play. He is the "royal actor" who knows his assigned part and performs it with dignity. He truly adorned the scaffold like a stage, "While round the armed bands / Did clap their bloody hands." The soldiers are said to have clapped to drown out the king's speech from the scaffold, but Marvell, drawing the incident into his theater metaphor, interprets the clapping as applause. The Parliamentarians, who vehemently opposed King Charles I, did they clap for applauding King Charles I for facing death with bravery? Or did they applaud Cromwell's resolution in bringing the king to a deserved death? That remains ambiguous. The speaker believes that Charles’s execution marks the “memorable hour” for the victorious Parliament Army, as well as those who must “design” the new State.
Stanza 19-21 Lines 73-84
“And now the Irish are asham’d
To see themselves in one year tam’d;
So much one man can do
That does both act and know.
They can affirm his praises best,
And have, though overcome, confest
How good he is, how just,
And fit for highest trust;
Nor yet grown stiffer with command,
But still in the republic’s hand;
How fit he is to sway
That can so well obey.”
In these lines, the speaker again turns his attention to Cromwell, and the present. He praises how Cromwell crushed the Irish Catholic and Royalist rebels within a year. Even the Irish “can affirm his praises” after being subdued by Cromwell, whom the speaker believes to be good and just. Cromwell is well prepared to serve the new English Republic because of his ability to obey the will of the people.
Stanza 22-24 Lines 85-96
“He to the Commons’ feet presents
A kingdom for his first year’s rents;
And, what he may, forbears
His fame, to make it theirs,
And has his sword and spoils ungirt,
To lay them at the public’s skirt.
So when the falcon high
Falls heavy from the sky,
She, having kill’d, no more does search
But on the next green bough to perch,
Where, when he first does lure,
The falc’ner has her sure.”
The speaker praises Cromwell’s disciplined manner. The speaker continues to express the ruthless energy and power of Cromwell, but Cromwell falls from the sky now, not as the thunderbolt, but as the hunting hawk. The trained falcon is not a wanton destroyer, nor an irresponsible one. It knows its master: it is perfectly disciplined. Cromwell wins the kingdom but gives it to the Commons, along with his fame. He lays his “sword and spoils” at the “skirt,” or feet, of the public. In this regard, the speaker compares Cromwell to an obedient falcon who kills and delivers her prey but does not return to the hunt unbidden.
Stanza 25-27 Lines 96-108
“What may not then our isle presume
While victory his crest does plume!
What may not others fear
If thus he crown each year!
A Cæsar he ere long to Gaul,
To Italy an Hannibal,
And to all states not free,
Shall climacteric be.
The Pict no shelter now shall find
Within his parti-colour’d mind;
But from this valour sad
Shrink underneath the plaid,”
The speaker now does not depict Cromwell in his character as the destroyer of the monarchy, but he describes him as the agent of the new state that has been erected upon the dead body of the king. The speaker shows his surprise as he notices that Cromwell continues to pay his homage to the republic each year. The homage is not forced, but voluntary and even unexpected.
The speaker imagines Cromwell and England’s united victories to come, comparing these future conquests to those of Caesar and Hannibal. He suggests that Cromwell will soon turn his attention to the nation of the “Pict” in Scotland, who will soon cower “underneath the plaid.” The wild Irish have been tamed, and now the Pict will no longer be able to shelter under his particolored mind. It is the hour of decision, and the particolored mind affords no protection against the man who "does both act and know."
Stanza 29-30 Lines 109-120
“Happy if in the tufted brake
The English hunter him mistake,
Nor lay his hounds in near
The Caledonian deer.
But thou, the war’s and fortune’s son,
March indefatigably on;
And for the last effect
Still keep thy sword erect;
Besides the force it has to fright
The spirits of the shady night,
The same arts that did gain
A pow’r, must it maintain.”
The speaker salutes Cromwell as "The War's and Fortune's son." It is a great compliment: Cromwell is the son of the war in that he is the master of battles, and he seems fortune's own son in the success that has constantly waited upon him. Cromwell can claim no sanction for his power in "ancient rights." His power has come out of the wars and the troubled times. He urges Cromwell to march "indefatigably on." It appears as an irony because the speaker described Cromwell as "restless" who could not cease "in the inglorious arts of peace" when his "highest plot" was "To plant the bergamot," one cannot conceive of his ceasing now in the hour of danger. However, it is more like a warning. Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword: those who by the sword have achieved their power in contravention of ancient rights can expect to maintain their power only by the sword. The speaker offers an explicit warning, both to Cromwell and to the people, about the exercise of absolute power and the possible necessity of further bloodshed to uphold it: “The same arts that did gain/ A power, must it maintain.”
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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