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Department of English and American Studies Oliver Cromwell Through Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Tomáš Michálek Oliver Cromwell through the poems of Andrew Marvell Bachelors Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, PhD. 2018 / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. Author's signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Stephen Hardy for his valuable advice. Table of Contents Introduction 1 1. Historical and Political Background (1650 - 1660) 4 2. "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" 10 CONTEXT 10 ANALYSIS 11 MAIN THEMES 12 ALLUSION 18 SUMMARY 19 3. "The First Anniversary of the Government under His Highness the Lord Protector" 20 CONTEXT 20 ANALYSIS 20 MAIN THEMES 21 ALLUSION 27 SUMMARY 28 4. "A Poem upon the Death of his Late Highness the Lord Protector" 30 CONTEXT 30 ANALYSIS 30 MAIN THEMES 31 ALLUSION 37 SUMMARY 37 Conclusion 39 CROMWELL 'S PORTRA YAL 40 ALLUSIONS 42 Works Cited 45 Resume 46 Resume 47 Appendix: Full Texts of Poems 48 "An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" 48 "The First Anniversary of the Government under His Highness the Lord Protector" 53 "A Poem upon the Death of his Late Highness the Lord Protector " 70 Introduction Andrew Marvell is one of the most prominent poets and polemicists of the seventeenth century. The Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography called Marvell's poem "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" "one of the greatest political poems in English". Marvell also wrote poems supporting royalists, such as "Tom May's Death" or "Elegy upon the Death of my Lord Francis Villiers". Oliver Cromwell, the declared subject of the three poems this thesis focuses on, is one of the most controversial characters in British history. He rose through the military ranks in the English Civil War and became the de-facto ruler of the Commonwealth. This was later formalised when Cromwell took the title of Lord Protector. The three poems that are the focus of this thesis are "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland", "The First Anniversary of the Government under His Highness the Lord Protector" and "A Poem Upon the Death of his Late Highness the Lord Protector". The poems deal with the dramatic period since the defeat and execution of Charles I, the rise of Oliver Cromwell to power and Cromwell's death. Each of the poems deals with a different stage of the Protectorate. However, these are not the only poems about Cromwell Marvell wrote. Marvell also wrote two short poems in Latin to accompany Cromwell's portrait sent to the Queen of Sweden. The reason for the focus only on the three poems is their possible perception as a "trilogy" of sorts. This concept of a "trilogy" is in part caused by the common history of the poems. They were excluded from most copies of the first posthumous collection of Marvell's poetry and were not reprinted until 1776. The fact that they were both excluded and later reprinted together strengthened the view of the poems as a sort of a "Cromwell trilogy". As a "trilogy", there is a customary reading of the poems as an evolving reaction and relation to Cromwell. 1 The "Horatian Ode" is set after Cromwell's triumphant return from Ireland and before his Scottish campaign. The poem is generally considered the best of three. One of the reasons is its well-known ambiguity and ability to support opposing readings, such as both royalist and republican. It is also the most prominent of the three in the amount of academic attention. Its portrayal of Cromwell is generally considered to be ambivalent. The possibility of a wide range of readings is also one of the reasons this poem is considered the most "Marvellian" of the three. As the title suggests, Marvell composed the "First Anniversary" on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Protectorate. It was probably written to be circulated as a propaganda poem. As such, it is usually read as an expression of support for Cromwell and the protectorate, sometimes even as far as a panegyric. One of the possible readings of "A Poem upon the Death" is clear from the subject - an elegy on the death of Cromwell. Another common reading is a combination of elegy and a personal commitment to Oliver Cromwell. However, this commitment is rather to the person of Oliver than to the Lord Protector. The contrast of the praise of Oliver and the last twenty lines dedicated to Richard lead to doubt on the degree of the poem's support for Richard. However, not all scholars agree on the reading of the poems as a trilogy. For example, Raymond in his chapter in The Cambridge Companion of Andrew Marvell criticizes this way of reading the poems. Others, such as Worden in his Literature and Politics in Cromwellian England, argue for it. This thesis aims to address this contrast and disagreement on whether the poems should be read as a trilogy, or not. To do so, I will analyse the three poems with the help of works both dealing with all three poems and papers focusing on only one of them. The primary objective is to determine whether the analysis supports the traditional reading mentioned above. If not, whether there is a 2 different reading, or if the concept of a trilogy itself is merely a tempting oversimplification. The secondary objective of the thesis is to characterise Oliver Cromwell as portrayed in each of the three poems. The characterisations will then be used to support the primary objective. The structure of the thesis will follow that of the corpus. After a chapter dedicated to the historical and political background, there will be a chapter dedicated to each of the poems. The poems will be ordered chronologically. Each poem will be analysed as stated above. Where relevant, the analysed part will be contrasted with a previous poem or poems. The aim of the thesis is not to provide an exhaustive analysis of the poems, as that would be beyond its scope. The thesis instead focuses on key parts of the poems, their portrayal of Oliver Cromwell and the textual interaction between each other. The poems are taken from Smith's revised and annotated edition of The Poems of Andrew Marvell and the full text of the poems can be found in the appendix. Where relevant, Smith's headnotes and annotations are used and referenced as well. 3 1. Historical and Political Background (1650-1660) The period of the poems is one of rapid change. The poems themselves are all situated within the time of the Commonwealth, after the regicide of 1649 and before the succession of Richard Cromwell in January 1659. But to understand the time, the events that led to the regicide should be discussed as well, if only briefly. The events following Richard's succession need to be mentioned too, to accompany the publishing history of the three poems. As Worden writes in his English Civil Wars, the "political upheaval of the mid- seventeenth century has no parallel in English history"(77ze English Civil Wars: 1640- 1660 Origins). While there were conflicts before, there were none such as this. But before moving on, a few words about terminology should be said to make things clearer. Various terms were used to describe the period, which can also serve as an illustration of its impact. After the restoration, "rebellion" was one of the used terms. And while "rebellion" is not used now, "The Interregnum" is one that is used to this day. As Worden notes, this term aims to represent the subject as a mere interruption of the norm - the monarchy (The English Civil Wars: 1640-1660 Origins). But as in the Victorian era the public sympathies shifted, the terminology had to change to reflect the shift. The negative "Interregnum" turned into the more positive "The Puritan Revolution", to be later changed to "the English Revolution". Probably the most neutral term, and the one mostly used in this thesis, is "the English civil wars". Even that is however not without problems, as "the British civil wars" is suggested as well, to avoid the Anglocentricity of the study of British history(77ze English Civil Wars: 1640-1660 Origins). Both English or British civil war also has one other problem. It stresses the conflicts at the beginning of the period and seem to disregard the Republic and the Protectorate. As two of the three poems were 4 written under the Protectorate, this term - "the Protectorate" will be used as well to refer both to the regime under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and under his son Richard. Another set of terms that has to be clarified is "republic," "Protectorate" and "Commonwealth." The official term used both in the 1649 Act Declaring and Constituting the People of England to be a Commonwealth and Free-State and in the 1653 Instrument of Government is the "Commonwealth." However, the unofficial term "republic" was used more or less interchangeably with the official "Commonwealth." The "Protectorate" then refers to the regime under the "Lord Protector," whose official name was still the "Commonwealth." With the terminology dealt with, let us return to the significance of the English civil wars and the changes they brought. The English civil wars were unique chiefly because of three facts. First, the opposing sides were not led by two individuals fighting to become kings, but a king and a parliament. This caused another unique change. The result of the wars was not a change of the person of the king, but the change from monarchy to republic.
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