SOURCE: "The Actor and the Man of Action: Marveil's Horatian Ode," in The Critical Survey, Vol. 3, No. 3, Winter, 1967, pp. 145-50.

In the essay below, Stead discusses the confusion which has surrounded the meaning of Marvell's "Horatian Ode."

I

It is difficult to recover one's first impression of the Ode but probably for most readers the following description would cover it: The poem celebrates Cromwell's victory in Ireland and looks forward to future greatness for England, but in passing pays a beautiful tribute to the dignity of Charles, whose death was the necessary and unfortunate precursor of the present happy state of affairs.

Very quickly, however, as we give more attention to the poem, we discover an undertone qualifying this first impression. The tribute to Charles remains static; but Charles is not the subject of the poem. Cromwell is its subject, and Cromwell alters as our focus narrows on...