by the seventeenth-century English poet Andrew Marvell chronicles the victorious return in 1649 of Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army from their bloody conquests in Ireland. The poem juxtaposes the speaker’s praise for Cromwell’s Puritan politics and his sympathy for Charles I’s execution. This mixed political allegiance has triggered decades of critical controversy—beginning with the first posthumous collection of the poet’s work. After Marvell’s death in 1678, a woman calling herself Mary Marvell, and claiming to be the poet’s widow, and a publisher Robert Boulter, collaborated on the 1681 volume entitled
Miscellaneous Poems. Given their highly attentive compilation process, however, not every one of Marvell’s…
2028 words
Citation: Finn-Atkins, Alexandra. "An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 October 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6619, accessed 21 November 2024.]
