The First Annniversary Of The Government Under His Highness The Lord Protector, 1655 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCD EEFFGG HHIIJKLLMMNNOPQQRSTT AAUUVVAAWWAA AAXX YYYYAAYY YYAAYYZZAA YYA2A2B2B2AA C2C2YYYYAAYYQQ D2D2YYYYYYAAE2E2 YYF2FXXMMYYAAYYFFYY YYG2G2H2H2YY YYI2I2J2J2 B2B2K2K2YYYYYYAAL2L2 YYYYYYM2M2YYAAYY N2N2AAYYO2O2YYYYAAK2 K2 D2D2AAAA P2QYYQ2Q2YYYY YYYYYYR2R2YY AAI2I2R2XYYYYAAAA F2FVVYY AAXXGGAA ZZQQAAS2S2GG YYYYAAYYYY YYXXAAMM JJT2T2U2U2V2W2 AAYYYYXXZZJJYY YYYY YYK2K2X2X2 VVAA Y2Y2YYH2H2KKD2D2KJZ2 Z2YYYY YYYYAAYYVV XXVV YYYYAAAAAAA3A3YYY YY YYAAAA YYYYAAYYXXYYAAYYYYAA YYXXAAAAYYB3B3YYAAXX C3C3XXAAY YYYYAAB3B3

Like the vain curlings of the watery maze	A
Which in smooth streams a sinking weight does raise	A
So Man declining always disappears	B
In the weak circles of increasing years	B
And his short tumults of themselves compose	C
While flowing Time above his head does close	D
	-
Cromwell alone with greater vigour runs	E
Sun like the stages of succeeding suns	E
And still the day which he doth next restore	F
Is the just wonder of the day before	F
Cromwell alone doth with new lustre spring	G
And shines the jewel of the yearly ring	G
	-
'Tis he the force of scattered time contracts	H
And in one year the work of ages acts	H
While heavy monarchs make a wide return	I
Longer and more malignant than Saturn	I
And though they all Platonic years should reign	J
In the same posture would be found again	K
Their earthy projects under ground they lay	L
More slow and brittle than the China clay	L
Well may they strive to leave them to their son	M
For one thing never was by one king done	M
Yet some more active for a frontier town	N
Taken by proxy beg a false renown	N
Another triumphs at the public cost	O
And will have won if he no more have lost	P
They fight by others but in person wrong	Q
And only are against their subjects strong	Q
Their other wars seem but a feigned cont egrave st	R
This common enemy is still oppressed	S
If conquerors on them they turn their might	T
If conquered on them they wreak their spite	T
They neither build the temple in their days	A
Nor matter for succeeding founders raise	A
Nor sacred prophecies consult within	U
Much less themself to p egrave fect them begin	U
No other care they bear of things above	V
But with astrologers divine of Jove	V
To know how long their planet yet reprieves	A
From the deserv eacute d fate their guilty lives	A
Thus image like an useless time they tell	W
And with vain sceptre strike the hourly bell	W
Nor more contribute to the state of things	A
Than wooden heads unto the viol's strings	A
	-
While indefatigable Cromwell hies	A
And cuts his way still nearer to the skies	A
Learning a music in the region clear	X
To tune this lower to that higher sphere	X
	-
So when Amphion did the lute command	Y
Which the god gave him with his gentle hand	Y
The rougher stones unto his measures hewed	Y
Danced up in order from the quarries rude	Y
This took a lower that an higher place	A
As he the treble altered or the bass	A
No note he struck but a new stone was laid	Y
And the great work ascended while he played	Y
	-
The listening structures he with wonder eyed	Y
And still new stops to various time applied	Y
Now through the strings a martial rage he throws	A
And joining straight the Theban tower arose	A
Then as he strokes them with a touch more sweet	Y
The flocking marbles in a palace meet	Y
But for the most the graver notes did try	Z
Therefore the temples reared their columns high	Z
Thus ere he ceased his sacred lute creates	A
Th' harmonious city of the seven gates	A
	-
Such was that wondrous order and consent	Y
When Cromwell tuned the ruling Instrument	Y
While tedious statesmen many years did hack	A2
Framing a liberty that still went back	A2
Whose numerous gorge could swallow in an hour	B2
That island which the sea cannot devour	B2
Then our Amphion issued out and sings	A
And once he struck and twice the powerful strings	A
	-
The Commonwealth then first together came	C2
And each one entered in the willing frame	C2
All other matter yields and may be ruled	Y
But who the minds of stubborn men can build	Y
No quarry bears a stone so hardly wrought	Y
Nor with such labour from its centre brought	Y
None to be sunk in the foundation bends	A
Each in the house the highest place contends	A
And each the hand that lays him will direct	Y
And some fall back upon the architect	Y
Yet all composed by his attractive song	Q
Into the animated city throng	Q
	-
The Commonwealth does through their centres all	D2
Draw the circumference of the public wall	D2
The crossest spirits here do take their part	Y
Fastening the contignation which they thwart	Y
And they whose nature leads them to divide	Y
Uphold this one and that the other side	Y
But the most equal still sustain the height	Y
And they as pillars keep the work upright	Y
While the resistance of oppos egrave d minds	A
The fabric as with arches stronger binds	A
Which on the basis of a senate free	E2
Knit by the roof's protecting weight agree	E2
	-
When for his foot he thus a place had found	Y
He hurls e'er since the world about him round	Y
And in his several aspects like a star	F2
Here shines in peace and thither shoots in war	F
While by his beams observing princes steer	X
And wisely court the influence they fear	X
O would they rather by his pattern won	M
Kiss the approaching not yet angry Son	M
And in their numbered footsteps humbly tread	Y
The path where holy oracles do lead	Y
How might they under such a captain raise	A
The great designs kept for the latter days	A
But mad with reason so miscalled of state	Y
They know them not and what they know not hate	Y
Hence still they sing hosanna to the whore	F
And her whom they should massacre adore	F
But Indians whom they would convert subdue	Y
Nor teach but traffic with or burn the Jew	Y
	-
Unhappy princes ignorantly bred	Y
By malice some by error more misled	Y
If gracious heaven to my life give length	G2
Leisure to time and to my weaknes strength	G2
Then shall I once with graver accents shake	H2
Your regal sloth and your long slumbers wake	H2
Like the shrill huntsman that prevents the east	Y
Winding his horn to kings that chase the beast	Y
	-
Till then my muse shall hollo far behind	Y
Angelic Cromwell who outwings the wind	Y
And in dark nights and in cold days alone	I2
Pursues the monster through every throne	I2
Which shrinking to her Roman den impure	J2
Gnashes her gory teeth nor there secure	J2
	-
Hence oft I think if in some happy hour	B2
High grace should meet in one with highest power	B2
And then a seasonable people still	K2
Should bend to his as he to heaven's will	K2
What we might hope what wonderful effect	Y
From such a wished conjuncture might reflect	Y
Sure the mysterious work where none withstand	Y
Would forthwith finish under such a hand	Y
Foreshortened time its useless course would stay	Y
And soon precipitate the latest day	Y
But a thick cloud about that morning lies	A
And intercepts the beams of mortal eyes	A
That 'tis the most which we determine can	L2
If these the times then this must be the man	L2
And well he therefore does and well has guessed	Y
Who in his age has always forward pressed	Y
And knowing not where heaven's choice may light	Y
Girds yet his sword and ready stand to fight	Y
But men alas as if they nothing cared	Y
Look on all unconcerned or unprepared	Y
And stars still fall and still the dragon's tail	M2
Swinges the volumes of its horrid flail	M2
For the great justice that did first suspend	Y
The world by sin does by the same extend	Y
Hence that blest day still counterpos egrave d wastes	A
The ill delaying what the elected hastes	A
Hence landing nature to new seas is tossed	Y
And good designs still with their authors lost	Y
	-
And thou great Cromwell for whose happy birth	N2
A mould was chosen out of better earth	N2
Whose saint like mother we did lately see	A
Live out an age long as a pedigree	A
That she might seem could we the Fall dispute	Y
T' have smelled the blossom and not eat the fruit	Y
Though none does of more lasting parents grow	O2
Yet never any did them honour so	O2
Though thou thine heart from evil still unstained	Y
And always hast thy tongue from fraud refrained	Y
Thou who so oft through storms of thundering lead	Y
Hast born securely thine undaunted head	Y
Thy breast through poniarding conspiracies	A
Drawn from the sheath of lying prophecies	A
Thee proof behond all other force or skill	K2
Our sins endanger and shall one day kill	K2
	-
How near they failed and in thy sudden fall	D2
At once assayed to overturn us all	D2
Our brutish fury struggling to be free	A
Hurried thy horses while they hurried thee	A
When thou hadst almost quit thy mortal cares	A
And soiled in dust thy crown of silver hairs	A
	-
Let this one sorrow interweave among	P2
The other glories of our yearly song	Q
Like skilful looms which through the costly thread	Y
Of purling ore a shining wave do shed	Y
So shall the tears we on past grief employ	Q2
Still as they trickle glitter in our joy	Q2
So with more modesty we may be true	Y
And speak as of the dead the praises due	Y
While impious men deceived with pleasure short	Y
On their own hopes shall find the fall retort	Y
	-
But the poor beasts wanting their noble guide	Y
What could they more shrunk guiltily aside	Y
First wing egrave d fear transports them far away	Y
And leaden sorrow then their flight did stay	Y
See how they each his towering crest abate	Y
And the green grass and their known mangers hate	Y
Nor through wide nostrils snuff the wanton air	R2
Nor their round hoofs or curl egrave d manes compare	R2
With wandering eyes and restless ears they stood	Y
And with shrill neighings asked him of the wood	Y
	-
Thou Cromwell falling not a stupid tree	A
Or rock so savage but it mourned for thee	A
And all about was heard a panic groan	I2
As if that Nature's self were overthrown	I2
It seemed the earth did from the centre tear	R2
It seemed the sun was fall'n out of the sphere	X
Justice obstructed lay and reason fooled	Y
Courage disheartened and religion cooled	Y
A dismal silence through the palace went	Y
And then loud shrieks the vaulted marbles rent	Y
Such as the dying chorus sings by turns	A
And to deaf seas and ruthless tempests mourns	A
When now they sink and now the plundering streams	A
Break up each deck and rip the oaken seams	A
	-
But thee triumphant hence the fiery car	F2
And fiery steeds had borne out of the war	F
From the low world and thankless men above	V
Unto the kingdom blest of peace and love	V
We only mourned ourselves in thine ascent	Y
Whom thou hadst left beneath with mantle rent	Y
	-
For all delight of life thou then didst lose	A
When to command thou didst thyself dispose	A
Resigning up thy privacy so dear	X
To turn the headstrong people's charioteer	X
For to be Cromwell was a greater thing	G
Then ought below or yet above a king	G
Therefore thou rather didst thyself depress	A
Yielding to rule because it made thee less	A
	-
For neither didst thou from the first apply	Z
Thy sober spirit unto things too high	Z
But in thine own fields exercised'st long	Q
An healthful mind within a body strong	Q
Till at the seventh time thou in the skies	A
As a small cloud like a man's hand didst rise	A
Then did thick mists and winds the air deform	S2
And down at last thou poured'st the fertile storm	S2
Which to the thirsty land did plenty bring	G
But though forewarned o'ertook and wet the King	G
	-
What since he did an higher force him pushed	Y
Still from behind and yet before him rushed	Y
Though undiscerned among the tumult blind	Y
Who think those high decrees by man designed	Y
'Twas heaven would not that his power should cease	A
But walk still middle betwixt war and peace	A
Choosing each stone and poising every weight	Y
Trying the measures of the breadth and height	Y
Here pulling down and there erecting new	Y
Founding a firm state by proportions true	Y
	-
When Gideon so did from the war retreat	Y
Yet by the conquest of two kings grown great	Y
He on the peace extends a warlike power	X
And Israel silent saw him raze the tower	X
And how he Succorth's Elders durst suppress	A
With thorns and briars of the wilderness	A
No king might ever such a force have done	M
Yet would not he be Lord nor yet his son	M
	-
Thou with the same strength and an heart as plain	J
Didst like thine olive still refuse to reign	J
Though why should others all thy labour spoil	T2
And brambles be anointed with thine oil	T2
Whose climbing flame without a timely stop	U2
Had quickly levelled every cedar's top	U2
Therefore first growing to thyself a law	V2
Th' ambitious shrubs thou in just time didst awe	W2
	-
So have I seen at sea when whirling winds	A
Hurry the bark but more the seamen's minds	A
Who with mistaken course salute the sand	Y
And threatening rocks misapprehend for land	Y
While baleful Tritons to the shipwreck guide	Y
And corposants along the tackling slide	Y
The passengers all wearied out before	X
Giddy and wishing for the fatal shore	X
Some lusty mate who with more careful eye	Z
Counted the hours and every star did spy	Z
The help does from the artless steersman strain	J
And doubles back unto the safer main	J
What though a while they grumble discontent	Y
Saving himself he does their loss prevent	Y
	-
'Tis not a freedom that where all command	Y
Nor tyranny where one does them withstand	Y
But who of both the bounder knows to lay	Y
Him as their father must the state obey	Y
	-
Thou and thine house like Noah's eight did rest	Y
Left by the wars' flood on the mountains' crest	Y
And the large vale lay subject to thy will	K2
Which thou but as an husbandman wouldst till	K2
And only didst for others plant the vine	X2
Of liberty not drunken with its wine	X2
	-
That sober liberty which men may have	V
That they enjoy but more they vainly crave	V
And such as to their parents' tents do press	A
May show their own not see his nakedness	A
	-
Yet such a Chammish issue still does rage	Y2
The shame and plague both of the land and age	Y2
Who watched thy halting and thy fall deride	Y
Rejoicing when thy foot had slipped aside	Y
That their new king might the fifth sceptre shake	H2
And make the world by his example quake	H2
Whose frantic army should they want for men	K
Might muster heresies so one were ten	K
What thy misfortune they the spirit call	D2
And their religion only is to fall	D2
Oh Mahomet now couldst thou rise again	K
Thy falling sickness should have made thee reign	J
While Feake and Simpson would in many a tome	Z2
Have writ the comments of thy sacred foam	Z2
For soon thou mightst have passed among their rant	Y
Were't but for thine unmov egrave d tulipant	Y
As thou must needs have owned them of thy band	Y
For prophecies fit to be Alcoraned	Y
	-
Accurs egrave d locusts whom your king does spit	Y
Out of the centre of the unbottomed pit	Y
Wanderers adulterers liars Munster's rest	Y
Sorcerers athiests jesuits possessed	Y
You who the scriptures and the laws deface	A
With the same liberty as points and lace	A
Oh race most hypocritically strict	Y
Bent to reduce us to the ancient Pict	Y
Well may you act the Adam and the Eve	V
Ay and the serpent too that did deceive	V
	-
But the great captain now the danger's o'er	X
Makes you for his sake tremble one fit more	X
And to your spite returning yet alive	V
Does with himself all that is good revive	V
	-
So when first man did through the morning new	Y
See the bright sun his shining race pursue	Y
All day he followed with unwearied sight	Y
Pleased with that other world of moving light	Y
But thought him when he missed his setting beams	A
Sunk in the hills or plunged below the streams	A
While dismal blacks hung round the universe	A
And stars like tapers burned upon his hearse	A
And owls and ravens with their screeching noise	A
Did make the funerals sadder by their joys	A
His weeping eyes the doleful vigils keep	A3
Not knowing yet the night was made for sleep	A3
Still to the west where he him lost he turned	Y
And with such accents as despairing mourned	Y
'Why did mine eyes once see so bright a ray	Y
Or why day last no longer than a day '	-
When straight the sun behind him he descried	Y
Smiling serenely from the further side	Y
	-
So while our star that gives us light and heat	Y
Seemed now a long and gloomy night to threat	Y
Up from the other world his flame he darts	A
And princes shining through their windows starts	A
Who their suspected counsellors refuse	A
And credulous ambassadors accuse	A
	-
'Is this' saith one 'the nation that we read	Y
Spent with both wars under a captain dead	Y
Yet rig a navy while we dress us late	Y
And ere we dine raze and rebuild their state	Y
What oaken forests and what golden mines	A
What mints of men what union of designs	A
Unless their ships do as their fowl proceed	Y
Of shedding leaves that with their ocean breed	Y
Theirs are not ships but rather arks of war	X
And beak egrave d promontories sailed from far	X
Of floating islands a new hatch egrave d nest	Y
A fleet of worlds of other worlds in quest	Y
An hideous shoal of wood leviathans	A
Armed with three tier of brazen hurricanes	A
That through the centre shoot their thundering side	Y
And sink the earth that does at anchor ride	Y
What refuge to escape them can be found	Y
Whose watery leaguers all the world surround	Y
Needs must we all their tributaries be	A
Whose navies hold the sluices of the sea	A
The ocean is the fountain of command	Y
But that once took we captives are on land	Y
And those that have the waters for their share	X
Can quickly leave us neither earth nor air	X
Yet if through these our fears could find a pass	A
Through double oak and lined with treble brass	A
That one man still although but named alarms	A
More than all men all navies and all arms	A
Him in the day him in late night I dread	Y
And still his sword seems hanging o'er my head	Y
The nation had been ours but his one soul	B3
Moves the great bulk and animates the whole	B3
He secrecy with number hath enchased	Y
Courage with age maturity with haste	Y
The valiant's terror riddle of the wise	A
And still his falchion all our knots unties	A
Where did he learn those arts that cost us dear	X
Where below earth or where above the sphere	X
He seems a king by long succession born	C3
And yet the same to be a king does scorn	C3
Abroad a king he seems and something more	X
At home a subject on the equal floor	X
O could I once him with our title see	A
So should I hope that he might die as we	A
But let them write is praise that love him best	Y
It grieves me sore to have thus much confessed '	-
	-
Pardon great Prince if thus their fear of spite	Y
More than our love and duty do thee right	Y
I yield nor further will the prize contend	Y
So that we both alike may miss our end	Y
While thou thy venerable head dost raise	A
As far above their malice as my praise	A
And as the Angel of our commonweal	B3
Troubling the waters yearly mak'st them heal	B3

Andrew Marvell

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