Speaker

Like almost all poems, the primary character in the "Horatian Ode" is the speaker. Because this poem is written in third person, the interventions of the speaker are mostly invisible. It is difficult to differentiate him as a character, or to see exactly what his role is. Nonetheless, there is someone narrating this poem who chooses what information to convey to the audience, and what to deny. The speaker's voice is polished, precise, and sometimes grandiose, but also politically subtle and satirical.

Cromwell

The titular, and arguably principal, character in the poem is Oliver Cromwell. In order to understand how Cromwell functions in the poem, we need to look at two versions of this character: Cromwell the historical figure, and Cromwell in the poem. The historical Cromwell is a complex figure. He was born to a family of the landed gentry, of modest means and Irish and Welsh...