England

The poem begins in an unspecified but nonetheless clearly defined location: at home. We are introduced to a youth who seems to be in some kind of English home, reading and studying. It's a house whose walls are adorned with arms and armor that must be donned in order to defend the country.

A similar setting reappears momentarily in lines 29-32. Here, and only here, Cromwell is shown outside of the world of war. He is in his garden, planting bergamot (a kind of citrus), and living "reserved and austere" (30). This characterization closely ties to the common poetic view of England: a pastoral, garden-filled place of stately manor homes and quiet, peaceful life. Alas, this setting cannot last.

Carisbrooke and the Scaffold

Readers are taken to this setting with astonishing suddenness. One moment, the poem is existing in an abstract mode, talking about the field of war in...