Charles II (lived 1630-1685) (reigned 1660-85) http://www.royal.gov.uk/history/stuart.htm

Charles II in Coronation robes by Wright. © Royal Collection

Who was Charles II?Charles was 12 years old at the outbreak of

the civil war. At 16, he escaped to France, where he was tutored by Thomas Hobbes.

In 1650, he allied himself with the Scots and in exchange for their military help agreed to make Presbyterianism the religion of England. In 1651, he was defeated by Cromwell at Worcester and went into exile first in France and then in the Netherlands.

At the Restoration, he supported religious toleration but Parliament passed statutes (Clarendon Code) requiring religious conformity, thus undermining the promises of Breda.

He was relatively skillful in his dealings with Parliament, but in order to get money (which they controlled), he entered into secret agreements with Louis XIV.

He had several illegitimate but no legitimate children and thus no heir to the throne.

Reading Heroic Couplets

1. Heroic couplets are rhymed lines of ten syllables with the following stress pattern:*~ / | ~ / | ~ / | ~ / | ~ / (Find this pattern in the following

couplet.)

Inur'd to suffer ere he came to raigne No rash procedure will his actions stain (ll. 87-8).

2. The mid-line pause (caesura) usually occurs after the fourth syllable, thus making the second half of the line slightly heavier or more emphatic because of its greater number of syllables. See the first line above. But the pause can break the line exactly in half. See the second line above.

3. Because of the mid-line pause, the heroic couplet usually breaks into 4 units, 2 in each line, which relate to each other in various ways. Let’s examine ll. 21-2.

For his long absence / Church and State did groan; Madness the pulpit, / Faction seiz'd the Throne (ll. 21-2).

4. Zeugma (literal meaning = yoke) is a figure of speech in which one word (often a verb) is yoked (through syntax) with two words, e.g., one verb with two subjects. See line 2 of the previous couplet.

*NB: All regular patterns can be varied for varying effects.

A note about what the poem says:

The poem celebrates the restoration of the monarchy and supports the traditional hierarchical social order and inheritance as the fundamental principle that ensures

social order. Although the poem does not vilify particular opposition

leaders, it represents the opposition as “designing leaders” manipulating an irrational crowd, the Rabble. The most radical ideas of the opposition--political egalitarianism and religious toleration--do not come into view as serious political principles.

On the other hand, although the poem’s case against lawlessness is a case against the opposition, it implies a case against arbitrary power in any hands.

On the nature of the King’s power, the poem carefully balances between a claim of divine approval and a denial that the king is above the law.

Implications and details worth further discussion

Christ and Augustus Caesar were linked through Christian interpretation of Virgil’s 4th Eclogue. Augustus was hailed by Virgil as a bringer of peace. Dryden gives Charles II a place in that lineage, making him a

new Augustus. David was a forefather of Christ (Jesus was born of the

House of David). And David was chosen king by God and anointed by God’s prophet, Samuel. Dryden associates Charles II with that lineage as well by

calling him David. Dryden thus associates Charles with a divinely appointed

monarchy. Exactly what was the source of the British monarch’s

sovereignty or power continued to be a point of controversy.