Transcript Astraea Redux A Poem on the Happy Restoration And Return

Using “Astraea Redux” in
order to think about
heroic couplets
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This poem, “Astraea Redux,” is not
on your reading list. We are going
to use it mainly to talk about how
to read heroic couplets.
You may choose to include “Astraea
Redux” in your paper or on essay
sections of the exams, but I won’t
directly ask you about it.
This lecture is a little odd
because of its informal
Charles II
(lived 1630-1685) (reigned
1660-85)
http://www.royal.gov.uk/history/stuart.htm
Who was Charles II?
Charles II in Coronation
robes by Wright. © Royal
Collection
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.
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:
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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
Implications and details worth
further discussion
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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.