Editorial note
The aim of the elemental edition is to make the poems accessible to the largest variety of readers, which involves modernizing spelling and punctuation as well as adding basic glosses. Spelling and punctuation reflect current standard American usage; punctuation highlights syntax which might otherwise be obscure. Outmoded but still familiar word forms (“thou,” “‘tis,” “hold’st”) are not modernized, and we do not modernize grammar when the sense remains legible. After a brief headnote aimed at offering a “way in” to the poem’s unique qualities and connections with other verse by Pulter or her contemporaries, the edition features a minimum of notes and interpretative framing to allow more immediate engagement with the poem. Glosses clarify synonyms or showcase various possible meanings in Pulter’s time. Other notes identify named people and places or clarify obscure material. We rely (without citation) primarily on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the Oxford Reference database, and the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. When we rely on Alice Eardley’s edition of Pulter’s work, we cite her text generally (“Eardley”); other sources are cited in full. The result is an edition we consider a springboard for further work on Pulter’s poetry. See full conventions for this edition here.
Headnote
A dreadful fate awaits those who try to move above their station, this emblem warns. Demonstrating her familiarity with an array of historical, biblical, mythological, and sources, Pulter shows how this lesson applies across space and time: from overly ambitious Roman emperors to powerful Assyrian queens; from Old Testament Israelite rulers to apes who inappropriately dress in human clothes. To see how all overly zealous ascents to power will necessarily be crushed, one simply needs to look at imperial conquests (like Spain’s conquest of Muslim territories) that lead to defeat. Pulter also directs her vision of the cycling of authority and its vanquishing to contemporary politics, mourning the loss of the pre-war English government and condemning “one O” (implicitly, Oliver Cromwell) for wreaking death and destruction on England in the civil war. Written during the Protectorate, the poem seems to ask with bitter glee: what nemesis awaits the horrific political overreaching of our own day?Line number 1
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whoLine number 2
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Ape-catchers routinely keep an eye on the apes’ usual habitation (“haunt”)Line number 6
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France, commonly known as setting fashion trends at the timeLine number 7
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The apes pull on the clothesLine number 8
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climbLine number 9
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effortsLine number 12
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peasants, especially Dutch or German; sometimes used pejoratively. This couplet possibly alludes to the Dutch conquest of Gibraltar from Spain in 1607; the Spanish (“those which took a town” in the preceding line) had overthrown Moorish (North African Muslim) rule of Gilbraltar in 1492 (Eardley).Line number 13
Gloss note
In Assyrian mythology, Semiramis is a goddess and queen to Ninus, founder of Nineveh, after whose death she founded Babylon and led victorious armies until, opposed by her son, she took the form of a dove and flew away.Line number 15
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Crook’d-Back, or crookback, was a nickname applied to Richard III, who overcame five monarchs in his rise to power.Line number 16
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At the Battle of Bosworth (1485), Richard III was killed by Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII.Line number 17
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What seems like an emotional exclamation can also signify Oliver Cromwell’s first initial; Cromwell led the Parliamentarians who killed King Charles I during the English Civil War.Line number 18
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make itLine number 19
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In Greek mythology, personification of the gods’ disapproval, jealousy, and retribution.Line number 20
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crownsLine number 21
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Jezebel, as the widow of Israel’s King Ahab, was killed by Jehu, who became king; before her death, Jezebel says to Jehu, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?” (2 Kings 9:31).Line number 22
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In the Bible, Zimri is a captain who kills the king of Israel and makes himself king; he himself in turn is defeated and killed (2 Kings 9:30–31).Line number 23
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One faction of the Athenian leadership accused Phocion (an Athenian general and statesman, 402-318 BCE) of enabling the death of Antipater (the Madedonian statesman); Phocion was put to death for treason. Pulter alters her likely source (Plutarch) by crediting Phocion’s guilt, when Phocion was generally remembered as a just and moral leader. See Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, trans. Thomas North (London, 1579), pp. 797-814.Line number 24
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Phocion’s hands are stained or steeped in the royal family’s blood, or (in another sense) infected by it.Line number 25
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Phocion and his supporters/familyLine number 26
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After defeating the Goths, the Roman general Titus Andronicus gave permission to sacrifice the eldest son of Tamora, queen of the Goths, to appease the souls of his dead sons, and thereby unleashed a series of horrific acts of revenge.Line number 28
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Diocletian (also known as Diocles) was Roman emperor from 284 to 305, a position he achieved in part by killing Aper (Latin for “boar”), thus fulfilling the prediction that he would become emperor only after he killed a boar. See, for example, Fletcher and Massinger, The Prophetess, in Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies [London, 1647]). Diocletian was the first Roman emperor to abdicate his position voluntarily. Thanks to Sam Nguyen for information in this note.Line number 31
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even though he set aside the crown; or possibly, for his crimesLine number 32
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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known as Pompey the Great, formed the First Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus, but disagreement with Caesar resulted in civil war. Line number 33
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Pompey, defeated at the battle of Pharsalus, fled to Egypt, where he was murdered.Line number 34
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Julius Caesar, Roman dictator, was murdered (as the next line indicates) in a conspiracy led by his senators.Line number 36
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an association of three magistrates for joint administration; here, the First Triumvirate (see note above on “Pompey’s ambition”)Line number 38
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In ancient Greek, “ephor” refers to a board of magistrates in some divisions of ancient Greece (Dorian states).Line number 39
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After the civil war ended, Parliamentarians in England restructured the government and abolished the titles designating kingship and the representative bodies of the House of Lords and House of Commons.Line number 43
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social station, place, or position; domain in which one’s activities or faculties find scope Sorry, but there are no notes associated with
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