Disturbing Interpretations of the Ode of HorationThere is debate over how one should read Marvell's "Ode of Horation", one of the least examined questions in the three essays, but which seems to be a presupposition. Much of the argument that takes place between the two sides is Brooks' careful warning at the beginning of his essay that his project is not to "triumphantly reveal that what it [Marvel's poem] does actually said is something quite opposite to what we have supposed it to be. saying" ("Ode" 323). For Bush, what the poem purports to have said is essential, for his argument will rely on such assumptions and commonalities, or unprejudiced readings, as he might call them; and among his final arguments will be that "Marvel's poem means what it says" (348), which will be arrived at by examining the poem in "its common and natural sense" (341). strict in his adherence to traditional interpretation, so it is intriguing that he begins with what we might call at this point an interpretive warning label to ensure that the reader does not misinterpret it and think that he is simply trying to find a Good although he will later argue that the New Critic does indeed owe a debt to the historicist, and we might accept this first warning as part of that debt to "proper standards" (326) , it is with other interests in mind that Brooks ends his “Notes on the Limits of History” and the Limits of “Criticism.” Invoking Matthew Arnold, Brooks concludes his essay by discussing Leslie Fielder's call to "interpret literature in relation to the rest of man's concerns." " (quoted in "Limits" 354). Brooks "completely agrees" with this ("Limits" 354), and with this ending it is clear that there is... middle of paper . .....es so many of his criticisms of Brooks in terms of how he seeks "desperate solutions" that deviate from a sensible reading of the poem This idea according to which type of criticism. advocated by Brooks creates problems for the type of interpretation established by a historical reading of the poem raises questions such as the role of the critic in a society, and whether that critic is obliged to create problems or not and who should be at the. center of its disruptive energies.Works CitedBrooks, Cleanth. “Literary Criticism and History: Marvell's Ode Horation Class Paper ENG 415. April 9, 1996. “Notes on the Limits of “History” and the Limits of.” “critique.” Class Paper ENG 415, April 9, 1996. Bush, Douglas. “Marvell's Ode Horation.” Class Paper ENG 415. April 9, 1996. Butler, Judith. Gender problem. New York: Routledge, 1990.