167 CHAPTER XX. Figures. THE endless variety of expressions brought under the head of tropes and figures by ancient critics and grammarians, makes it evident, that they had no precise criterion for distinguishing tropes and figures from plain language. It was accordingly my opinion, that little could be made of them in the way of rational criticism; till discovering, by a sort of accident, that many of them depend on principles formerly explained, I gladly embrace the opportunity to show the influence of these principles where it would be the least expected. Confining myself therefore to such figures, am luckily freed from much trash; without dropping, as far as I remember, any trope or figure that merits a proper name. And I begin with Prosopopoia or personification, which is justly entitled to the first place. SECTION I. Personification. THE bestowing sensibility and voluntary motion upon things inanimate, is so bold a figure, as to require, one should imagine, very peculiar circumstances for operating the delusion: and yet, in the language of poetry, we find variety of expressions, which though commonly reduced to that figure, are used without ceremony, or any sort of preparation; as, for example, thirsty ground, hungry church-yard, furious dart, angry ocean. These epithets, in their proper meaning, are attributes of sensible beings: what is their meaning when applied to things inanimate? do they make us conceive the ground, the church-yard, the dart, the ocean, to be endued with animal functions? This is a curious inquiry; and whether so or not, it cannot be declined in handling the present subject. The mind, agitated by certain passions, is prone to bestow sensibility, upon things inanimate.* This is an additional instance of the influence of passion upon our opinions and belief. I give examples. Antony, mourning over the body of Cæsar murdered in the senate-house, vents his passion in the following words; Antony. O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers. Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of time. Julius Cesar, Act III. Sc. 4. Here Antony must have been impressed with a notion, that the body of Cæsar was listening to him, without which the speech would be foolish and absurd. Nor will it appear strange, considering what is said in the chapter above cited, that passion should have such power over the mind of man. In another example of the same kind, the earth, as a common mother, is animated to give refuge against a father's unkindness: Almeria. O Earth, behold, I kneel upon thy bosom, Page 151. Chapter II. Part v. Into thy womb the last and most forlorn, Of all thy race. Hear me thou common parent; -I have no parent else. Be thou a mother, Mourning Bride, Act IV. Sc. 7. Plaintive passions are extremely solicitous for vent: and a soliloquy commonly answers the purpose but when such passion becomes excessive, it cannot be gratified but by sympathy from others; and if denied that consolation in a natural way, it will convert even things inanimate into sympathising beings. Thus Philoctetes complains to the rocks and promontories of the isle of Lemnos ;* and Alcestes dying, invokes the sun, the light of day, the clouds, the earth, her husband's palace, &c.f Moschus, lamenting the death of Bion, conceives, that the birds, the fountains, the trees, lament with him. The shepherd, who in Virgil bewails the death of Daphnis, expresseth himself thus: Daplini, tuum Panos etiam ingemuisse leones Again: Illum etiam lauri, illum etiam flevere myricæ. Again: Ho vista al pianto mio Responder per pietate i sassi e l'onde ; E sospirar le fronde Ho visto al pianto mio. * Philoctetes of Sophocles, act iv. sc. 2. + Alcestes of Euripides, aet ii. sc. 1. Eclogue v. 27. Eclogue x. 15. Ma non ho visto mai, Ne spero di vedere Compassion ne la crudelle, e bella. Aminta di Tasso, Act I. Sc. 2. That such personification is derived from nature, will not admit the least remaining doubt, after finding it in poems of the darkest ages and remotest countries. No figure is more frequent in Ossian's works; for example, The battle is over, said the king, and I behold the blood of my friends. Sad is the heath of Lena, and mournful the oaks of Cromla. Again, The sword of Gaul trembles at his side, and longs to glitter in his hand. King Richard having got intelligence of Bolingbroke's invasion, says, upon landing in England from his Irish expedition, in a mixture of joy and resentment, I weep for joy To stand upon my kingdom once again. Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs. As a long parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears, and smiles in meeting; And, when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king Richard II. A et III. Sc. 2. After a long voyage it was customary among the ancients to salute the natal soil. A long voyage being of old a greater enterprise than at present, the safe return to one's country after much fatigue and danger, was a delightful circumstance; and it was natural to give the natal soil a temporary life, in order to sympathise with the traveller. See an example, Agamemnon of Eschilus, act iii. in the beginning. Regret for leaving a place one has been accustomed to, has the same effect.* Terror produceth the same effect: it is communicated in thought to every thing around, even to things inanimate : Speaking of Polyphemus, Clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes Italiæ. Eneid, iii. 672. -As when old Ocean roars, And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores. Iliad, ii. 249. Go, view the settling sea. The stormy wind is laid; but the billows still tremble on the deep, and seem to fear the blast. Fingal. Racine, in the tragedy of Phedra, describing the sea-monster that destroyed Hippolytus, conceives the sea itself to be struck with terror as well as the spectators: Le flot qui l'apporta recule epouvanté. A man also naturally communicates his joy to all objects around, animate or inanimate : VOL. II. * Philoctetes of Sophocles, at the close. 22+ |