another source, which must be left for the present, to be considered of hereafter.*

There remains to be mentioned, imitation by poetry.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE SUBJECTS WHICH POETRY IMITATES, BUT IMITATES ONLY THROUGH NATURAL MEDIA, OR MERE SOUNDS. COMPARISON OF POETRY IN THIS CAPACITY; FIRST WITH PAINTING, THEN WITH MUSIC.

POETIC imitation includes every thing in it which is performed either by picture-imitation or musical; for its materials are words, and words are symbols by compact of all ideas.

Further, as words, beside their being symbols by compact, are also sounds variously distinguished by their aptness to be rapidly or slowly pronounced, and by the respective prevalence of mutes, liquids, or vowels, in their composition; it will follow, that, beside their compact-relation, they will have likewise a natural relation to all such things, between which and themselves there is any natural resemblance: thus, for instance, there is natural resemblance between all sorts of harsh and grating sounds. There is, therefore, (exclusive of its signification,) a natural relation between the sound of a vile hautboy, and of that verse in Virgil,

Stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen ;

or of that other in Milton,"

Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. So also between the smooth swift gliding of a river, and of that verse in Horace,b

at ille

Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis ævum.

And thus, in part, even poetic imitation has its foundation in nature but then this imitation goes not far; and taken without the meaning derived to the sounds from compact, is but little intelligible, however perfect and elaborate.

II. If, therefore, poetry be compared with painting, in respect of this its merely natural and inartificial resemblance, it may be justly said, that inasmuch as of this sort of resemblance, poetry (like music) has no other sources, than those two of sound and motion; inasmuch as it often wants these sources themselves, (for

▾ Chapter vi.

y See note c, chap. i.

2 Ecl. iii. ver. 27.

a In his Lycidas.

b Epist. ii. 1. 1. ver. 42, 43.

numbers of words neither have, nor can have, any resemblance to those ideas of which they are the symbols;) inasmuch as natural sounds and motions, which poetry thus imitates, are themselves but loose and indefinite accidents of those subjects to which they belong, and consequently do but loosely and indefinitely characterize them; lastly, inasmuch as poetic sounds and motions do but faintly resemble those of nature, which are themselves confessed to be so imperfect and vague. From all this it will follow, (as it has already followed of music,) that poetic imitation founded in mere natural resemblance is much inferior to that of painting, and at best but very imperfect.

d

III. As to the preference which such poetic imitation may claim before musical, or musical imitation before that, the merits on each side may appear perhaps equal. They both fetch their imitations from sound and motion. Now music seems to imitate nature better as to motion, and poetry as to sound. The reason is, that in motions, music has a greater variety; and in sounds, those of poetry approach nearer to nature.f

If, therefore, in sound the one have the preference, in motion the other, and the merit of sound and motion be supposed nearly equal, it will follow, that the merit of the two imitations will be nearly equal also.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE SUBJECTS WHICH POETRY IMITATES, NOT BY MERE SOUNDS OR NATURAL MEDIA, BUT BY WORDS SIGNIFICANT; THE SUBJECTS AT THE SAME TIME BEING SUCH, TO WHICH THE GENIUS OF EACH OF THE OTHER TWO ARTS IS MOST PERFECTLY ADAPTED. ITS COMPARISON IN THESE SUBJECTS, FIRST WITH PAINTING, THEN WITH MUSIC.

THE mimetic art of poetry has been hitherto considered, as fetching its imitation from mere natural resemblance. In this it has been shewn much inferior to painting, and nearly equal to music.

Page 31. ◄ Page 28.

e Music has no less than five different lengths of notes in ordinary use, reckoning from the semibreve to the semiquaver; all which may be infinitely compounded, even in any one time, or measure. Poetry, on the other hand, has but two lengths, or quantities, a long syllable and a short, (which is its half;) and all the variety of verse arises from such feet and metres, as these two species of syllables, by being

compounded, can be made produce.

Musical sounds are produced by even vibrations, which scarcely any natural sounds are: on the contrary, words are the product of uneven vibration, and so are most natural sounds; add to this, that words are far more numerous than musical sounds. So that poetry, as to imitation by sound, seems to exceed music, not only in nearness of resemblance, but even in variety

also.

D

It remains to be considered, what its merits are, when it imitates not by mere natural sound, but by sound significant; by words, the compact symbols of all kinds of ideas. From hence depends its genuine force. And here, as it is able to find sounds expressive of every idea, so is there no subject either of picture-imitation, or musical, to which it does not aspire; all things and incidents whatever being, in a manner, to be described by words.

Whether, therefore, poetry, in this its proper sphere, be equal to the imitation of the other two arts, is the question at present which comes in order to be discussed.

Now as subjects are infinite, and the other two arts are not equally adapted to imitate all, it is proposed, first, to compare poetry with them in such subjects to which they are most perfectly adapted.

II. To begin, therefore, with painting. A subject in which the power of this art may be most fully exerted, (whether it be taken from the inanimate, or the animal, or the moral world,) must be a subject which is principally and eminently characterized by certain colours, figures, and postures of figureswhose comprehension depends not on a succession of events; or at least, if on a succession, on a short and self-evident onewhich admits a large variety of such circumstances, as all concur in the same individual point of time, and relate all to one principal action.

As to such a subject, therefore, inasmuch as poetry is forced to pass through the medium of compact, while painting applies immediately through the medium of nature; the one being understood to all, the other to the speakers of a certain language only: inasmuch as natural operations must needs be more affecting than artificial: inasmuch as painting helps our own rude ideas by its own, which are consummate and wrought up to the perfection of art; while poetry can raise no other, than what every mind is furnished with before:" inasmuch as painting shews all the minute and various concurrent circumstances of the event in the same individual point of time, as they appear in nature; while poetry is forced to want this circumstance of intelligibility, by being ever obliged to enter into some degree of detail: inasmuch as this detail creates often the dilemma of either becoming

Note f, p. 28.

h When we read in Milton of Eve, that Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye, In ev'ry gesture dignity and love;

we have an image, not of that Eve which Milton conceived, but of such an Eve only as every one, by his own proper genius, is able to represent, from reflecting on those ideas which he has annexed to these several sounds. The greater part, in the mean time, have never perhaps bestowed one ac

curate thought upon what grace, heaven, love, and dignity mean; or ever enriched the mind with ideas of beauty, or asked whence they are to be acquired, and by what proportions they are constituted. On the contrary, when we view Eve as painted by an able painter, we labour under no such difficulty; because we have exhibited before us the better conceptions of an artist, the genuine ideas of perhaps a Titian or a Raphael.

tedious, to be clear; or if not tedious, then obscure: lastly, inasmuch as all imitations more similar, more immediate, and more intelligible, are preferable to those which are less so; and for the reasons above, the imitations of poetry are less similar, less immediate, and less intelligible than those of painting. From all this it will follow, that in all subjects, where painting can fully exert itself, the imitations of painting are superior to those of poetry; and consequently, in all such subjects, that painting has the preference.

III. And now to compare poetry with music, allowing to music the same advantage of a well-adapted subject, which has already been allowed to painting in the comparison just preceding.

k

What such a subject is, has already been described. And as to preference, it must be confessed, that, inasmuch as musical imitations, though natural, aspire not to raise the same ideas, but only ideas similar and analogous; while poetic imitation, though artificial, raises ideas the very same, inasmuch as the definite and certain is ever preferable to the indefinite and uncertain, and that more especially in imitations where the principal delight is in recognising the thing imitated; it will follow from hence, that even in subjects the best adapted to musical imitation, the imitation of poetry will be still more excellent.

See chap. ii. sect. 2. *Page 31.

That there is an eminent delight in this very recognition itself, abstract from any thing pleasing in the subject recognised, is evident from hence, that, in all the mimetic arts, we can be highly charmed with imitations, at whose originals in nature we are shocked and terrified. Such, for instance, as dead bodies, wild beasts, and the like.

The cause, assigned for this, seems to be of the following kind. We have a joy, not only in the sanity and perfection, but also in the just and natural energies of our several limbs and faculties. And hence, among others, the joy in reasoning; as being the energy of that principal faculty, our intellect or understanding. This joy extends, not only to the wise, but to the multitude. For all men have an aversion to ignorance and error ; and in some degree, however moderate, are glad to learn and to inform themselves.

Hence, therefore, the delight arising from

these imitations; as we are enabled, in each of them, to exercise the reasoning faculty; and, by comparing the copy with the architype in our minds, to infer that this is such a thing, and that another: a fact remarkable among children, even in their first and earliest days.

Τό τε γὰρ μιμεῖσθαι, σύμφυτον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐκ παίδων ἐστὶ, καὶ τούτῳ διαφέ ρουσι τῶν ἄλλων ζώων, ὅτι μιμητικώτατόν ἐστι, καὶ τὰς μαθήσεις ποιεῖται διὰ μιμή σεως τὰς πρώτας· καὶ τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι πάντας. Σημεῖον δὲ τούτου τὸ συμβαῖνον ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων. "Α γὰρ αὐτὰ λυπηρῶς ὁρῶμεν, τούτων τὰς εἰκόνας τὰς μάλιστα ηκριβωμένας, χαίρομεν θεωροῦν τες οἷον θηρίων τε μορφὰς τῶν ἀγριωτά των, καὶ νεκρῶν. Αἴτιον δὲ καὶ τούτου, ὅτι μανθάνειν οὐ μόνον τοῖς φιλοσόφοις ἥδιστον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ βραχὺ κοινωνοῦσιν αὐτοῦ. Διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο χαίρουσι τὰς εἰκόνας ὁρῶντες, ὅτι συμβαίνει θεωροῦντας μανθάνειν καὶ συλλογίζεσθαι, τὶ ἕκαστον· οἷον, ὅτι οὗτος èkeivos. Arist. Poet. c. 4.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE SUBJECTS WHICH POETRY IMITATES BY WORDS SIGNIFICANT, BEING AT THE SAME TIME SUBJECTS NOT ADAPTED TO THE GENIUS OF EITHER OF THE OTHER ARTS. THE NATURE OF THOSE SUBJECTS. THE ABILITIES OF POETRY TO IMITATE THEM. COMPARISON OF POETRY IN THESE SUBJECTS, FIRST WITH PAINTING, THEN WITH MUSIC.

THE mimetic art of poetry has now been considered in two views: first, as imitating by mere natural media; and in this it has been placed on a level with music, but much inferior to painting. It has been since considered as imitating through sounds significant by compact, and that in such subjects respectively, where painting and music have the fullest power to exert themselves. Here to painting it has been held inferior, but to music it has been preferred.

It remains to be considered, what other subjects poetry has left, to which the genius of the other two arts is not so perfectly adapted; how far poetry is able to imitate them; and whether, from the perfection of its imitation, and the nature of the subjects themselves, it ought to be called no more than equal to its sister arts; or whether, on the whole, it should not rather be called superior.

m

II. To begin, in the first place, by comparing it with painting. The subjects of poetry, to which the genius of painting is not adapted, are, all actions, whose whole is of so lengthened a duration, that no point of time, in any part of that whole, can be given fit for painting; neither in its beginning, which will teach what is subsequent; nor in its end, which will teach what is previous; nor in its middle, which will declare both the previous and the subsequent. Also all subjects so framed, as to lay open the internal constitution of man, and give us an insight into characters," manners, passions, and sentiments.

The merit of these subjects is obvious. They must necessarily

m For a just and accurate description of wholeness and unity, see Arist. Poet. chap. 7 and 8; and Bossu, his best interpreter, in his treatise on the Epic Poem, book ii. chap. 9-11.

For a description of character, see below, note o, of this chapter.

As for manners, it may be said in general, that a certain system of them makes a character; and that as these systems, by being differently compounded, make each a different character, so is it that one man truly differs from another.

Sentiments are discoverable in all those things, which are the proper business and end of speech or discourse. The chief branches of this end are to assert and prove; to solve and refute; to express or excite passions; to amplify incidents, and to diminish them. It is in these things, therefore, that we must look for sentiment. See Arist. Poet. c. 19 : "Εστι δὲ κατὰ τὴν Διάνοιαν ταῦτα, ὅσα ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου δεῖ παρασκευασθῆναι. Μέρη δὲ τούτων, τό τε ἀποδεικνῦναι, καὶ τὸ λύειν, καὶ τὸ πάθη παρασκευάζειν,καὶ ἔτι μέγεθος, καὶ

Passions are obvious; pity, fear, anger,&c. σμкpóτnτa.