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Nature speaks all languages; and no style is too quaint or pedantic, in which she may not utter heart-sentiments in terms that can not be misunderstood, or, understood, be resisted.

Dryden's "Alexander's Feast" is undoubtedly the lyric masterpiece of English poetry, in respect to versification; exemplifying, as it does, all the capabilities of our language, in the use of iambics, trochees, anapasts, dactyls, and spondees. The metres in this composition are so varying, and yet so consonant—so harmonious and so contrasted-they implicate and disentangle again so naturally, so necessarily almost, that I know not to what they can better be compared than to a group of young lions at play-meeting, mingling, separating-pursuing, attacking, repelling-changing attitude, action, motion, every instant-all fire, force, and flexibility-exuberant in spirits, yet wasting none; while the poet, like the sire, couched and looking on, may be presumed with his eye to have ruled every turn and crisis of their game. He sings, indeed, the triumph of music; but his poetry triumphs over his subject, and he insinuates as much. It was less "the breathing flute and sounding lyre" of Timotheus than the living voice, the changing themes, the language of light and power of the bard, "that won the cause." A single section will justify this praise; the measures, it will be observed, change in every couplet: there are scarce two lines alike in accentuation, yet the whole seems as spontaneous as the cries of alarm and consternation excited by the bacchanal orgies described:

"Now strike the golden lyre again,

A louder yet, and yet a louder strain;
Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder.
Hark! hark! the horrid sound

Has raised up his head,

As awaked from the dead,

And amazed he stares around.

Revenge! revenge! Timotheus cries

See the furies arise;

See the snakes that they rear,

How they hiss in the air,

And the sparkles that flash from their eyes

Behold the ghastly band,

Each a torch in his hand!

These are Grecian ghosts, that in battle are slain,

And unburied remain,

Inglorious on the plain;

Give the vengeance due

To the valiant crew!

Rehold how they toss their torches on high

How they point to the Persian abodes

And glittering temples of the hostile gods!

The princes applaud with a furious joy,

And the king seized a flambeau, with zeal to destroy:

Thais led the way,

To light him to his prey,

And, like another Helen, fired another Troy."

CHAPTER XIII.

OF EPIC POETRY.

Q. What rank does the Epic hold in poetry?

A. It generally occupies the first place among poetic compositions, and, if well executed, is regarded as one of the noblest displays of poetic, if not even of human genius.

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What is its peculiar object?

A. To describe some great and important action or event, for the purpose of making it subservient to moral instruction.

Q. What other name does it often receive?

A. It is frequently styled heroic poetry, because, .n every poem of this sort, there is a leading character called the hero.

Q. Why is he so named?

A. Because the whole course of the action, and train of the events, are made to turn upon the manner in which he performs his part.

Q. What name does the plan of such a work commonly receive? A. It is commonly called the plot, which denotes the arranging of all the various parts into a regular whole.

Q. And in what manner is the plot carried on?

A. Partly by the descriptions and details which the poet himself makes; and partly by the introduction of actors, who have all their different parts to perform. Q. What is this selecting and arranging of the different parts called?

A. It is usually styled the machinery, which denotes the means adopted by the poet for carrying his plot to a conclusion.

Q. Does he begin and give a regular account of the whole transaction from the commencement?

A. No; he generally begins in the middle, but at some important part of the narrative; and, after describing the state of things as then existing, he introduces different actors to explain what had led to such events.

Q. What name is given to those parts which are introduced as if for mere embellishment?

A. They are called episodes, which mean separate

incidents or stories, having an intimate, though not a necessary connection with the main action.

Q. How should an epic poem be arranged?

A. With such order and regularity, that all the parts may have a close dependence upon each other. Q. What ought the senuments and language to be?

A. Lofty and dignified, always moving with majesty, and never stooping to what is mean or trivial. Q. What must be the character of the style?

A. It may, in point of ornament, admit of every variety of which composition is susceptible; but its leading feature ought to be sublimity.

Q. Have there been many great epic poems produced?

A. Very few, compared with the number of excellent productions in almost every other description of poetry

Q. Can you mention the principal?

A. The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, the Eneid of Virgil, the Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, and the Paradise Lost of Milton.

Q. Can you mention the subjects of each of these?

A. The subject of the Iliad is the destruction of Troy; of the Odyssey, the wanderings of Ulysses; of the Eneid, the settlement of Æneas in Italy; of the Jerusalem, its deliverance from Mussulman oppression; and of Paradise Lost, the fall of man from his primitive state of innocence, and consequent expulsion from the garden of Eden.

CHAPTER XIV

OF DRAMATIC POETRY.

Q. What do you underst ind by Dramatic Poetry?

A. Poetry founded upon a regular plot or story, and fitted to be represented by action on the stage. Q. In what does it differ from epic poetry?

A. In its containing no narrative on the part of the poet, being all spoken or performed by the different actors or characters who are introduced.

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Q. What is the greatest excellence of dramatic poetry"
A. Its being in accordance with nature, and making

a near approach to the character of real life

Q. What, then, are the chief objects of dramatic poetry? A. Men and manners, with an exhibition of all the various passions, virtues, and vices incident to human

nature.

Q. How many sorts of dramatic poetry are there?
A. Chiefly two-Tragedy and Comedy.
Q. What constitutes the difference between these?

A. Tragedy is founded principally upon the loftier passions, virtues, vices, successes, and distresses of mankind; comedy, on their whims, fancies, humors, vagaries, foibles, and follies.

Q. What are the passions which they chiefly awaken?

A. Terror, pity, and indignation, are the passions chiefly excited by tragedy; ridicule and contempt, those principally produced by comedy.

Q. What knowledge would the dramatic writer require particularly to possess?

A. An intimate acquaintance with life and character, as well as with all the different movements and operations of the human heart.

Q. What must be the style of dramatic poetry?

A. Its style must depend altogether upon the nature of the subject, and the character of the different

actors.

Q. Who may be regarded as the best dramatic writer?

A. He who best displays the workings and effects of human passion, and gives to every character the greatest distinctness and personality.

Q. Is tragedy a very common species of composition?

A. Very much so; it prevailed greatly among the Greeks and the Romans, and has since found a place in the literature of every nation in Europe.

Q. Can you mention any of the most distinguished ancient dramatic writers ?

A. Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, among the Greeks; and Plautus and Terence, among the Ro

mans.

Q. Who are among the most eminent of modern dramatic writers?

A. Racine and Molière among the French; and Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Dryden, Otway, and Congreve, among the English; with a few German, Italian, and Spanish names of consid

erable celebrity.-(See Montgomery's Lectures, p. 149, 150, 151.)

CHAPTER XV.

OF HYMNS, ELEGY, ETC.

Q. What do you understand by a Hymn?

A. A religious poem, fit for being set to music and sung, for the purpose of awakening devotional feelings. Q. Can you mention some of the most distinguished writers of hymns?

A. Watts, Pope, Addison, Logan, Cowper, Montgomery, Edmeston, with almost all our most distinguished modern poets.

Q. What is an Elegy?

A. A short pathetic poem, in commemoration of the dead, though it often assumes a different character, and is applied to any plaintive subject. (See Part VI., sec. vii.)

Q. Can you give an example of an elegy?

A. The following is an ironical elegy, from the pen of Goldsmith, and discovers more wit than pathos:

AN ELEGY

ON THE GLORY OF HER SEX, MRS. MARY BLAIZE.

Good people all, with one accord,
Lament for Madame Blaize,

Who never wanted a good word-
From those who spoke her praise

The needy seldom pass'd her door,
And always found her kind;
She freely lent to all the poor—
Who left a pledge behind.

She strove the neighborhood to please,
With manners wond'rous winning
And never follow'd wicked ways-
Unless when she was sinning.
At church in silks and satins new
With hoop of monstrous size,
She never slumber'd in her pew-
But when she shut her eyes.
Her love was sought, I do aver,
By twenty beaux and more;
The king himself has follow'd her-
When she has walk'd before.

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