ובנחלת מי אלין : אז יצוני יוצר כל ובוראני הניח אהלי : ויאמר ביעקוב שכני ובישראל נחלי : מעולם מראשית קנני ועד עולמים לא אחדל : באהל קדוש לפניו שרתי וכן בציון הצבתי : בעיר אהובה כמי כן הניחני ובירושלים ממשלתי : ואשרישה בעם נכבד בחלק יהוה נחלתו : כארז העליתי בלבנון וכברוש בהררי חרמון : כתמר העליתי בעין גדי וכנטעי חבצלת ביריחו : כזית נעים בשדה ואעלה כערמון עלי מים : כקנמון וקנה בשם נתתי ריח וכמר מבחר נתתי ריח ניחוח : כחלבנה ושחלת ונטף וכקיטור הלבנה במשכן : ואני כאילה שלחתי ענפי וענפי ענפי כבוד והן: אני כגפן צומחת חן ונצותי פרי כבוד ועשר: קרבו אלי מתאוי ומתבואותי השבעו : כי זכרי מדבש מתוק ונחכתי מדבש ונפת : אוכליני עוד ירעבון ושותיני עוד יצמאון : השומע אלי לא יבוש ועובדים בי לא יחטאון: כל אלה שפר ברית אל עליון תורה שצוה לנו משה נחלה למקהלות יעקוב ; הממלא כפישון חכמה וכהדקל בימי אביב : המרבה כפרת בינה וכירדן בימי קציר : המוציא כיאור מוסר וכגיחון בימי בציר : לא כלה הראשון לדעתה וכן האחרון לא יחקרנה : כי מים נמלאו מחשבותיה ועצתה מתהום רבה : ואני כמוצא מים מיאור וכתעלה יצאתי בפרדס : אמרתי אשתה כא את גני והרויתי את תלמי : והנה היתה תעלתי ליאור ויהי היאורי לים : עוד מוסר כשחר אופיעה והוצאתיהו עד למרחק: עוד לקח כנבואה אשפוך והניחותיהו לדורות עולמים : ראו כי לא לי לבדי יגעתי כי אם לכן מבקשי אמת :(c) 27 OF LYRIC POETRY. שִׁיר LECTURE XXV. OF THE HEBREW ODE IN GENERAL; AND FIRST OF THAT CLASS, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WHICH ARE SWEETNESS AND ELEGANCE. Lyric poetry originated from the most jocund and pleasing affections of the human mind-The most ancient species of poetry, and almost coeval with human nature itself-Particularly cultivated by the Hebrews-The manner, introduced by David, of singing their odes, highly magnificent-The general character of this species of poetry: its principal distinctionsThe first character of the ode, sweetness-What passions and affections it is intended to express: examples from the Psalms-The cxxxiiid Psalm in Latin verse. THOSE Compositions which were intended for music, whether vocal alone, or accompanied with instruments, obtained among the Hebrews the appellation of ", among the Greeks that of on; and both these words have exactly the same power and signification. The Hebrew word, as well as the Greek, appears in course of time to have been appropriated to denote a particular form and species of poetry, with this difference, however, that it is occasionally used with greater latitude. The ode is in its nature sufficiently expressive of its origin. It was the offspring of the most vivid, and the most agreeable passions of the mind, of love, joy, and admiration. If we consider man on his first creation, such as the sacred writings represent him; in perfect possession of reason and speech; neither ignorant of his own nor of the divine nature, but fully conscious of the goodness, majesty, and power of God; not an unobservant spectator of the beautiful fabric of the universe; is it not probable, that on the contemplation of these objects, his heart would glow with gratitude and love? And is it not probable, that the effect of such an emotion would be an effusion of praise to his great Creator, accompanied with a suitable energy and exaltation of voice? Such indeed were the sensations experienced by the author of that most beautiful Psalm, in which the whole creation is invited to celebrate the glory of the most high God: "Laudate Iehovam coelites; "Laudate eum in excelsis; "Laudate eum omnes angeli eius; "Laudate eum omnes eius exercitus."1 This hymn is, therefore, most elegantly imitated, and put into the mouth of Adam by our countryman Milton,2 who is justly accounted the next in sublimity to those poets, who wrote under the influence of divine inspiration. Indeed we scarcely seem to conceive rightly of that original and perfect state of man, unless we assign him some of the aids of harmony and poetical expression, to enable him to testify in terms becoming the dignity of the subject, his devout affections towards his infinite Creator. Without carrying our researches, however, to objects so remote from human information, if we appeal only to the common testimony of history, we shall find that, among every people not utterly barbarous, the use of music and poetry in the celebration of their religious mysteries, has prevailed from the first periods of society. Of all that sacred melody, which Plato informs us was sometimes established by the solemn sanction of legal authority,3 he assigns the first rank to that which assumed the form of addresses to the Deity, and was distinguished by the appellation of Hymns. In all the Latin poetry, there is nothing that can boast equal antiquity with the Salian poems of Numa, composed by that wise and learned monarch on the first institution of his religious rites, and sung by the Salii, whom Dionysius styles "the chorus of the gods of war,"4 with solemn dancing and other religious ceremonies. There is scarcely any necessity to mention, that the most ancient of all poems extant (those I mean of which the date is ascertained, and which deserve the name of poems) is the thanksgiving ode of Moses on passing the Red Sea, the most perfect in its kind, and the true and genuine effusion of the joyful affections. Thus the origin of the ode may be traced into that of the poetry itself, and appears to be coeval with the commencement of religion, or more properly the creation of man. (A) The Hebrews cultivated this kind of poetry above every other, and therefore may well be supposed to have been peculiarly excel 1 Ps. cxlviii. 3 De Legibus, iii. 2 Paradise Lost, Lib. v. 4 Antiq. Rom. ii. 70. lent in it. It was usual in every period of that nation to celebrate in songs of joy their gratitude to God, their Saviour, for every fortunate event, and particularly for success in war. Hence the triumphal odes of Moses, of Deborah, of David. The schools of the prophets were also, in all probability, coeval with the republic; and were certainly antecedent to the monarchy by many years: there, as we have already seen, the youth, educated in the prophetic discipline, applied themselves, among other studies, particularly to sacred poetry, and celebrated the praises of Almighty God in lyric compositions, accompanied with music. Under the government of David, however, the arts of music and poetry were in their most flourishing state. By him no less than four thousand singers or musicians were appointed from among the Levites, under two hundred and eightyeight principal singers, or leaders of the band, and distributed into twenty-four companies, who officiated weekly by rotation in the temple, and whose whole business was to perform the sacred hymns ; the one part chanting or singing, and the other playing upon different instruments. The chief of these were Asaph, Heman, and Iduthun, who also, as we may presume from the titles of the Psalms, were composers of Hymns.5 From so very splendid an establishment, so far surpassing every other appointment of the kind, some reasonable conjectures may be formed concerning the original dignity and grandeur of the Hebrew ode. We must remember, too, that we at present possess only some ruins, as it were, of that magnificent fabric, deprived of every ornament, except that splendour and elegance, which, notwithstanding the obscurity that antiquity has cast over them, still shine forth in the sentiments and language. Hence, in treating of the Hebrew ode, we must be content to omit entirely what relates to the sacred music, and the nature of the instruments which accompanied the vocal performance; though there is the utmost probability, that these circumstances were not without their influence, as far as respects the form and construction of the different species of ode. Our information upon these subjects is, indeed, so very scanty, that I esteem it safer to be silent altogether concerning them, than to imitate the example of some of the learned, who, after saying much, have, in fact, said nothing. I shall therefore proceed to a brief inquiry into the general nature and properties of this species of poetry; and after that, we shall be better qualified to judge 51 CHRON. xxiii. xxv. 1-7. See also 2 CHRON. xxix. 30. |