An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients Part 3

Of all these delicate beauties of composition, the Odes of Horace abound with pregnant and striking examples. Sometimes he discovers the strength of his pa.s.sion, when he is endeavouring to forget it, by a sudden and lively turn which is wholly unexpected. Thus he tells Lydia,

_Non si me satis audias, Speres perpetuum dulcia barbare Laedentem oscula, quae Venus Quinta parte sui nectaris imbuit[45]._

[Footnote 45: Carm. Lib. I. Od. 13.]

Sometimes his pictures are heightned with beautiful imagery, and he seizeth the imagination before he appeals to reason. Thus, when he is advising his friend not to mourn any longer for a man who was dead, instead of proposing the subject immediately he says,

_Non semper imbres nubibus hispidos Manant in agros_, &c.[46]

Not always snow, and hail, and rain Defend, and beat the fruitful plain. CREECH.

[Footnote 46: Carm. Lib. II. Od. 9.]

On other occasions he breaks abruptly into a short and spirited transition.

_Auditis? an me ludit amabilis Insania? audire et videor pios Errare per lucos, amnae Quos et aquae subeunt et aurae[47]._

Dos't hear? or sporting in my brain, What wildly-sweet deliriums reign!

Lo! mid Elysium's balmy groves, Each happy shade transported roves!

I see the living scene display'd, Where rills and breathing gales sigh murmuring thro' the shade.

[Footnote 47: Id. Lib. III. Od. 4.]

On some subjects he is led imperceptibly into a soft melancholy, which peculiar elegance of expression renders extremely agreeable in the end of this poem. There is a fine stroke of this kind in his Ode to Septimus, with whom he was going to fight against the Cantabrians.

He figures out a poetical recess for his old age, and then says,

_Ille te mec.u.m locus, et beatae Postulant arces, ibi tu calentem Debita sparges lachryma favillam Vatis amici[48]._

That happy place, that sweet retreat.

The charming hills that round it rise, Your latest hours, and mine await; And when your Poet Horace dyes; There the deep sigh thy poet-friend shall mourn, And pious tears bedew his glowing urn. FRANCIS.

[Footnote 48: Carm. Lib. II. Od. 6.]

Upon the whole, my Lord, you will perhaps be of opinion, that though the subjects of this second species of the Ode are wholly different from these of the first; yet the same variety of images, boldness of transition, figured diction, and rich colouring which characterised this branch of poetry on its original introduction, continue to be uniformly and invariably remarkable in the works of succeeding performers.

Reflection indeed will induce us to acknowledge, that in this branch of Lyric Poetry the Author may be allowed to take greater liberties than we could permit him to do in that which has formerly been mentioned. It is the natural effect of any pa.s.sion by which the mind is agitated, to break out into short and abrupt sallies which are expressive of its impetuosity, and of an imagination heated, and starting in the tumult of thought from one object to another. To follow therefore the workings of the mind in such a situation and to paint them happily, is in other words to copy Nature. But your Lords.h.i.+p will observe, that the transitions of the Poet who breaks from his subject to exhibit an historical detail whose connection with it is remote, or who is solicitous to display the fertility of a rich imagination at the expence of perspicuity, when it is not supposed that his pa.s.sions are inflamed: you will observe, my Lord, that his digressions are by no means so excusable as those of the other, because obscurity in the latter may be an excellence, whereas in the former it is always a blemish.

It is only necessary to observe farther on this head, that the difference of the subjects treated by Anacreon and Horace, from those of Orpheus, Museus, &c. is owing to the different characters of the ages in which they lived. We could not indeed have expected to meet with any thing very serious, at any period, from so indolent and careless a writer as Anacreon. But Luxury even in his time had made considerable progress in the world. The principles of Theology were sufficiently well established. Civil polity had succeeded to a state of confusion, and men were become fond of ease and affluence, of wine and women. Anacreon lived at the court of a voluptuous Monarch[49], and had nothing to divert his mind from the pursuit of happiness in his own way. His Odes therefore are of that kind, in which the gentler Graces peculiarly predominate. Sappho and Horace were employed in the same manner. The Lady had a Gallant, of whom it appears that she was extremely fond, and the Roman Poet lived in a polite court, was patronized by a man of distinguished eminence, and was left at full liberty to pursue that course of life to which he was most powerfully prompted by inclination.

[Footnote 49: Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos.]

The poetic vein in these Writers takes that turn, which a stranger must have expected upon hearing their characters. Their pieces are gay, entertaining, loose, elegant, and ornamented with a rich profusion of the graces of description. The reader of sensibility will receive the highest pleasure from perusing their works, in which the internal movements of the mind warmed by imagination, or agitated by pa.s.sion, are exposed in the happiest and most agreeable att.i.tudes. This, perhaps, is the princ.i.p.al excellence of the looser branches of poetic composition.

The mind of the Poet in these pieces is supposed to be intensely kindled by his subject. His Fancy a.s.sumes the rein, and the operation of reason is for a moment suspended. He follows the impulse of enthusiasm, and throws off those simple but lively strokes of Nature and Pa.s.sion, which can only be felt, and are beyond imitation.

_Ut sibi quivis Speret idem, sudet multum, frustraque laboret Ausus idem_[50]!

All may hope to imitate with ease: Yet while they drive the same success to gain, Shall find their labour and their hopes are vain. FRANCIS.

[Footnote 50: Hor. de Art. Poet.]

The unequal measures which are used in these shorter Odes, are likewise adapted with great propriety to the subjects of which they treat. Horace says, that this inequality of numbers was originally fixed upon as expressive of the complaints of a lover; but he adds, that they became quickly expressive likewise of his exultation.

_Versibus impariter junctis Querimonia primum Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos[51]._

Unequal measures first were taught to flow, Sadly expressive of the Lover's woe.

[Footnote 51: Id. ibid.]

These looser and shorter measures distinguish this branch of the Ode from the Hymn which was composed in heroic measure[52], and from the Pindaric Ode (as it is commonly called) to which the dithyrambique or more diversified stanza was particularly appropriated. Of the shorter Ode therefore it may be said with propriety,

_Son stile impetueux souvent marche au hazarde Chez un beau disordre est un effect de l'art[53]._

[Footnote 52: Aristotle expressly mentions this circ.u.mstance, when he explains the Origin of the Drama. ?a?afa?e?sa? de t?? ??a??d?a?

?a? ???d?a?, ?? ef' ??ate??? t? p???se? ????te? ?ata t?? ???e?a?

f?s?? ?? e? a?t? t?? ?a??, ???d?p???? e?e???t?? ?? de a?t? t??

?p?? t?a??d?das?a???, d?a t? e??? ?a? e?e?te?a ta s??ata e??a?

ta?ta e?e????. Arist. Poet. c. 4.]

[Footnote 53: Boil. Art. Poet.]

Thus, my Lord, we have taken a view of the Lyric poetry of the Ancients, as it appeared originally in the works of the earliest Poets, and as it was afterwards employed to enliven a train of more elegant and delicate sentiment. I have attempted, in the course of this enquiry, to follow the lights which Antiquity throws on this subject as closely as possible, to explain facts by placing them in connection, and to ill.u.s.trate reasoning by example.

Your Lords.h.i.+p's acquaintance with the principles of civil Government, and your experience of the effects of education have enabled you to observe the _character_, which the Manners _of an age_ stamp upon the productions of the Authors who live in it. Experience will convince us, that these general revolutions resemble more nearly than we are apt to imagine at first view, the circ.u.mstances of an Individual at the different periods of life. In one age he is captivated by the beauties of description, at another he is fond of the deductions of Philosophy; his opinions vary with his years, and his actions, as directed by these, are proportionably diversified. In all these circ.u.mstances however, the original bias which he received from Nature remains unalterable, and the peculiarity of his character appears conspicuous, notwithstanding the accidental diversity of fluctuating sentiments. It is to be expected in such a situation, that changes similar to these will usually take place in arts which are susceptible of perpetual mutation; and of this a particular instance is exhibited in the preceding detail. Another branch of this subject remains to be considered, and on this I shall give your Lords.h.i.+p the trouble of perusing a few remarks in a subsequent letter.

Permit me only to observe, from what hath already been advanced, that the ingredients of Genius are often bestowed by Nature, when the polish of Art is wanted to mould the original materials into elegant proportion. He who possesseth the former in the highest degree may be a Shakespear or an aeschylus; but both were united in forming the more perfect characters of Demosthenes and Homer.

LETTER II.

The view, my Lord, of the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients which has been taken in the preceding part of this Essay, may probably have suggested a Question to your Lords.h.i.+p, to which it is necessary that an answer should be given, before I enter upon that part of the subject which remains to be considered. From the observations formerly made, I am afraid that your Lords.h.i.+p has been looking upon my procedure, as you would have viewed that of the honest Irishman, who pulled an old house about his ears, before he had reflected that it was necessary to subst.i.tute a better in its room. In the same manner you will perhaps think, that I have taken a good deal of pains to point out the _Defects_ of Lyric Poetry, and to a.s.sign the _Causes_ which originally produced them; without however establis.h.i.+ng the rules of this branch of the Art, and without enquiring what proportion of poetic embellishment naturally belongs to it, considered as distinguished from every other species.

Permit me therefore to observe, that my intention in the preceding remarks will be greatly mistaken, if, when I have been endeavouring to expose the _abuse_ of imagination, it should be thought, either that I would wholly repress the excursions of this n.o.ble Faculty, or that I would confine its exercise within narrow limits. It must be obvious to every person who reflects on this subject, that Imagination presides over every branch of the Poetic Art, and that a certain infusion of her peculiar beauties is necessary to const.i.tute its real and essential character. The Poet therefore of every denomination may be said with great propriety in an higher sense than the Orator, "to paint to the eyes, and touch the soul, and combat with s.h.i.+ning arms[54]." It is from this consideration that Horace says, speaking of Poetry in general,

_Descriptas servare vices, operumque colores, Cur ego si nequeo ignoroque, Poeta salutor_[55]?

[Footnote 54: Les grands Orateurs n'emploient que des expressions riches capables de faire valoir leurs raisons. Ils tachent d'eblouir les yeux, et l'esprit, et pour ce sujet ils ne combattent qu'avec des armes brillantes. Lam. Rhet. Liv. IV.

c. 13.]

[Footnote 55: Hor. de Arte Poet.]

Though the influence of imagination on every species of Poetry is so obvious, as not to stand in need of ill.u.s.tration, yet we must observe at the same time, that this power is exerted in different degrees[56], as the Poet is led by the nature of that subject to which his Genius hath received the most remarkable bias. Thus the simple beauties of the Eclogue would appear in the same light, when transposed to the Epopee, as plants brought to forced vegetation in a Green-house must do to those who have seen them flouris.h.i.+ng in their native soil, and ripened by the benignity of an happier climate. In the one case they are considered as unnatural productions, whose beauty is surpa.s.sed by the Natives of the soil; in the other they are regarded as just and decent ornaments, whose real excellence is properly estimated. The same remark may be applied indiscriminately to all the other branches of this art. Though they are originally the offspring of _one Parent_, yet there are certain characteristic marks, by which a general resemblance is fully distinguished from perfect similarity.

[Footnote 56: Una cuique proposita lex, suus decor est. Habet tamen omnis Eloquentia aliquid commune. Quintil. Inst.i.t. Lib. X c. II.]

It is necessary to observe in general on this subject, that whatever degree of superiority the reasoning Faculty ought ultimately to possess in the sphere of Composition, we are not to consider this Power as acting the same part in the work of a Poet, which it should always act in that of a Philosopher. In the performance of the latter, an appeal to reason is formally stated, and is carried on by the process of connected argumentation; whereas in that of the former the Judgment is _princ.i.p.ally_ employed in the disposition of materials[57]. Thus the Philosopher and the Poet are equally ent.i.tled to the character of judicious, when the arguments of the one are just and conclusive, and when the images of the other are apposite and natural.

[Footnote 57: In the Epopee we judge of the Genius of the Poet, by the variety and excellence of those materials with which Imagination enricheth his subject. His Judgment appears in the disposition of particular images, and in the general relation which every subordinate part bears to the princ.i.p.al action of the Poem. Thus it is the business of this Faculty, as an ingenious Critic says, "Considerer comme un corps qui no devoit pas avoir des membres de natures differentes, et independens les uns des autres." Bossu du Poem. Epiq. Liv. II. ch. 2. It is true indeed, that Tragedy is rather an address to the pa.s.sions than to the imagination of mankind. To the latter however we must refer all those finer strokes of poetic painting, which actuate so forcibly the affections and the heart. We may, in short, easily conceive the importance of a warm imagination to the Dramatic Poet, by reflecting upon the coldness and indifference with which we peruse those pieces, which are not enlivened by the sallies of this Faculty when it is properly corrected. Though we must acknowledge that Pa.s.sion seldom adopts the images of description, yet it must be owned at the same time, that neither can a person who wants imagination feel with sensibility the impulse of the Pa.s.sions.

A Poet may even merit a great encomium who excels in painting the effects, and in copying the language of Pa.s.sion, though the Disposition of his work may be otherwise irregular and faulty.

Thus Aristotle says of a celebrated dramatic Poet, ?a? ? ????p?d??