Six Centuries of English Poetry Part 20

Give ample room, and verge enough The characters of h.e.l.l to trace.

Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright The shrieks of death, thro' Berkley's roof that ring, Shrieks of an agonizing king!{19} She-wolf of France,{20} with unrelenting fangs, That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled mate, From thee be born, who o'er thy country hangs The scourge of heaven.{21} What terrors round him wait!

Amazement in his van, with Flight combined, And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind.

II. 2.

"Mighty victor, mighty lord!

Low on his funeral couch he lies!{22} No pitying heart, no eye, afford A tear to grace his obsequies.

Is the sable warrior{23} fled?

Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead.

The swarm, that in thy noontide beam were born, Gone to salute the rising morn.

Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,{24} While proudly riding o'er the azure realm In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.

II. 3.

"Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare; Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl{25} A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.

Heard ye the din of battle{26} bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse?

Long years of havoc urge their destined course, And thro' the kindred squadrons mow their way.

Ye towers of Julius,{27} London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed, Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame, And spare the meek usurper's{28} holy head.

Above, below, the rose of snow, Twined with her blus.h.i.+ng foe,{29} we spread: The bristled boar{30} in infant-gore Wallows beneath the th.o.r.n.y shade.

Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.

III. 1.

"Edward,{31} lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Half of thy heart{32} we consecrate.

(The web is wove. The work is done.) Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn: In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, They melt, they vanish from my eyes.

But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height Descending slow their glittering skirts unroll?

Visions of glory, spare my aching sight!{33} Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!

No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail.

All hail, ye genuine kings, Britannia's issue, hail!

III. 2.

"Girt with many a baron bold Sublime their starry fronts they rear; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old In bearded majesty, appear.

In the midst a form divine!{34} Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face,{35} Attempered sweet to virgin-grace.

What strings symphonious tremble in the air, What strains of vocal transport round her play.

Hear from the grave, great Taliessin,{36} hear; They breathe a soul to animate thy clay.

Bright Rapture calls, and soaring as she sings, Waves in the eye of heaven her many-colored wings.

III. 3.

"The verse adorn again Fierce War, and faithful Love,{37} And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest.

In buskined measures{38} move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast.

A voice, as of the cherub-choir, Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire.

Fond,{39} impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day?

To-morrow he repairs{40} the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray.

Enough for me; with joy I see The different doom our fates a.s.sign.

Be thine despair, and sceptred care; To triumph, and to die, are mine."

He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night.

NOTES.

This poem was published in 1757. "It is founded," says Gray, "on a tradition current in Wales that Edward I., when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death." The argument is as follows: "The army of Edward I., as they march through a deep valley, and approach Mount Snowdon, are suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure seated on the summit of an inaccessible rock, who, with a voice more than human, reproaches the king with all the desolation and misery which he had brought on his country; foretells the misfortunes of the Norman race, and with prophetic spirit declares that all his cruelty shall never extinguish the n.o.ble ardor of poetic genius in this island; and that men shall never be wanting to celebrate true virtue and valor in immortal strains, to expose vice and infamous pleasure, and boldly censure tyranny and oppression. His song ended, he precipitates himself from the mountain, and is swallowed up by the river that rolls at its feet."

The tradition upon which the poem is said to be founded, if it ever had any existence, is in great part mythical. Edward I. did indeed conquer Wales, but there is no evidence that he ma.s.sacred or even persecuted the Welsh bards. A hundred years after his time their number and influence had not been diminished.

This poem is a good example of an English ode constructed strictly after Greek models. It will be observed that it is written, not in uniform stanzas, but in three uniform parts, each of which contains three stanzas. The first of these parts is called the _Strophe_, or Turn; the second, the _Antistrophe_, or Counter-turn; the third, the _Epode_, or After-song. The origin of these terms may be traced to the use of the ode as an important part of the entertainment presented in the ancient Greek theatre. The Strophe was sung while the chorus moved from one side of the orchestra to the other; the Antistrophe while the reversed movement was being made; and the Epodos after the singers had returned to their original position. The accurate perception of harmony and the relations.h.i.+p between the different parts of the choral ode, which enabled the Greeks to enter thoroughly into its enjoyment, is unknown among moderns. Hence, there have been but few attempts in the English language to construct odes strictly after the Greek model. Most of our odes are poems relating to themes of greater or less varying length, and divided into many irregular stanzas of varying lengths and metres. Such are Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale," and Wordsworth's "Ode on the Intimations of Immortality," all of which are odes in form and style, although differing from their Greek prototype and from one another. Of all English poets, none have worked so thoroughly on the ancient model as Gray, although to Congreve must be given the honor of being the first to attempt this species of English composition.

1. =crimson wing.= Explain the meaning of this line.

2. Compare this line with Shakespeare, "King John," Act v, sc. 1:

"Mocking the air with colors idly spread."

3. =hauberk.= From A.-S. _heals_, the neck, and _beorgan_, to protect.

"The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion."--_Gray._

4. =Cambria.= Wales. An ancient legend says it was so called from Camber, the son of Brute. This legendary king of Britain divided his dominions among his three sons: to Locrin he gave the southern part (England), which was called Loegria; to Albanact the northern (Scotland), Albania; and to Camber, the western (Wales), Cambria.

5. =Snowdon.= "Snowdon was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract which the Welsh themselves call _Cragium-eryri_. It included all the highlands of Caernarvons.h.i.+re and Merioneths.h.i.+re as far east as the river Conway."--_Gray._ It was in the spring of 1283 that the army of Edward I. forced its way through the defiles of these mountains.

=s.h.a.ggy.= See "Lycidas," 54:

"Nor on the s.h.a.ggy top of Mona high."

6. =Gloster.= "Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, son-in-law to King Edward."--_Gray._

7. =Mortimer.= Edward, or Edmond, de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, one of King Edward's ablest leaders. It was by one of his knights that the Welsh prince Llewellyn was slain in December, 1282.

8. =rock.= One of the heights of Snowdon, probably Pen-maen-mawr, the extreme northern point of the range, a few miles from the mouth of the Conway River.

9. "The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, representing the Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel. There are two of these paintings (both believed originals), one at Florence, the other in the Duke of Orleans's collection at Paris."--_Gray._

10. Explain the meaning of this line.

11. =Hoel.= A Welsh prince and famous bard, some of whose poems are still extant. Cadwallo and Urien, named below, were other celebrated bards.

The name of Modred is not so well known; it is possible that Gray refers to "the famous Myrddin ab Morvyn, called Merlyn the Wild, a disciple of Taliessin--the form of the name being changed for the sake of euphony."

It is not entirely clear whether the Llewellyn mentioned here was a bard, or the famous but unfortunate prince who lost his life in the war with King Edward. (See note 7, above.) Is it the lay sung in memory of mild Llewellyn? Or is it the lay which soft Llewellyn sang?

12. =hushed the stormy main.= Shakespeare says:

"The rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid's music."

--_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act ii, sc. 1.