Descriptive Poetry.

good; all distinct ideas are formed upon particulars. There should also be uniformity in the circumstances selected. In describing a great object, every circumstance brought forward should tend to aggrandize; and in describing a gay object, all the circumstances should tend to beautify it. Lastly, the circumstances in description should be expressed with conciseness and simplicity.

The largest and fullest descriptive performance in perhaps any language, is Thompson's Seasons; a work which possesses very uncommon merit. The style is splendid and strong, but sometimes harsh and indistinct. He is an animated and beautiful describer; for he had a feeling heart and a warm imagination. He studied nature with care; was enamoured of her beauties; and had the happy talent of painting them like a master. To show the power of a single well-chosen circumstance in heightening a description, the following passage may be produced from his summer, where, relating the effects of heat in the torrid zone, he is led to take notice of the pestilence that destroyed the English fleet at Carthagena under Admiral Vernon.

-You, gallant Vernon, saw

The Miserable scene; you, pitying, saw
To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm;
Saw the deep racking pang; the ghastly form
The lip pale quivering, and the beamless eye...

No more with ardour bright; you heard the groans
Of agonizing ships form shore to shore;
Heard nightly plunged amid the sullen waves
The frequent corse.-

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Descriptive Poetry.

All the circumstances here selected tend to heighten the dismal scene; but the last image is the most striking in the picture.

Of descriptive narration there are beautiful examples in Parnell's Tale of the Hermit. The setting forth of the hermit to visit the world, his meeting a companion, and the houses in which they are entertained, of the vain man, the covetous man, and the good man, are pieces of highly finished painting. But the richest and the most remarkable of all descriptive poems in the English language, are the Allegro and the Penseroso of Milton. They are the store-house whence many succeeding poets have enriched their descriptions, and are inimitably fine poems. Take, for instance, the following lines from the Penseroso :

-I walk unseen

On the dry, smooth-shaven green,
To behold the wandering moon
Riding near her highest noon;
And oft, as if her head she bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Oft on a plat of rising ground
I hear the far-off curfew sound
Over some wide watered shore
Swinging slow with solemn roar;
Or, if the air will not permit,
Some still removed place will fit,
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom;

Far from all resort of mirth,

Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm,

To bless the doors from nightly harm;
Or let my lamp at midnight hour
Be seen in some high, lonely tower,
Exploring Plato, to unfold

What worlds, or what vast regions hold

Descriptive Poetry.

Th' immortal mind, that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshy nook;
And of those dæmons, that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground.

Here are no general expressions; all is picturesque, expressive, and concise. One strong point of view is exhibited to the reader; and the impression made, is lively and interesting.

The

Both Homer and Virgil excel in poetical description. In the second Eneid, the sacking of Troy is so particularly described, that the reader finds himself in the midst of the scene. death of Priam is a masterpiece of description. Homer's battles are all wonderful. Ossian 100 paints in strong colours, and is remarkable for touching the heart. He thus pourtrays the ruins of Balclutha: “I have seen the walls of Balelutha; but they were desolate. The fire had resounded within the halls; and the voice of the people is now heard no more. The stream of Clutha was removed from its place by the fall of the walls; the thistle shook there its lonely head; the moss whistled to the wind. The fox looked out of the window; the rank grass waved round his head. Desolate is the dwelling of Moina: silence is in the house of her fathers."

Much of the beauty of descriptive poetry depends upon a proper choice of epithets. Many poets are often careless in this particular; hence the multitude of unmeaning and redundant epithets. Hence the "Liquidi Fontes" of Virgil, and the "Prata canis Albicant Pruinis” of Horace. observe that water is liquid and that snow is white, is little better than mere tautology. Every epithet should add a new idea to the word which it qualifies. So in Milton:

To

The description here is strengthened by the epithets. The wandering feet, the unbottomed abyss, the palpable obscure, the uncouth way, the indefatigable wing, are all happy expressions.

THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS.

IN treating of the various kinds of poetry, that of the Scriptures justly deserves a place. The sacred books present us the most ancient monuments sf poetry now extant, and furnish a curious subject of criticism. They display the taste of a remote age and country. They exhibit a singular, but beautiful species of composition; and it must give great pleasure, if we find the beauty and dignity of the style adequate to the weight and importance of the matter. Dr. Lowth's learned treatise on the poetry of the Hebrews ought to be perused by all. It is an exceedingly valuable work both for elegance of style and justness of criticism. We cannot do better than to follow the track of this ingenious author.

Among the Hebrews, poetry was cultivated from the earliest times. Its general construction is singular and peculiar. It consists in dividing every period into correspondent, for the most part into equal members, which answer to each other

The Poetry of the Hebrews.

both in sense and sound. In the first member of a period a sentiment is expressed; and in the sec ond the same sentiment is amplified, or repeated in different terms, or sometimes contrasted with its opposite. Thus, “Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen; his wonders among all people."

This form of poetical composition is deduced from the manner in which the Hebrews sung their sacred hymns. These were accompanied with music, and performed by bands of singers and musicians, who alternately answered each other. One band began the hymn thus: "The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice;" and the chorus, or semichorus, took up the corresponding versicle ; "Let the multitudes of the isles be glad thereof."

But, independent of its peculiar mode of construction, the sacred poetry is distinguished by the highest beauties of strong, concise, bold, and figurative expression. Conciseness and strength are two of its most remarkable characters.

The

sentences are always short. The same thought is never dwelt upon long. Hence the sublimity of the Hebrew poetry; and all writers, who at tempt the sublime, might profit much by imitating in this respect the style of the Old Testament. No writings abound so much in bold and animated figures, as the sacred books. Metaphors, comparisons, allegories, and personifications, are par ticularly frequent. But to relish these figures justly, we must transport ourselves into Judea, and attend to particular circumstances in it.