POETRY. 
464 
Persic language is found to possess an ame- 
nity and an elegance which render it emi- 
nently susceptible of poetical beauty. Its 
poets, like those of antient Greece, have the 
power of rendering language subservient to 
their pleasure, and of clothing original con- 
ceptions in a new-created word. 
Several Arabic and Persian poems are of 
the epic and dramatic cast; but the compo- 
sitions most inviting to the European for 
translation, are of an amatory, elegiac, and 
lyric character. In general, Oriental poetry 
deviates from the primitive simplicity so con- 
spicuous in Hebrew compositions, and often 
degenerates into affectation and bombast. In 
their most admired authors indeed, a passion 
for the gaudy and the gorgeous is ever predo- 
minant. 'I he magnificence of their materials is 
-disguised by their fantastic arrangement; and 
the eye which has dwelt with delight on the 
chaste graces of classical literature, soon 
turns with disgust from the jewelled turban 
and the barbaric gold. There are, however, 
some passages, particularly in braminical po- 
etry, which are perfectly simple and sub- 
lime. Of these a noble specimen is given 
by sir William Jones in the hymn to Nar- 
rayna. 
Of classical poetry. 
The germs of genius scattered through 
Oriental compositions with wild luxuriance, 
appear in classical poetry displayed in full 
perfection and beauty. To what causes the 
pre-eminence of antient Greece in this part 
of literature is to be attributed, it would here 
be futile to conjecture. From the suscepti- 
bility of his language, the poet was enabled to 
exhibit the same idea under a new aspect, 
and to give to every fluctuation of feeling a 
permanent expression. If the vivacity of his 
descriptions fascinated the imagination, his 
numbers dwelt with no less enchantment on 
the ear. The length and shortness of sylla- 
bles in the Greek and Homan languages, 
which constituted their quantities, was deter- 
mined ■ by rules no less accurate than the 
notes in music ; and on the proper distribu- 
tion and adjustment of these quantities, the 
harmony of their metre depended. A stated 
interval of time was allowed to the pronun- 
ciation of every verse. To facilitate the la- 
bour of composition, artificial combinations of 
syllables by blie name of feet, were invented ; 
and by the number of these, and the quantities 
included in them, the character of the verse 
was ascertained. 
To these combinations various names were 
given ; the most important were the spondee, 
composed of two long syllables, and the 
dactyl, formed by one long and two short 
■syllables. These were solely employed in 
the construction of the hexameter verse, of 
which an imitation has been vainly attempt- 
ed in the English language. The pronunci- 
ation of the Greek and Latin languages is, 
indeed, almost as totally lost to us, as that of 
the Hebrew; but such is the exquisite me- 
chanism of their metre, that their verses can- 
not be read without producing a rich and 
-often a melodious intonation, perceptible 
even to the unlettered ear. 
In the happy regions of Greece, it is un- 
certain what species of poetry was first cul- 
tivated. Fables were compositions of great 
-antiquity.; the ode formed a part of religious 
worship ; the pastoral must have been In- 
troduced in an age sufficiently refined to 
relish simplicity. The immortal poems of 
Homer were composed at an early epoch of 
Grecian literature, and, as is well known, 
transmitted by oral tradition to a more po- 
lished age. Of this extraordinary man, so 
much has been said, that it would appear diffi- 
cult to say any thing which should not now be 
trivial or impertinent. This arduous task the 
perseverance of modern criticism lias, how- 
ever, achieved ; and a scholastic sect is now 
known to exist who would sacrilegiously re- 
move the shrine of Homer from the temple of 
fame, and abandon to superstitious credulity 
a name sanctified by the enthusiasm and ve- 
neration of preceding ages. 
It is pretended that the Iliad and Odvssey 
were compo-ed at different eras, by various 
authors ; and t hat these desultory tales of Troy 
were at length collocated and edited by some 
ingenious critic, who might possibly have 
been distinguished by the appellation of Ho- 
mer. The novelty, and, perhaps, the extra- 
vagance of this hypothesis, have obtained for it 
partisans among those professed sceptics and 
segregates who can perceive no difference 
between vulgar errors and popular opinions, 
and whose ambition it is to recede as far as 
possible from all participation in the sen- 
timents or convictions of other men. It is 
generally admitted that the excellence in 
which the supposed Homer stands unrivalled, 
is the energy of his conceptions, which. gives 
to his personages, his scenes, and his descrip- 
tions, a real and individual existence. With 
such felicity are his characters cast, that no 
reader of feeling can be at a loss to conceive 
how Achilles would look, or Nestor speak, or 
Ulysses act, on any imaginary occasion. The 
unprejudiced will decide whether such ex- 
quisite .harmony of design could have been 
the result of chance, or whether each book 
had its separate Iiomer, or whether they were 
all planned and executed by one. 
In lyrical composition, the most popular 
was the heroic ode. The name of Pindar has 
descended. to us with honour; but the poems 
which inspired in his compatriots the most 
exalted enthusiasm, are but imperfectly un- 
derstood by the student, and are almost im- 
practicable to translation. The public reci- 
tation of the ode was accompanied both by 
music and dancing: a circumstance to which 
its structure was obviously adapted. The two 
first stanzas, called the strophe and the anti- 
strophe, were of equal length. In the first 
part the performers approached the altars of 
their god ; in the latter, the dance being in- 
verted, they measured back their steps to 
their former place, where whilst they sung 
the epode they stood still. It appears that 
this form was peculiar to the heroic ode. 
1 here were other lyrical compositions of a 
different cast. Sappho’s poems respire only 
tender, impassioned sentiment; those of Ana- 
creon, whether amatory or convivial, are 
equally remote from the sublimity of Pindar, 
and the melting softness of Sappho. The 
fervid imagination of Pindar is compared by 
Horace to the impetuosity of a mountain 
torrent : 
Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres 
Quern super notas aluere ripas, 
Fervet, immensusque-ruit profund© 
Pindar us ore: 
Pindar, like some fierce torrent swoln with 
showers, 
Or sudden cataracts of melting snow, 
Which from tne Alps its headlong deluge 
pours. 
And foams and thunders o’er the vales below, 
With desultory fury borne along, 
Rolls his impetuous, vast, unfathomable song. 
West. 
The heroic ode is evidently of a dramatic 
character, and was the primitive source from 
whence the regular drama was produced. 
Tragedy originated in the hymns sung in 
honour of Bacchus ; and its name was de- 
rived from the goat, which was the victim 
consecrated to that deity. The invention of 
dialogue and action belongs to Eschylus ; the 
original ode was preserved in the chorus, 
which constituted the popular part of the en- 
tertainment. The chorus, like the band of a 
modern orchestra, was composed of several 
persons who recited in a different manner 
from the other performers. We learn from 
Horace that their business was to deduce from 
the passing scene some lesson of morality, or 
to inculcate on the spectator some religious 
precept. The intervention of the chorus, 
which is now rejected by the most zealous 
votaries of Greece, is not more repugnant to 
our ideas of propriety than many other usages 
ot the antient stage : the performers appear- 
ed in masks; in their recitations they were 
constantly accompanied by musical instru- 
ments, by which the voice was sustained, and 
the melody of the verse rendered sensible to 
an immense audience. The rules ot the an- 
tient drama were suited to its institution. 
The unities of time and place were necessary 
in a performance to which the auxiliary re- 
sources of modern machinery were wanting, 
and from which all the magical illusions of the 
modern scene were precluded. The tragedies 
of Euripides and Sophocles were master- 
pieces in their kind, but would now probably 
be little relished even by scholars and scho- 
lastic enthusiasts. 
Comedy, like tragedy, originally consisted 
of a chorus, which derived its name from the 
god Comus. The rudiments of the comic art 
may, perhaps, be detected in the satyrs, a 
sort of interlude annexed to tragedies, in 
which the scene was rural, and the person- 
ages Satyrs, or sylvan deities. In the plays 
of Aristophanes, living characters were intro- 
duced, and Socrates beheld himself ridiculed 
on the stage. This abuse a better taste cor- 
rected ; and the comedies of Menander, 
which were imitated by Terence, exhibited 
only interesting pictures of domestic life. 
The chorus at first appendant on comedy, 
was gradually changed into the prologue, a 
personage who carefully apprized the spec- 
tators ot all they were to see on the stage. 
The Roman writers were modelled on those 
of Greece, and it was long before they at- 
tempted to emulate their masters ; yet Ennius, 
one of their elder poets, produced the satire, 
a species of miscellaneous poetry purely Ro- 
man, which was destined to receive perfec- 
tion from Horace. With equal originality, 
Lucretius wrote his metaphysical poem, m 
which are developed the philosophical systems 
of his age ; but it was not till the era of Au- 
gustus that the bards of Latium established 
their equality with those of Greece. It was 
then that Horace, not satisfied with having 
