POETRY. 
470 
Under spread ensigns marching, might pass 
through 
V. th horse and chariots rank’d in loose ar- 
ia V. 
So wide they stood ; and like a furnace-mouth 
C ast forth redounding smoke, and ruddy 
flame. 
Before their eyes in sudden view appear 
The secrets of the hoary deep ; a dark 
Illimitable ocean, without bound, 
Without dimension, where length, breadth, 
and highth, 
And time, and place, ate lost.” 
Sublimity is produced by grandeur of sen- 
timent : 
“ Farewell, happy fields. 
Where joy for ever dwells. Hail, horrors! hail. 
Infernal world ! and thou, profoundest hell, 
Receive thy new possessor, one who brings 
A mind not to be chang’d by place or time. 
The mind is its own place ; and in itself| 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” 
In sublime composition no image should 
be introduced which is not calculated to. im- 
press the mind with feelings of solemnity. 
The following description of Satan exempli- 
fies the union of sublime imagery, with sub- 
limity of sentiment. There is even something 
like pathos in the concluding passage : 
“ He, above the rest 
In shape and gesture proudly eminent. 
Stood like a tower. IT is form had not yet lost 
All her original brightness ; nor appear’d 
Less than arch-angel ruined, and the excess 
Of glorv obscur’d; as when the sun, new-risen, 
Locks through the horizontal misty air. 
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon, 
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds 
On half the nations, and with fear of change 
Perplexes mouarchs. Darkened, so yet shone 
Above them all the arch-angel ; but his face 
JDeep scars of thunder had entrench’d, and 
care , 
Sat on his faded cheek ; but under brows 
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride 
Waiting revenge ; crue'/his eye, but cast 
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold 
The fellows of his crime (the followers rather) 
Far other once beheld in bliss, condemn’d 
For ever now to have their lot in pain. 
Millions of spirits, for his fault, amerc’d 
Of heaven, and from eternal splendour Hung, 
For his revolt ; yet faithful how they stood ; 
Their glory withered, as when heaven’s fire 
Hath "scathed the forest oak, or mountain 
pine. 
With singed top their stately growth, though 
bare. 
Stands on the blasted heath. He now pre- 
pared 
To speak, whereat their double ranks they 
bend 
From wing to wing, and half-inclose him 
round 
With all his peers: attention held them mute. 
Thrice he assay’d; and thrice, in spite of 
scorn, 
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth : at 
last 
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their 
way.” 
An energetic simplicity is essential to the 
sublime, which disclaims artificial ornament. 
I) escription includes many of the elements 
of poetry, and alternately produces emotions 
of sublimity and beauty. The figurative 
style is often assumed, in order to give more 
richness and vividness to description. The 
elements are thus embodied, and morn and 
evening are perpetually represented under 
some popular and pleasing image. Thus 
Milton personifies the morning: 
“ Now Morn, her early steps in the eastern 
clime 
Advancing, sowed the earth with orient 
pearl.” 
And Shakspeare : 
“ But see, the Morn, in russet mantle clad, 
Walks o’er the dews of yon high eastern hill.” 
Description is sometimes rendered more 
lively by the introduction of a figurative allu- 
sion. d ims, in the Allegro, Milton illustrates 
his description of sun-rise : 
“ Sometimes walking not unseen, 
By hedge-row elms, or hillocks green, 
Right against the eastern gate, 
Where the great sun begins his state, 
Rob’d in flames and amber bright, 
The clouds in thousand liveries flight.*’ 
In 11 Penseroso he again enlivens his ima- 
gery by an interest ng allusion: 
“ Missing thee, I walk unseen 
On the dry smooth-shaven green, 
To behold the wandering moon 
Riding near her highest noon, 
Like one that had been led astray 
Through the heaven’s wide pathless way; 
And oft as if her head she bow’d, 
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.” 
In Dryden’s poem of the Flower and the 
Leaf is the following beautiful illustration of 
the spring :• 
“ When first the tender blades of grass ap- 
peal - , 
And buds, that yet the breath of Eurus fear, 
Stand at the door of life, and ask to clothe the 
year.” 
Poetical description is either general or 
local, and admits of artificial or simple ima- 
gery. In the two following passages Pope 
exemplifies the difference of general and local 
description : 
“ Thy trees, fair Windsor, now slftill leave 
their wood, 
And half thy forests rush into my flood; 
Bear Britain’s thunder, and her cross display. 
To the bright regions of the rising day ; 
Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll. 
Where clearer flames glow round the frozen 
pole ; 
Or under southern skies exalt their sails, 
Led by new stars, and borne by spicy gales. 
For me the balm shall bleed, the amber How, 
The coral redden, and the ruby glow, 
The pearly shell its lucid globe enfold, 
And Phcebus warm the rip’ning ore to gold.” 
Flere the author dwells not sufficiently long 
on any object to leave a distinct picture on 
the mind. But in the ensuing lines the de- 
lineation is too bo!d to be missed : 
“In genial spring, beneath the quiv’ring shade, 
Where cooling vapours breathe along the 
mead, 
The patient fisher takes his silent stand. 
Intent, his angle trembling in his hand; 
With looks unmov'd he hopes the scaly 
breed, 
And eves the dancing cork and bending reed. 
Our plenteous streams a various race sUpjVyr 
The bright-ey'd perch, with lias of Tyrian 
dye ; 
d he silver eel, in shining volumes roll’d ; 
The yellow carp, in scales bedropt with gold,” 
The two following extracts from Milton 
happily illustrate the ditleivnce of artificial 
and simple imagery : 
“ Now the bright morning*slar, day’s har- 
binger, 
Comes dancing lrom the east, and leads with 
her 
The flowery May, who from her green lap 
throws 
The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose. 
Hail, beauteous May, that doth inspire 
Mirth, and youth, and a arm desire! 
Woods and groves arc of thy dressing. 
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.” 
“ While the plowman near at hand. 
Whistles o’er the furrow’d land; 
And the milkmaid singeth blithe. 
And the mower whets his si the, 
And every shepherd tells his tale 
Under the hawthorn in the dale.” 
In genera! description, it is the poet’s ob- 
ject to force on the mind a variety of bril- 
liant ideas and vivid impressions. In his local 
or individual delineations, he presents images 
palpable to the imagination, and almost to 
the senses; he stimulates latent feelings, or 
renovates forgotten sensations. In the com- 
bination of artificial imagery, he employs the 
power of novelty ; in that of simple images, 
he relies on the charm of truth. With the one 
the attention is awakened, by the other it is 
absorbed. The reader perceives in himself 
a capacity for forming associations till then 
unknown; but he is yet more pleased to 
retrace scenes and sentiments familiar to 
memory, and dear to the heart. In one in- 
stance he is astonished by the variety of 
the poet’s conceptions, in the other he is 
enchanted by the fidelity of his imitations. 
The magnificence of figurative language and 
metaphorical description extorts admiration ; 
the simplicity of natural images inspires de- 
light. In local description the poet should 
introduce only such objects as harmonize 
perfectly with his design. Thus in his deli- 
cious landscape of Eden, Milton carefully 
avoids the intrusion of exotic imagery : 
“ Thus was this place 
A happy rural seat, of various view's : 
Groves, whose rich trees w : ept odorous gums 
and balms ; 
Others, whose fruit burnished with golden 
rind 
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true 
(If true), here only, and of delicious taste. 
Betwixt them, lawns, or level downs, and 
flocks. 
Grazing the tender herb were interposed. 
Or palmy hillock, or the flow’ry top 
Of some irriguons valley, spreads her store ; 
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the 
rose. 
“ Another side umbrageous grots and caves 
Of cool recess, o’er which the mantling vine 
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps 
Luxuriant: meanwhile, murmuring waters 
fall 
Down the slope hill dispers’d ; or in a lake 
