Pastoral Poetry and Poets, ancient and modern-Theocritus-pas- Origin of name-Translations of Epigrams and small pieces from Plato-Speusippus, Mnasalcus-Nossis-Asclepiades-Leonidas of Tarentum-Nicias-Diotimus-Aratus-Hegesippus-Calli- POETRY AND POETS. CHAPTER I. posed. WHAT IS POETRY? Why is it that Homer, Virgil, Dante, Subject proShakspeare, Milton, Goethe, Wordsworth, and the rest of those whom we call POETS, have names which outlive and outshine those of the warriors, statesmen, and philosophers of the world? By what charm has it been that the climates of the globe, the varying fashions of diverse ages, the distinct national minds of races otherwise unconnected, have been bound together and made one? These are the questions to which we wish to return full and satisfactory answers. Let not our readers be alarmed at the announcement. The Philosophy of Poetry may have a somewhat startling sound; but we shall endeavour to make its explanation verify the assertion of own poet, where he says, How charming is Divine Philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, Aristotle, in the outset of a far drier treatise than our chapters on Poetry,* took some pains to state what sort of a hearer befitted his subject; to frame, we suppose, the minds of his readers aright, that they might be, without the labour of tedious dissuasion and instruction, apt recipients of what he was about to deliver. By us also something of the sort must be set down. For there are many prejudices, and more errors, current respecting our subject. * Ethics, book 1. chap. 3. B Attend then, gentle readers, and let us exercise for a few moments a mild influence over your thoughts. Objections to If you would understand these chapters, the first prejudice which we call upon you to lay aside, is the widely spread Poetry. Answered, 6 notion, that Poetry is a trifle. The dreams of poets' are spoken of with contempt, as little better than the ravings of madmen. A poetical license' is used as denoting a mis-statement or exaggeration. Poetry in general is classed with what is called light reading, and supposed not to be worthy of the attention of sober and serious minds. 'Poems and works of fiction' are opprobriously coupled together. The work of the poet is supposed to be a mere castle in the air, serving the purpose of exciting temporary wonder, but leaving no basis of reality, and not tangible by the searcher for truth. To confute all this would be to anticipate our future reasonings. We would only remind you, that if Poetry be a trifle, it is the greatest of trifles. It is the vehicle in which knowledge was first conveyed to the human race: the chosen instrument of the providence of God, by which scattered and savage nations were brought into one place and under one law; the language of the Holy Spirit himself, wherein things beyond man's knowledge are shadowed forth, and the deepest mysteries clothed in melody and light. It has been in all ages the delight of the great, the wise, and the good; from the sweet singer of Israel, whose strains are with us, whether he meditated them on the desert-pastures, or in the state-chambers of Zion: from the sage and gentle Plato, who has hallowed the clear Ilissus and its plane tree in 'thoughts that move harmonious numbers;' to Dante, the morning star of the Reformation to our own statesmen, Spenser, Sidney, and Raleigh; our divines, Donne and Young, Herbert and Crashaw. It has ever been the teacher, hallower, and ameliorator of mankind: the poems of Homer and Hesiod contained the history, mythology, (which was the religion), laws, military and civil, husbandry, and domestic usages, of Ancient Greece: from those of their dramatic writers are brought stately sentences of moral import, which are quoted even in the Scriptures of Truth; in descriptive poets of all ages are contained lovely and melodious passages, which form the textbook of a nation's feeling, and unknit the brow of worldly care ; the night scenes in Homer and Milton; the 'meditations, fancy free,' of our beloved Shakspeare; the deep droppings of music from the lips of our venerated Wordsworth. More especially has poetry been the teacher of men, when a teacher is most necessary; in the age when the mind is emerging from subjection, when the feelings are strong and ill-subdued, and the reason unstable and weak. Who does not remember, (for no man has always been unfeeling) when this wonderful world first opened its stores to his mind and heart? when the master key was at length furnished, by which all the treasures of beauty were unlocked to him? Who cannot trace the influence on his thoughts and feelings, then enjoyed and profited by, now, alas, too little regarded, which followed his first perusal of the great kings of song?' If Poetry then be a trifle (as in one sense, what is not ?) it is one which yet deserves examination, as having exercised, and still continuing to exercise, very important influences on the minds and destinies of men. Next must be discussed the fallacy on which is grounded the complaint of men of the world, from Thucydides downwards, that Poetry is falsehood—that poets are misrepresenters of facts and men-that their descriptions are exaggerated, their narratives unlikely, their sentiments unfit for practice. But the refutation of this error will at once lead us to the actual discussion and answering of the question which we placed at the head of our chapter-WHAT IS POETRY?-- for we cannot satisfy you that it is not all the things above mentioned, except by exhibiting it to you as it is that seeing its real character and uses, you may turn with the more loathing from the unsightly caricature of it which is often placed before you. defined First then (for such as know it not) we must premise that Poetry in the Greek language, from which all terms of art and philosophy are derived, the word Poetry signifies creation' a |