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"Quæque ipse miserrima vidi

Et quorum pars magna fui.”—Virg., Æn. II. 5.

In fine, the style should be suitable to the subject and to the characters of the personages, and above all, it ought to be diversified and enriched with all the beauties of poetry.

CONCLUSION.

432. In a word, an epic poem, to deserve the name, by way of excellence, ought to charm and captivate all the faculties of the mind, and, so to speak, all the bodily senses. It ought to please the ear by the grandeur, sweetness, and diversified harmony of its numbers; it ought to delight the imagination by the vividness and colouring of its pictures, which are sometimes pleasing, sometimes terrible, sometimes simple, and at others sublime and marvellous; it ought to charm the heart by the nobleness and dignity of the characters, by the contrast of virtues, the shock of opposite passions, and by its touching and dramatic scenes; and lastly, it ought to captivate the mind by the probability, the unity, and greatness of the action, by the skilful disposition and unravelling of the plots, by an uninterrupted and always diversified succession of scenes, and incidents, which, always enhancing each other, and hurrying the reader from one striking or beautiful passage to another, gives him the anticipation of something still more charming in the perspective, and which keeps his curiosity constantly alive, and seduces him on, in spite of himself, to the conclusion of the poem.

Hence, and we repeat it once more, the epic poet should avail himself of whatever is most beautiful, most terrible, most imposing, most noble, and most perfect that the heavens, earth, hell, men, celestial and infernal spirits can offer. His limits are nothing less than the universe, and all that it contains is required to contribute in the formation of a poem which is the master-piece of human genius.

The models in this species of composition are Homer, Virgil, Tasso and Milton.

ART. 3. OF Poems analoGOUS TO THE EPIC POEM.

433. Every poem which contains the narration of an action great or small is founded upon the same principles as an epic poem, and must be subject to the same rules in the conduct of the action, the painting of the characters, and in the form of the narration.

SECT. 1. OF HEROIC POEMS, COMICO-HEROIC, AND
MOCK-HEROIC POEMS.

We may distinguish under this head, particularly, heroic poems, comic-heroic poems, and mock-heroic poems.

434. An heroic poem differs from an epic poem either in the duration of the action or the absence of the marvellous.

435. A comic-heroic poem is the narration of a trivial or common action, generally of a ridiculous It may admit the marvellous, and the poet

nature.

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may assume the epic tone and style, both of which enhance the ridiculous.

Ex.-Le Lutin, of Boileau; Pope's Rape of the Lock.

436. The mock-heroic poem is the narration of an amusing or laughable action. It neither admits the marvellous, nor the epic style and tone. The style should be light, playful, and graceful.

Ex.-Gresset, Vert. Vert. La pipe cassée. Butler's Hudibras.

SECT. 2. OF DIDACTIC POEMS.

437. Among great poems may also be ranked didactic poems, which contain a body of principles or precepts, relative to an art or science, clothed with the charms of poetry.

438. The direct and acknowledged object of the didactic poet is to instruct, without borrowing the veil of fiction or of allegory. This species of poetry does not differ, fundamentally, from didactic works. in general, and, therefore, order should be its first and most essential quality. If the writer, in his character of poet, should, at any time, transgress on this point, it is only in the details and illustrations of his subject that any deviation from this prime quality of didactic composition can be permitted him. (v. No. 229.)

439. It is, however, in the form of the work that the poet ought to discover himself. He will clothe the principles and rules which he teaches with all

the ornaments of style of which his subject is susceptible. He will embellish his poem by brilliant and striking comparisons, by rich and glowing descriptions, and occasionally he may avail himself of interesting digressions, provided they are easily and naturally introduced by the subject, and tend to illustrate it. Such digressions should not be lengthy, and the poet should show a masterly skill in returning to the discussion of his subject by an easy and natural transition. As an example, take Virgil's description of the prognostics of the weather from the sun, and his digression on the prodigies that accompanied the death of Cæsar:

"Sol, quoque et exoriens, et cum se condet in undas, Signa dabit," etc.-Georg. I., 438.

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Ille etiam cæcos instare tumultus

Sæpe monet," etc.

"Ille etiam extincto miseratus Cæsare Romam," etc.

Ibid., 464, et seq.

And observe with what address he returns to his subject:

"Quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas, tot bella per orbem, non ullus aratro

Dignus honos; squalent abductus arva colonis," etc. Ibid., 505, et seq.

As models in this species of composition may be mentioned Hesiod's Works and Days; Virgil's Georgics; Horace's Art of Poetry; Lucretius' De Rerum Natura; Boileau's Art of Poetry; Racine, the younger's, Poême de la Religion; Akenside's

Pleasures of the Imagination; Armstrong on Health; Pope's Essay on Man.

440. To this class of poetical composition may also be referred some descriptive poems, such as Thomson's Seasons, Cowper's Table Talk, Young's Night Thoughts.

APPENDIX.

ON THE MEANS OF ACQUIRING THE ART OF COMPOSITION.

441. General and particular principles may be highly useful in guiding genius during the time of composition, and directing taste in the judgment it forms respecting literary productions, but they cannot serve as a fixed and invariable rule to all persons, and in all possible cases, in the art itself of composition.

442. Besides, as we have observed in the beginning of this work, (Nos. 3 and 4,) the study of the best models, and the constant practice of composition, will teach both the theory, and especially the practice, of the art much more surely and easily than any precepts or rules that may be laid down.

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