Letters Concerning Poetical Translations Part 8

"Then strait commands, that at the warlike Sound Of _Trumpets_ loud and _Clarions_, be uprear'd His mighty Standard.--

Again,

"--Nor with less Dread, the loud Ethereal Trumpet from on High _'gan blow_.

Again,

"--Thus they Breathing united Force with fixed Thought Mov'd on _in Silence to soft Pipes_.

Who does not see Porpoises and Dolphins tumbling about in the Ocean when he reads this Line?

"--On smooth the Seal, And bended Dolphins play: part huge of Bulk, Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their Gate, Tempest the Ocean.--

How variously the Rivers run in these Verses?

"--So the watry Throng Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found, If steep, with Torrent rapture, if through plain Soft Ebbing.--

How is the Verse extended where the Whale lies at length upon the Ocean!

"--There Leviathan Hugest of living Creatures, on the Deep Stretch'd like a Promontory sleeps.--

How does the Line labour when the Elephant is working himself through the stiff Clay, whilst the lesser Animals sprout up as it were in an Instant!

"--Scarce thro' his Mould _Behemoth_, biggest born of Earth, upheav'd His Vastness.--

And,

"--Fleec'd the Flocks and bleating, rose As Plants.--

But I shall have occasion to take notice of this Subject hereafter.

IV. The fourth thing to be enquir'd into is, _The mixing of singular and plural Numbers_, in which _Milton_ excels.

"--Flowers were the Couch Pansies, and Violets, and _Asphodel_, And _Hyacinth_, Earth's freshest softest Lap.

Again,

"--Through many a dark and dreary Vale They pa.s.s'd, and many a Region dolorous, O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fens, Bogs, Dens, and Shades of Death.

Again,

"Sporting the _Lion_ ramp'd, and in his Paw Dandled the _Kid_; Bears, Tigers, Ounces, Pards, Gambol'd before them.--

Again,

"--Sweet Interchange Of Hill and Valley, Rivers, Woods and Plains, Now Land, now Sea, and Sh.o.r.es with Forest crown'd Rocks, Dens and Caves.

Again,

"The glittering Guard he pa.s.s'd, and now is come Into the blissful Field, thro' Groves of Myrrh, And flow'ry Odours, _Ca.s.sia_, _Nard_, and _Balm_.

V. As to the fifth Remark upon _Virgil_, which relates to his using the Particles _Que_ and _Et_ in his Verse, there can be nothing of that nature in _Milton_. So that I proceed to

VI. The sixth thing to be observed, which is, _The Collocatio Verborum_.

_Milton_ often places the Adjective after the Substantive, which very much raises the Stile.

"Strait he commands that at the warlike Sound Of Trumpets _loud_, and Clarions, be uprear'd His mighty Standard. That proud Honour claim'd _Azazel_, as his Right; a Cherub _tall_.--

Again,

"Thy Goodness beyond Thought and Pow'r _Divine_.--

And again,

"Then from the Mountain hewing Timber _tall_.

But the utmost of his Art in this respect consists in his removing the Adjective, the Substantive, and even the Verb, from the Line or Verse in which the Sense is previously contained, and the grammatical Construction inverted, to the Beginning of the next Line. This has a wonderful Effect; especially when the Word is a Monosyllable.

"Here finish'd he, and all that he had made _View'd_--and behold all was entirely good.

Again,

"Over their Heads triumphant Death his Dart _Shook_--But refus'd to strike.

This artful Collocation commands the Attention, and makes the Reader feel and see what is offer'd to him.

That this Effect is owing to the Collocation will appear by considering any one of the Instances now produc'd. For Example:

"Over their Heads triumphant Death his Dart _Shook_.--

This Pa.s.sage makes the Reader see Death with his Dart in his Hand, making it over the Heads of the unhappy Creatures describ'd in the _Lazar-house_, as plainly as if the whole was painted upon Canvas. But let this Line be alter'd thus:

"Over their Heads Death shook his dreadful Dart.

How much of the Fire and Spirit of this Pa.s.sage is lost, will be easily perceiv'd.

I was long of Opinion that _Milton_ had invented this Art himself, for I knew he had it not from _Virgil_: The _Latin_ Language is hardly capable of it. But by Accident I found _Milton_ learn'd it from _Homer_, though it is plain what is _Art_ in the former was _Chance_ in the latter; which cannot be disputed when it is considered that in so many thousand Lines that we have of _Homer_'s, there is I believe but one single Instance of this Monosyllable Collocation; but in _Milton_ there are many, both Substantives, Adjectives and Verbs. The single Instance in _Homer_ is in _Odysse_ 9. in the Story of _Polyphemus_.

[Greek: Sun de duo marpsas, hos te phulakas poti gaie / Kopt']

_Hom._ Odyss. _&c._

"Two of my hapless Friends with all his Pow'r, Like Dogs, the Monster on the rocky Floor DASH'D.--

Can any body be insensible of the Power of this Word, _Dash'd_, as it is here plac'd.