Letters Concerning Poetical Translations Part 9

I remember an Instance of this Monosyllable Collocation at the Beginning of a Line in rhym'd Verse, which is very well worth inserting here. It is at the Conclusion of Mr. _Pit_'s 4th _aeneid_, when _Juno_ sends _Iris_ from Heaven in haste to relieve _Dido_ from the Agonies of Death.

_"Tum Juno Omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem, Difficilesque obitus, Irim_ Demisit Olympo _Quae luctantem animam, nexosque resolveret artus_.

"Then mighty _Juno_ with a melting Eye, Beheld her dreadful Anguish from the Sky; And bade fair _Iris_ from the starry Pole, _Fly_, and enlarge her agonizing Soul.

How is the Verse animated by the placing that Monosyllable, _Fly_, at the Beginning of the last Line.--The Reader sees all the Concern of _Juno_, and all the Hurry she is in to get the unhappy Queen released from the Pangs of Death.

_Milton_ likewise uses his Monosyllables very artfully in placing them at the Conclusion of a Line, so as to divide the last Foot of the Verse, which has a very extraordinary Effect.

"Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou, _Deep_, Peace.

Again he divides the last Foot by making a Monosyllable the Beginning of a new Sentence, which is very pleasing.

"--Up flood the Corny Reed Imbattled in his Plain, the humble Furz And Bush with frisled Hair implicit. _Last_ Rose as in Dance the stately Trees.

_Milton_ also sometimes places two Monosyllables at the End of the Line, stopping at the 4th Foot, to adapt the Measure of the Verse to the Sense; and then begins the next Line in the same manner, which has a wonderful Effect.

"Now at their shady Lodge arriv'd, _both stopt_, _Both turn'd_, and under open Sky ador'd The G.o.d who made, _&c._

This artful Manner of writing makes the Reader see them _Stop_ and _Turn_ to worship G.o.d before they went into their Bower. If this Manner was alter'd, much of the Effect of the Painting would be lost.

"And now arriving at their shady Lodge _Both stopt, both turn'd_, and under open Sky Ador'd the G.o.d, _&c._

This falls very short of the Original. So in _Latin_,

"_Jamq; domus ventum est umbrosae ad limina_: sistunt Ambo, ambo vertunt, & _aperto numen adorant Sub Coelo._--

Alter these Lines, thus,

"_Et nunc Arborei ventum est ad limina tecti_; Sistunt Ambo, Ambo vertunt, & _numen Adorant Sub Coelo._--

There is here just the same Difference in the _Latin_ as in the _English_.

I cannot omit two other Instances of _Milton_'s wonderful Art in the Collocation of Words, by which the Thoughts are exceedingly heighten'd.

"Under his forming Hands a Creature grew Manlike, but different s.e.x, so lovely fair, That what seem'd fair in all the World, seem'd now _Mean_, or in her summ'd up.--

What a Force has that Word _mean_, as it is plac'd!

Again,

"I turn'd my Thoughts, and with capacious Mind Considered all Things visible in Heav'n, Or Earth, or Middle, all Things fair and good; But all that Fair and Good, in thy Divine _Semblance_, and in thy Beauty's heav'nly Ray United I beheld--

I presume there is no other Language in which Perfection equal to this is to be found: And I could give many more Instances of the same kind out of the _Paradise Lost_.

VII. The seventh Particular in _Virgil_ was his _Varying the Common p.r.o.nunciation_, in which _Milton_ has imitated him in several Places; the following is one Instance.

"--Thus to his Son au--[=di]--bly spake.

For so it must be read, and not after the common manner.

Again,

"Hoa.r.s.e Murmur eccho'd to his Words Applause Thro' the in--[=fi]--nite Host--

And the like in many other Places.

VIII. _His Verses contrary to the Common Measure._ The following is an Example of this kind.

"Drove headlong down to the Bottomless Pit.--

Those who may be apt to find fault with such Arts as these (for Arts they are in _Virgil_ and _Milton_) little think what it is to write 10 or 12 thousand Lines, and to vary the Sound of them in such manner as to entertain the Ear from the Beginning to the End of the Work.

IX. I come now to the _Alliteratio_.

And 1. To speak of the single _Alliteratio_. This is so common in _Milton_, that you need but begin the Poem, or open any Page of it, and you will meet with it.

"Of Man's _first_ Disobedience, and the _Fruit_ Of that forbidden _Tree_, whose mortal _Taste_ Brought Death into the _World_, and all our _Woe_.

Again,

"_Restore_ us, and _Regain_ the blissful Seat.

And

"_Sing_ Heav'nly Muse! that on the _Secret_ Top.

And a little lower,

"That _Shepherd_ who first taught the chosen _Seed_.

But I will produce an Example or two of this kind out of our Author's juvenile Poems. His Verses upon the Circ.u.mcision are addressed to the Angels that appear'd to the Shepherds, and begin thus,

"Ye flaming Pow'rs, and _winged Warriors_ bright, That erst with Musick and triumphant Song Through the _soft Silence_ of the listning Night _So sweetly sung_ your Joy the Clouds along.

All the Masters of Verse from _Chaucer_ to _Milton_, and from _Milton_ to this time, were sensible of this Art. _Dryden_ attends to it more than any thing else.

"_Beneath_ the Shade which _Beechen Boughs_ diffuse, _You t.i.tyrus_ entertain _your_ Sylvan Muse: _Round_ the _wide World_ in Banishment _we roam_, _Forc'd from_ our pleasing _Fields_ and native Home.

Again,

_Arms and_ the Man I sing, who _forc'd_ by _Fate_ And _haughty_ Juno's unrelenting _Hate_, _Expell'd_ and _Exil'd_, left the _Trojan_ Sh.o.r.e: _Long Labours_, both by Sea and _Land_ he bore.

Mr. _Pope_ begins his Poems with this Delicacy.