The Farmer's Boy: A Rural Poem Part 8

I have on this part of the subject, only, after quoting thus much at present from the Letter of Mr. SWAN, to add, that I entirely agree with him, I believe, as to the force, clearness, and comprehensiveness of intellect manifested by this experiment, and its success.

I now pa.s.s to part of what has been fully and excellently said by Dr.

DRAKE of HADLEIGH, while investigating the merits of this astonishing Rural Poem.

In a Letter from HADLEIGH [Footnote: 9 March, 1800.] Dr. DRAKE had given me this distinct and vivid representation of his general idea of the Poem.

"I have read THE FARMER'S BOY with a mixture of astonishment and delight.

There is a pathetic simplicity in his sentiments and descriptions that does honour to his head and heart."

"His copies from Nature are truly original and faithful, and are touched with the hand of a Master.... His versification occasionally displays an energy and harmony which might decorate even the pages of a DARWIN."

"The general characteristics of his Style, however, are sweetness and ease. In short, I have no hesitation in declaring, that I think it, as a Rural and descriptive Poem, superior to any production since the days of THOMSON."

"It wants no reference to its Author's uneducated poverty to render its excellence the more striking; they are such as would confer durable Fame on the first and most polish'd Poet in the Kingdom."

I shall now take the liberty of extracting part of the CRITIQUE which Dr.

DRAKE, agreeably to his intimation to me, has made of the FARMER'S BOY in his LITTERARY HOURS.[Footnote: Vol. II, Ess. x.x.xix, p. 444.]

"From the pleasing duty of describing such a 'character' (meaning the personal character of Mr. BLOOMFIELD) let us now turn our attention to the species of composition of which his Poem is so perfect a specimen. It has been observ'd in my sixteenth number that PASTORAL POETRY in this country, with very few exceptions, has exhibited a tame and servile adherence to cla.s.sical imagery and costume; at the same time totally overlooking that profusion of picturesque beauty, and that originality of manner and peculiarity of employment, which our climate and our rustics every where present."

"A few Authors were mention'd in that Essay as having judiciously deviated from the customary plan: to these may now be added the name of _Boomfield_; the _Farmers Boy_, though not a.s.suming the form of an Eclogue, being peculiarly and exclusively, throughout, a _pastoral Composition_; not like the Poem of _Thomson_, taking a wide excursion through all the phenomena of the _Seasons_, but nearly limited to the rural _occupation_ and business of the fields, the dairy, and the farm yard."

"As with these employments, however, the vicissitudes of the Year are immediately and necessarily connected, Mr. Bloomfield has, with propriety, divided his Poem into _Four_ Books, affixing to those Books the t.i.tles of the Seasons."

"Such indeed are the merits of this Work, that in true _pastoral_ imagery and simplicity I do not think any production can be put in compet.i.tion with it since the days of Theocritus." [Footnote: I have heard that the opinion of no less a Judge than Dr. WATSON, Bishop of LLANDAFF, is by no means short of the encomium implied in this comparison, high and ample as it is. L.]

"To that charming simplicity which particularizes the Grecian, are added the individuality, [Footnote: Much of these qualities indeed is certainly in _Theocritus_ also. L.] fidelity, and boldness of description, which render Thomson so interesting to the lovers of Nature."

"GESNER possesses the most engaging sentiment, and the most refin'd simplicity of manners; but he wants that rustic wildness and navete in delineation characteristic of the Sicilian, and of the composition before us."

"WARNER and DRAYTON have much to recommend them: but they are very unequal; and are devoid of the _sweet and pensive morality_ which pervade almost every page of _the Farmers Boy_; nor can they establish any pretensions to that fecundity in painting the oeconomy of rural life, which this Poem, drawn from actual experience, so richly displays."

"It is astonishing indeed what various and striking circ.u.mstances, peculiar to the occupation of the _British Farmer_, and which are adapted to all the purposes of the _pastoral_ Muse, had escaped our Poets, previous to the publication of Mr. _Bloomfield's_ Work."

"Those who are partial to the _Country_;--and where is the man of Genius who feels not a delight approaching to ecstasy from the contemplation of its scenery, and the happiness which its cultivation diffuses?--those who have paid attention to the process of husbandry, and who view its occurrences with interest; who are at the same time alive to all the minutiae of the animal and vegetable creation; who mark

'_How Nature paints for colours, how the Bee Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet_,'

will derive from the study of this Poem a gratification the most permanent and pure."

Though I have thus largely extracted I cannot omit transferring hither the a.n.a.lYSIS of the Poem, as given by Dr. Drake.

"The _first_ Book, int.i.tled _Spring_, opens with an appropriate invocation. A transition is then made to the artless character of _Giles_, the _Farmer's Boy_; after which the scene near _Euston_ in Suffolk is describ'd, and an amiable portrait of Mr. _Austin_, immediately follows.

"Seed-time, harrowing, the devastation of the rooks,[Footnote: I will not say much: but I was glad to see since the second Edition of this Poem the cause of the Rooks had again been advocated, in the _Newcastle Chronicle_.

L.] wood-scenery, the melody of birds, cows milking, and the operations of the dairy, occupy the chief part of this Season: which is clos'd by a beautiful Personification of the Spring and her attendants, and an admirable delineation of the sportive pleasures of the young Lambs."

"The _second_ Book, or _Summer_, commences with a characteristic sketch of the prudent yet benevolent Farmer. The genial influence of the rain is then welcom'd; to which succeeds a most delicious picture of a green and woody covert with all its insect tribe. The ascension of the sky-lark, the peaceful repose of _Giles_, a view of the ripening harvest, with some moral reflections on Nature and her great Creator, are introduc'd: follow'd by animated descriptions of reaping, gleaning, the honest exultation of the Farmer, the beauty of the Country Girl, and the wholesome refreshment of the field. Animals teazed by insects, the cruelty of docking horses, the insolence of the gander, the apathy of the swine, are drawn in a striking manner: and the Book concludes with masterly pictures of a twilight repose, a midnight storm of thunder and lightning, and views of the ancient and present mode of celebrating Harvest-home."

"The _third_ Book, _Autumn_, is introduc'd with a delineation of forest scenery, and pigs fattening on fallen acorns. Sketches of wild ducks and their haunts, of hogs settling to repose in a wood, and of wheat sowing, succeed. The sound of village bells suggests a most pleasing digression: of which the church and its pastor, the rustic amus.e.m.e.nts of a Sunday, the Village Maids, and a most pathetic description of a distracted Female, are the prominent features. Returning to rural business, _Giles_ is drawn guarding the rising wheat from birds:--his little hut, with his preparation for the reception of his playmates, their treachery and his disappointment, are conceiv'd and colour'd in an exquisite style.

Fox-hunting, the Fox-hound's epitaph, the long autumnal evenings, a description of domestic fowl, and a welcome to the snowy nights of Winter, form the concluding topics of this Season."

"The _fourth_ Book, under the appellation of _Winter_, is usher'd in by some humane injunctions for the treatment of storm-pinch'd cattle. The frozen turnips are broken for them: and the cowyard at night is describ'd.

The conviviality of a Christmas evening, and the conversation round the fire, with the admonitions from the Master's chair, are depicted in a manner truly pleasing. The _Sea Boy_ and the _Farmers Boy_ are contrasted with much effect: and the ploughman feeding his horses at night, with the comparison between the cart-horse and post-horse, have great merit. The mastiff turn'd sheep-biter is next delineated; succeeded by a description of a moon-light night, and the appearance of a spectre."

"The counting of the Sheep in the fold, and the adopted Lambs, are beautiful paintings: and with the Triumph of GILES on the conclusion of the Year, and his Address to the DEITY, the Book and Poem close."

"Such are the Materials of which THE FARMER'S BOY is constructed. Several of the topics, it will be perceiv'd, are new to Poetry; and of those which are in their _t.i.tle_ familiar to the readers of our descriptive Bards, it will be found that the imagery and adjunctive circ.u.mstances are original, and the effort of a mind practis'd in the rare art of selecting and combining the most striking and picturesque features of an object."

Dr. Drake after this well accounts for the poetic singularity that the Poetry of _Thomson_ should have past through a mind so enthusiastically enamor'd of it, without impairing the originality of its character, when exercis'd on a subject so much leading to imitation. This he explains, and justly, by the vivid impressions on a most sensible and powerful imagination in his earliest youth, anterior to the study of any Poet.

Dr. Drake expresses his astonishment at the VERSIFICATION and DICTION of this Poem. And says most truly, "I am well aware that smooth and flowing lines are of easy purchase, and the property of almost every poetaster of the day: but the versification of Mr. _Bloomfield_ is of another character; it displays beauties of the most positive kind, and those witcheries of expression which are only to be acquir'd by the united efforts of Genius and Study."

"The _general_ characteristics of his versification are facility and sweetness; that ease which is, in fact, the result of unremitted labour, and one of the most valuable acquisitions of litterature. It displays occasionally likewise a vigour and a brilliancy of polish that might endure comparison with the high-wrought texture of the Muse of DARWIN.

From the nature of his subject, however, this splendid mode of decoration could be us'd but with a sparing hand: and it is not one of his least merits that his diction and harmony should so admirably correspond with the scene which he has chosen."

"To excel," Dr. DRAKE continues, "in rural IMAGERY, it is necessary that the Poet should diligently study Nature for himself; and not peruse her as is but too common, '_through the spectacles of Books_' [Footnote: The happy ill.u.s.tration of DRYDEN in his admirable character of SHAKESPERE.]

He should trace her in all her windings, in her deepest recesses, in all her varied forms. It was thus that LUCRETIUS and VIRGIL, that THOMSON and COWPER were enabled to unfold their scenery with such distinctness and truth: and on this plan, while wandering through his native fields, attentive to '_each rural sight, each rural sound_,' has Mr. BLOOMFIELD built his charming Poem."

"It is a Work which proves how inexhaustible the features of the World we inhabit: how from objects which the ma.s.s of mankind is daily accustom'd to pa.s.s with indifference and neglect. GENIUS can still produce pictures the most fascinating, and of the most interesting tendency. For it is not to _imagery_ alone, though such as here depicted might ensure the meed of Fame, that the Farmer's Boy will owe its value with us and with posterity.

A _Morality_ the most _pathetic_ and pure, the feelings of a heart alive to all the tenderest duties of humanity and religion, consecrate its glowing landscapes, and shed an interest over them, a spirit of devotion, that calm and rational delight which the goodness and greatness of the Creator ought ever to inspire."

Dr. DRAKE confirms, by copious and very judicious _Extracts_ from the various parts of the Poem, as they offer themselves to critical selection, in accompanying the Farmer's Boy through the Circle of his year, the Judgment which he has form'd with so much ability, taste, and feeling, and has to agreeably express'd, of the Merits of our ENGLISH GEORGIC. And he speaks in his _third_ and last Essay on it thus:

"From the review we have now taken of THE FARMER'S BOY, it will be evident, I think, that owing to its harmony and sweetness of versification, its benevolence of sentiment, and originality of imagery, it is ent.i.tled to rank very high in the cla.s.s of descriptive and _pastoral_ Poetry."

He concludes with an highly animated and feeling antic.i.p.ation of that public attention to the Poem and to its Author, merited in every view, and which already has manifested itself in such an extent.

I understand there is a Paper on "_The Farmer's Boy_" in a Work lately publish'd by Dr. ANDERSON; and a.s.suredly from its subject well ent.i.tled to attention, as well as from the abilities and public spirit of its Editor;--AGRICULTURAL RECREATIONS. Where indeed with more appropriate Honor could such a Poem be notic'd?

In the _Critical Remarks_ I intended I find myself so much agreeing in sentiment with Dr. Drake that I shall attempt little more than merely to offer some few observations. One of these relates to the _coincidences_ of thought and manner in the Farmer's Boy with other writings. These, as would previously be expected from what has been said, are extremely few indeed. And almost all that are particularly of moment in appreciating the poetical excellences of the Work are most truly _coincidences_, and cannot be otherwise consider'd.

For the first of these which I shall mention I am indebted to WILLIAM SMITH, Esq. of BURY, who had largely his share of Public Admiration, when he sustain'd for many years with great skill and judgment, and great natural advantages, almost every character of our Drama which had been eminently favor'd by either Muse; and who now enjoys retirement with honor and merited esteem.

He mention'd to me in conversation, and since by Letter, a pa.s.sage very closely resembling one in the IDYLLIA of AUSONIUS. It is this in _Spring_.

Like the torn flower the fair a.s.semblage fly.

Ah, fallen _Rose_! sad emblem of their doom; Frail as thyself, _they perish while they bloom_! I.v. 388-40.

The pa.s.sage to which Mr. Smith referr'd me is this. (It is not in my Edition of _Ausonius_; but he sent me a Copy.)

"Conquerimur, Natura, brevis quod Gratia florum est; Ostentara oculis illico dona rapis.

Quam longa una dies aetas tarn longa rosarum, Ques _p.u.b.escentes juncta senecta pressit_."

ID. xiv.

I am favor'd with a Translation made by Mr. SMITH in his very early days.

And hope that as a brother _Etonian_ he allows me to quote it.