Imatges de pàgina
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Questions and Exercises on the foregoing.

What is a poem ? Are some poems longer than others? How do they differ in this respect?

What are the subdivisions pertaining to poems?

Are poems written in different ways, as respects the form, metre,

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How are larger poems commonly written? How smaller ones ? What pertain to larger poems commonly? What is the argument? What is an episode? What the machinery? What the invoca

tion?

Who are the beings generally invoked by the poets?
Who were those who were commonly invoked by the antient

Greeks!

Who were some of their principal gods and godesses? Who the muses?

Are our poems of various kinds, in point of style, subject matter,

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What are some of the principal kinds? Proceed to give descriptions of the different kinds of poems, singly.

Of the epic epic poem. tive. The descriptive.

The sentimental. The didactic. The narra

The pathetic. The plaintive. The ethic. The tragedy. The comedy.

Proceed to give descriptions of the sacred poems, in their various kinds.

Of the elegiac. Of the dramatic. Of the satiric. Of the pastoral.

Give a description of the panegyric. The burlesque. The lampoon.

Give a description of the fictitious poems, in their several kinds. Give a description of an oratorical poem. Of a lyric poem. Of odes in their various kinds.

Of a sonnet. A monody. A ballad. A ditty. An amorous song.
A pæan. A carol. A Hudibrastic poem. A doggerel poem.
An epigram. A repartee. An acrostic. A compliment.'

An enigma. A paradox. A simile. A motto.

Are not some of our poems more or less miscellaneous and par

ticipating, in their character?

Describe one which may be called a miscellaneous poem.
What is meant by a poem's being of a participating character?
Have we some poems which are difficult to classify and describe?
Have we others which are not so difficult in this respect?
Of what class are the latter? Of what class are the former ?

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

In the body of this work I have cited examples in verse for all the rules of versification; and these may serve also for examples in reading and scansion; but as some more of the kind may be found necessary as examples for the latter, the following pieces

are added.

MESSIAH.

A SACRED ECLOGUE.-Pope.

YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids,
Delight no more. O Thou my voice inspire,
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!

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Rapt into future times, the bard begun;
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies;
The ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove.
Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale:
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn:
Oh, spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing Spring:
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance:

See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise, And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies! Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; Prepare the way! A God, a God appears! A God, a God! the vocal hills reply; The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity. Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies! Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise! With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay; Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way! The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold; Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold. He from thick film shall purge the visual ray, And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day: 'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, And bid new music charm the unfolding ear: The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting, like the bounding roe. No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear; From every face he wipes off every tear. In adamantine chains shall death be bound, And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound. As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, Seeks freshest pasture, and the purest air; Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, By day o'ersees them, and by night protects; The tender lambs he raises in his arms, Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms: Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, The promised father of the future age. No more shall nation against nation rise, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er, The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; But useless lances into scythes shall bend, And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun; Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, And the same hand that sowed shall reap the field; The swain in barren deserts with surprise Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear New falls of water murmuring in his ear. On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods. Waste sandy valleys, once perplexed with thorn, The spiry fir and shapely box adorn: To leafless shrubs the flowery palm succeed, And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

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