DESCRIPTIVE POETRY.

IN descriptive poetry, the highest exertions of genius may be displayed. In general, indeed, description is introduced as an embellishment, not as the subject of a regular work. It is the test of a poet's imagination, and always distinguishes an original from a second rate genius. A writer of an inferior class, sees nothing new or peculiar in the object he would paint; his conceptions are loose and vague; and his expressions feeble and general. A true poet places an object before our eyes. He gives it the colouring of life; a painter might copy from him.

The great art of picturesque description lies in the selection of circumstances. These ought never to be vulgar or common. They should mark strongly the object. No general description is good; all distinct ideas are forined upon particulars. There should also be uniformity in the circumstances selected. In describing a great object, every circumstance brought forward should tend to aggrandize; and in describing a gay object, all the circumstances should tend to beautify it. Lastly, the circumstances in description should be expressed with conciseness and simplicity

The largest and fullest descriptive performance, in perhaps any language, is Thomson's Seasons; a work, which possesses very uncommon merit. The style is splendid and strong, but sometimes harsh and indistinct. He is an animated and beautiful de

care;

scriber for he had a feeling heart, and a warm imagination. He studied nature with was enamoured of her beauties; and had the happy talent of painting them like a master. To show the power of a single well chosen circumstance in heightening a descrip tion, the following passage may be produced from his Summer, where, relating the effects of heat in the torrid zone, he is led to take notice of the pestilence that destroyed the English fleet at Carthagena, under Admiral Vernon.

-You, gallant Vernon, saw

'The miserable scene; you, pitying saw
To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm;
Saw the deep racking pang; the ghastly form;
The lip pale quivering, and the beamless eye
No more with ardour bright; you heard the groans
Of agonizing ships from shore to shore;
Heard nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves
The frequent corse.-

All the circumstances here selected, tend to heighten the dismal scene; but the last image is the most striking in the picture.

Of descriptive narration, there are beautiful examples, in Parnell's Tale of the Hermit. The setting forth of the hermit to visit the world, his meeting a companion, and the houses in which they are entertained, of the vain man, the covetous man, and the good man, are pieces of highly finished painting. But the richest and the most remarkable of all the descriptive poems in the English language, are the Allegro and the Penseroso of Milton. They are the

storehouse, whence many succeeding poets have enriched their descriptions, and are inimitably fine poems. Take, for instance, the following lines from the Penseroso ;

I walk unseen

On the dry, smooth shaven green,
To behold the wandering moon
Riding near her highest noon;
And oft, as if her head she bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Oft on a plat of rising ground
I hear the far off curfew sound,
Over some wide watered shore
Swinging slow with solemn roar;
Or, if the air will not permit,
Some still removed place will sit,
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom;
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm,
To bless the doors from nightly harm;
Or let my lamp at midnight hour
Be seen in some high lonely tower,
Exploring Plato, to unfold

What worlds, or what vast regions hold.
Th'immortal mind, that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshy nook ;
And of these demons, that are found
In fire, in air, flood, or under ground.

Here are no general expressions; all is picturesque, expressive, and concise. One strong point of view is exhibited to the reader; and the impression made, is lively and interesting.

Both Homer and Virgil excel in poetical description. In the second Eneid, the sacking of Troy, is so particularly described, that the

reader finds himself in the midst of the scene. The death of Priam is a masterpiece of description. Homer's battles are all wonderful. Ossian, too, paints in strong colours, and is remarkable for touching the heart. He thus portrays the ruins of Balclutha'; "I have seen the walls of Balclutha; but they were desolate. The fire bad resounded within the halls; and the voice of the people is now heard no more. The stream of Clutha was removed from its place by the fall of the walls; the thistle shook there its lonely head; the moss whistled to the wind. The fox looked out of the window; the rank grass waved round his head. Desolate is the dwelling of Moina; silence is in the house of her fathers."

Much of the beauty of descriptive poetry depends upon a proper choice of epithets. Many poets are often careless in this particular; hence the multitude of unmeaning and redun dant epithets. Hence the "Liquidi Fontes" of Virgil, and the "Prata Canis Albicant Pruinis" of Horace. To observe that water is liquid, and that snow is white,is little better than mere tautology. Every epithet should add a new idea to the word which it qualifies. So in Milton;

Who shall tempt with wandering feet
The dark, unbottom'd, infinite abyss;
And through the palpable obscure find out
His uncouth way; Or spread his airy flight,
Upborne with indefatigable wings,

Over the vast abrupt?

The description here is strengthened by the

epithets. The wandering feet,the unbottomed

abyss, the palpable obscure, the uncouth way, the indefatigable wing, are all happy expres

sions.

THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS.

IN treating of the various kinds of poetry, that of the scriptures justly deserves a place. The sacred books, present us the most ancient monuments of poetry now extant,and furnish a curious subject of criticism. They display the taste of a remote age and country. They exhibit a singular, but beautiful species of composition; and it must give great pleasure,if we find the beauty and dignity of the style adequate to the weight and importance of the matter. Dr. Lowth's learned treatise on the poetry of the Hebrews, ought to be perused by all. It is an exceedingly valuable work, both for elegance of style, and justness of criticism. We cannot do better than to follow the track of this ingenious author.

Among the Hebrews, poetry was cultivated from the earliest times. Its general construction is singular and peculiar. It consists in dividing every period into correspondent,for the most part into equal members, which answer to each other, both in sense and sound. In the first member of a period a sentiment is expressed; and in the second, the same sentiment is amplified; or repeated in different terms, or sometimes contrasted with its opposite. Thus, "Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and bless his name; show forth his salvation