Another way of raising the language, and giving it a poetical turn, is to make use of the idioms of other tongues. Virgil is full of the Greek forms of speech, which the critics call Hellenisms, as Horace in his Odes abounds with them much more than Virgil. I need not 5 mention the several dialects which Homer has made use of for this end. Milton, in conformity with the practice of the ancient poets and with Aristotle's rule, has infused a great many Latinisms, as well as Grecisms, and sometimes Hebraisms,' into the language of his poem; id as, towards the beginning of it : — 2 Nor did they not perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; 4 Who shall tempt with wandering feet The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss, 6 So both ascend In the visions of God. 5 15 20 Under this head may be reckoned the placing the adjective after the substantive, the transposition of words, the turning the adjective into a substantive, with several 25 other foreign modes of speech which this poet has naturalized, to give his verse the greater sound, and throw it out of prose. The third method mentioned by Aristotle is what' agrees with the genius of the Greek language more than 30 1' And sometimes Hebraisms' added in second edition (Arber). 2 1.335-337. 42. 404-409. 3 This line added in second edition. 5 Arber adds 'his way' (first ed.). 6 11. 376. This quotation added in second edition. 7 First edition, 'that which' (Arber). ΙΟ 6 you with that of any other tongue, and is therefore more used by Homer than by any other poet. I mean the lengthening of a phrase by the addition of words which may either be inserted or omitted, as also by the extending 5 or contracting of particular words by the insertion or omission of certain syllables. Milton has put in practice this method of raising his language, as far as the nature of our tongue will permit, as, in the passage above mentioned, eremite,' for1 what is hermit' in common discourse. If observe the measure of his verse, he has with great judgment suppressed a syllable in several words, and shortened those of two syllables into one; by which method, besides the above-mentioned advantage, he has given a greater variety to his numbers. But this practice 15 is more particularly remarkable in the names of persons and of countries, as Beëlzebub, Hesebon,2 and in many other particulars, wherein he has either changed the name, or made use of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better deviate from the language 20 of the vulgar. The same reason recommended to him several old words, which also makes his poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater air of antiquity. I must likewise take notice that there are in Milton 25 several words of his own coining, as 'Cerberean,' ' miscreated,' 'hell-doomed,' 'embryon' atoms, and many others. If the reader is offended at this liberty in our English poet, I would recommend him to a discourse in Plutarch, which shows us how frequently Homer has made use of the same 30 liberty. Milton, by the above-mentioned helps, and by the choice of the noblest words and phrases which our tongue would afford him, has carried our language to a greater 1 Added in second edition. 6 2 Editions, Hessebon.' height than any of the English poets have ever done before or after him, and made the sublimity of his style equal to that of his sentiments. I have been the more particular in these observations on Milton's style, because it is that part of him in which 5 he appears the most singular. The remarks I have here made upon the practice of other poets, with my observations out of Aristotle, will perhaps alleviate the prejudice which some have taken to his poem upon this account; though, after all, I must confess that I think his style, though admirable in general, is in some places too much stiffened and obscured by the frequent use of those methods which Aristotle has prescribed for the raising of it. This redundancy of those several ways of speech which 15 Aristotle calls foreign language,' and with which Milton has so very much enriched, and in some places darkened, the language of his poem, was1 the more proper for his use because his poem is written in blank verse. Rime, without any other assistance, throws the language off from 20 prose, and very often makes an indifferent phrase pass unregarded; but where the verse is not built upon rimes, there pomp of sound and energy of expression are indispensably necessary to support the style, and keep it from falling into the flatness of prose. 25 Those who have not a taste for this elevation of style, and are apt to ridicule a poet when he departs from the common forms of expression, would do well to see how Aristotle has treated an ancient author, called Euclid, for his insipid mirth upon this occasion. Mr. Dryden used 30 to call these 2 sort of men his prose-critics. I should, under this head of the language, consider Milton's numbers, in which he has made use of several 1 First edition, 'is' (Arber). 2 First edition, 'this.' 3 elisions which are not customary among other English poets, as may be particularly observed in his cutting off the letter 'y' when it precedes a vowel. This, and some other innovations in the measure of his verse, has varied 5 his numbers in such a manner as makes them incapable of satiating the ear and cloying the reader, which the same uniform measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual returns of rime never fail to do in long narrative poems. I shall close these reflections upon the language of Paradise Lost with observing that Milton has copied after Homer rather than Virgil in the length of his periods, the copiousness of his phrases, and the running of his verses into one another. ΙΟ 1 First edition, 'that' (Arber). I 5.1 THE TRUE CRITIC. Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Aut humana parum cavit natura. HOR. Ars Poet. 351-353. But in a poem elegantly writ, I will not quarrel with a slight mistake, Such as our nature's frailty may excuse. - ROSCOMMON. 5 HAVE now considered Milton's Paradise Lost under those four great heads of the fable, the characters, the sentiments, and the language, and have shown that he excels in general under each of these heads. I hope that I have made several discoveries which 2 may appear new, even to those who are versed in critical learning. Were I indeed to choose my readers, by whose judgment I would stand or fall, they should not be such as are acquainted only with the French and Italian critics, but also with the ancient and moderns who have written in either of the 10 learned languages. Above all, I would have them well versed in the Greek and Latin poets, without which a man very often fancies that he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning. It is in criticism as in all other sciences and specula- 15 tions: one who brings with him any implicit notions and observations which he has made in his reading of the poets, will find his own reflections methodized and 1 Spectator, No. 291, Feb. 2, 1712. |