166 To her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, with the tragedy TO MR. DRYDEN. HOW long, great poet, shall thy sacred lays Damp thy poetick heat, and quench thy rage? Grief chill'd his breast, and check'd his rising thought; The Roman genius in its last decays. Prevailing warmth has still thy mind possest, a It would not be fair to criticise our author's poetry, especially the poetry of his younger days, very exactly. He was not a poet born: or, he had not studied, with sufficient care, the best models of English poetry. Whatever the cause might be, he had not the command of what Dryden so eminently possessed, a truly poetic diction. poetry is only pure prose, 'put into verse. And His "Non satis est puris versum perscribere verbis." However, it may not be amiss to point out the principal defects of his expression, that his great example may not be pleaded in excuse of them. b Thou makest] vide after, Thou teachest] This way of using verbs of the present and imperfect tense, in the second person singular, should be utterly banished from our poetry. The sound is intolerable. Milton and others have rather chosen to violate grammar itself, than offend the ear thus unmercifully. This liberty may, perhaps, be Thy lines have heighten'd Virgil's majesty, Now Ovid boasts' th' advantage of thy song, Thy charming verse," and fair translations, show And frighted at himself, ran howling through the woods. Have liv'd a second life, and different natures try'd. Mag. Coll. Oxon. June 2, 1693. The Author's age 22. taken sometimes, in the greater poetry; in odes especially. But the better way will generally be, to turn the expression differently: As, 'Tis thine to teach, or in some such way. b a th' advantage of thy song.] An instance of unpoetical expression. Thy charming verse, and fair translations.] The epithets too general and prosaic. Alexandrines, as they are called, should never be admitted into this kind of verse. But Dryden's unconfined genius had given a sanction to them. O mayst thou still, &c.] See note in the preceding page. It might have stood thus: "Still may thy muse the noble task prolong." reveal-tell.] Bad rhymes. There are other instances in this short poem; and in general Mr. Addison was a bad rhymist. |