The Grammar of English Grammars · Chapter 662Appendix IV
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Poetry, as defined by Dr. Blair, "is the language of passion, or of enlivened imagination, formed, most commonly, into regular numbers."—Rhet., p. 377. The style of poetry differs, in many respects, from that which is commonly adopted in prose. Poetic diction abounds in bold figures of speech, and unusual collocations of words. A great part of the figures, which have been treated of in one of the chapters of Prosody, are purely poetical. The primary aim of a poet, is, to please and to move; and, therefore, it is to the imagination, and the passions, that he speaks. He may also, and he should, have it in his view, to instruct and to reform; but it is indirectly, and by pleasing and moving, that such a writer accomplishes this end. The exterior and most obvious distinction of poetry, is versification: yet there are some forms of verse so loose and familiar, as to be hardly distinguishable from prose; and there is also a species of prose, so measured in its cadences, and so much raised in its tone, as to approach very nearly to poetic numbers.
This double approximation of some poetry to prose, and of some prose to poetry, not only makes it a matter of acknowledged difficulty to distinguish, by satisfactory definitions, the two species of composition, but, in many instances, embarrasses with like difficulty the attempt to show, by statements and examples, what usages or licenses, found in English works, are proper to be regarded as peculiarities of poetic diction. It is purposed here, to enumerate sundry deviations from the common style of prose; and perhaps all of them, or nearly all, may be justly considered as pertaining only to poetry.
The following are among the chief peculiarities in which the poets indulge, and are indulged:—
I. They not unfrequently omit the ARTICLES, for the sake of brevity or metre; as,
"What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime, Like shipwreck'd mariner on desert coast!" —Beattie's Minstrel, p. 12.
"Sky lour'd, and, muttering thunder, some sad drops Wept at completing of the mortal sin." —Milton, P. L., B. ix, l. 1002.
II. They sometimes abbreviate common NOUNS, after a manner of their own: as, amaze, for amazement; acclaim, for acclamation; consult, for consultation; corse, for corpse; eve or even, for evening; fount, for fountain; helm, for helmet; lament, for lamentation; morn, for morning; plaint, for complaint; targe, for target; weal, for wealth.
III. By enallage, they use verbal forms substantively, or put verbs for nouns; perhaps for brevity, as above: thus,
1. "Instant, without disturb, they took alarm." —P. Lost: Joh. Dict., w. Aware.
2. "The gracious Judge, without revile reply'd." —P. Lost, B. x, l. 118.
3. "If they were known, as the suspect is great." —Shakspeare.
4. "Mark, and perform it: seest thou? for the fail Of any point in't shall be death." —Shakspeare.
IV. They employ several nouns that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, benison, boon, emprise, fane, guerdon, guise, ire, ken, lore, meed, sire, steed, welkin, yore.
V. They introduce the noun self after an other noun of the possessive case; as,
1. "Affliction's semblance bends not o'er thy tomb, Affliction's self deplores thy youthful doom."—Byron.
2. "Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self."—Thomson.
VI. They place before the verb nouns, or other words, that usually come after it; and, after it, those that usually come before it: as,
1. "No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast, Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife." —Beattie.
2. "No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets." —W. Allen's Gram.
3. "Thy chain a wretched weight shall prove." —Langhorne.
4. "Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar." —Thomson.
5. "That purple grows the primrose pale." —Langhorne.
VII. They more frequently place ADJECTIVES after their nouns, than do prose writers; as,
1. "Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Show'rs on her kings barbaric, pearl and gold." —Milton, P. L., B. ii, l. 2.
2. "Come, nymph demure, with mantle blue." —W. Allen's Gram., p. 189.
3. "This truth sublime his simple sire had taught." —Beattie's Minstrel, p. 14.
VIII. They ascribe qualities to things to which they do not literally belong; as,
1. "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way." —Gray's Elegy, l. 3.
2. "Or drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds." —Ibidem, l. 8.
3. "Imbitter'd more and more from peevish day to day." —Thomson.
4. "All thin and naked, to the numb cold night." —Shakspeare.
IX. They use concrete terms to express abstract qualities; (i. e., adjectives for nouns;) as,
1. "Earth's meanest son, all trembling, prostrate falls, And on the boundless of thy goodness calls." —Young.
2. "Meanwhile, whate'er of beautiful or new, Sublime or dreadful, in earth, sea, or sky, By chance or search, was offer'd to his view, He scann'd with curious and romantic eye." —Beattie.
3. "Won from the void and formless infinite." —Milton.
4. "To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape." —Id., P. R., B. iii, l. 10.
X. They often substitute quality for manner; (i. e., adjectives for adverbs;) as,
1. ——"The stately-sailing swan Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale, And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet, Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle." —Thomson.
2. "Thither continual pilgrims crowded still." —Id., Cos. of Ind., i, 8.
3. "Level at beauty, and at wit; The fairest mark is easiest hit." —Butler's Hudibras.
XI. They form new compound epithets, oftener than do prose writers; as,
1. "In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime." —Thomson.
2. "The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun." —Idem.
3. "By brooks and groves in hollow-whispering gales." —Idem.
4. "The violet of sky-woven vest." —Langhorne.
5. "A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd, Before the always-wind-obeying deep Gave any tragic instance of our harm." —Shakspeare.
6. "'Blue-eyed, strange-voiced, sharp-beaked, ill-omened fowl, What art thou?' 'What I ought to be, an owl.'" —Day's Punctuation, p. 139.
XII. They connect the comparative degree to the positive, before a verb; as,
1. "Near and more near the billows rise." —Merrick.
2. "Wide and wider spreads the vale." —Dyer's Grongar Hill.
3. "Wide and more wide, the overflowings of the mind Take every creature in, of every kind." —Pope.
4. "Thick and more thick the black blockade extends, A hundred head of Aristotle's friends." —Id., Dunciad.
XIII. They form many adjectives in y, which are not common in prose; as, The dimply flood,—dusky veil,—a gleamy ray,—heapy harvests,—moony shield,—paly circlet,—sheety lake,—stilly lake,—spiry temples,—steely casque,—steepy hill,—towery height,—vasty deep,—writhy snake.
XIV. They employ adjectives of an abbreviated form: as, dread, for dreadful; drear, for dreary; ebon, for ebony; hoar, for hoary; lone, for lonely; scant, for scanty; slope, for sloping: submiss, for submissive; vermil, for vermilion; yon, for yonder.
XV. They employ several adjectives that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, azure, blithe, boon, dank, darkling, darksome, doughty, dun, fell, rife, rapt, rueful, sear, sylvan, twain, wan.
XVI. They employ the personal PRONOUNS, and introduce their nouns afterwards; as,
1. "It curl'd not Tweed alone, that breeze." —Sir W. Scott.
2. "What may it be, the heavy sound That moans old Branksome's turrets round?" —Idem, Lay, p. 21.
3. "Is it the lightning's quivering glance, That on the thicket streams; Or do they flash on spear and lance, The sun's retiring beams" —Idem, L. of L., vi, 15.
XVII. They use the forms of the second person singular oftener than do others; as,
1. "Yet I had rather, if I were to chuse, Thy service in some graver subject use, Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound." —Milton's Works, p. 133.
2. "But thou, of temples old, or altars new, Standest alone—with nothing like to thee." —Byron, Pilg., iv, 154.
3. "Thou seest not all; but piecemeal thou must break, To separate contemplation, the great whole." —Id., ib., iv, 157.
4. "Thou rightly deemst, fair youth, began the bard; The form then sawst was Virtue ever fair." —Pollok, C. of T., p. 16.
XVIII. They sometimes omit relatives that are nominatives; (see Obs. 22, at p. 555;) as,
"For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?" —Thomson.
XIX. They omit the antecedent, or introduce it after the relative; as,
1. "Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys, Who never toils or watches, never sleeps." —Armstrong.
2. "Who dares think one thing and an other tell, My soul detests him as the gates of hell." —Pope's Homer.
XX. They remove relatives, or other connectives, into the body of their clauses; as,
1. "Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck." —Darwin.
2. "Not half so dreadful rises to the sight Orion's dog, the year when autumn weighs." —Pope, Iliad, B. xxii, l. 37.
XXI. They make intransitive VERBS transitive, changing their class; as,
1. ——"A while he stands, Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid To meditate the blue profound below." —Thomson.
2. "Still in harmonious intercourse, they liv'd The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart." —Idem.
3. ——"I saw and heard, for we sometimes Who dwell this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth." —Milton, P. R., B. i, l. 330.
XXII. They make transitive verbs intransitive, giving them no regimen; as,
1. "The soldiers should have toss'd me on their pikes, Before I would have granted to that act." —Shakspeare.
2. "This minstrel-god, well-pleased, amid the quire Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre." —Pope.
XXIII. They give to the imperative mood the first and the third person; as,
1. "Turn we a moment fancy's rapid flight." —Thomson.
2. "Be man's peculiar work his sole delight." —Beattie.
3. "And what is reason? Be she thus defin'd: Reason is upright stature in the soul." —Young.
XXIV. They employ can, could, and would, as principal verbs transitive; as,
1. "What for ourselves we can, is always ours." —Anon.
2. "Who does the best his circumstance allows, Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more." —Young.
3. "What would this man? Now upward will he soar, And, little less than angel, would be more." —Pope.
XXV. They place the infinitive before the word on which it depends; as,
1. "When first thy sire to send on earth Virtue, his darling child, design'd" —Gray.
2. "As oft as I, to kiss the flood, decline; So oft his lips ascend, to close with mine." —Sandys.
3. "Besides, Minerva, to secure her care, Diffus'd around a veil of thicken'd air." —Pope.
XXVI. They place the auxiliary verb after its principal, by hyperbaton; as,
1. "No longer heed the sunbeam bright That plays on Carron's breast he can" —Langhorne.
2. "Follow I must, I cannot go before." —Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 147.
3. "The man who suffers, loudly may complain; And rage he may, but he shall rage in vain." —Pope.
XXVII. Before verbs, they sometimes arbitrarily employ or omit prefixes: as, bide, or abide; dim, or bedim; gird, or begird; lure, or allure; move, or emove; reave, or bereave; vails, or avails; vanish, or evanish; wail, or bewail; weep, or beweep; wilder, or bewilder:—
1. "All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In heav'n, or earth, or under earth in hell." —Milton, P. L., B. iii, l. 321.
2. "Of a horse, ware the heels; of a bull-dog, the jaws; Of a bear, the embrace; of a lion, the paws." —Churchills Cram., p. 215.
XXVIII. Some few verbs they abbreviate: as list, for listen; ope, for open; hark, for hearken; dark, for darken; threat, for threaten; sharp, for sharpen.
XXIX. They employ several verbs that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, appal, astound, brook, cower, doff, ken, wend, ween, trow.
XXX. They sometimes imitate a Greek construction of the infinitive; as,
1. "Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme." —Milton.
2. "For not, to have been dipp'd in Lethè lake, Could save the son of Thetis from to die." —Spenser.
XXXI. They employ the PARTICIPLES more frequently than prose writers, and in a construction somewhat peculiar; often intensive by accumulation: as,
1. "He came, and, standing in the midst, explain'd The peace rejected, but the truce obtain'd." —Pope.
2. "As a poor miserable captive thrall Comes to the place where he before had sat Among the prime in splendor, now depos'd, Ejected, emptied, gaz'd, unpitied, shunn'd, A spectacle of ruin or of scorn." —Milton, P. R., B. i, l. 411.
3. "Though from our birth the faculty divine Is chain'd and tortured—cabin'd, cribb'd, confined." —Byron, Pilg., C. iv, St. 127.
XXXII. In turning participles to adjectives, they sometimes ascribe actions, or active properties, to things to which they do not literally belong; as,
"The green leaf quivering in the gale, The warbling hill, the lowing vale." —MALLET: Union Poems, p. 26.
XXXIII. They employ several ADVERBS that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, oft, haply, inly, blithely, cheerily, deftly, felly, rifely, starkly.
XXXIV. They give to adverbs a peculiar location in respect to other words; as,
1. "Peeping from forth their alleys green." —Collins.
2. "Erect the standard there of ancient Night" —Milton.
3. "The silence often of pure innocence Persuades, when speaking fails." —Shakspeare.
4. "Where Universal Love not smiles around." —Thomson.
5. "Robs me of that which not enriches him." —Shakspeare.
XXXV. They sometimes omit the introductory adverb there: as,
"Was nought around but images of rest." —Thomson.
XXXVI. They briefly compare actions by a kind of compound adverbs, ending in like; as,
"Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?" —Pope.
XXXVII. They employ the CONJUNCTIONS, or—or, and nor—nor, as correspondents; as,
1. "Or by the lazy Scheldt or wandering Po." —Goldsmith.
2. "Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth, nor safety buys." —Johnson.
3. "Who by repentance is not satisfied, Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleas'd." —Shakspeare.
4. "Toss it, or to the fowls, or to the flames." —Young, N. T., p. 157.
5. "Nor shall the pow'rs of hell, nor wastes of time, Or vanquish, or destroy." —Gibbon's Elegy on Davies.
XXXVIII. They oftener place PREPOSITIONS and their adjuncts, before the words on which they depend, than do prose writers; as,
"Against your fame with fondness hate combines; The rival batters, and the lover mines." —Dr. Johnson.
XXXIX. They sometimes place a long or dissyllabic preposition after its object; as,
1. "When beauty, Eden's bowers within, First stretched the arm to deeds of sin, When passion burn'd and prudence slept, The pitying angels bent and wept." —James Hogg.
2. "The Muses fair, these peaceful shades among, With skillful fingers sweep the trembling strings." —Lloyd.
3. "Where Echo walks steep hills among, List'ning to the shepherd's song." —J. Warton, U. Poems, p. 33.
XL. They have occasionally employed certain prepositions for which, perhaps, it would not be easy to cite prosaic authority; as, adown, aloft, aloof, anear, aneath, askant, aslant, aslope, atween, atwixt, besouth, traverse, thorough, sans. (See Obs. 10th, and others, at p. 441.)
XLI. They oftener employ INTERJECTIONS than do prose writers; as,
"O let me gaze!—Of gazing there's no end. O let me think!—Thought too is wilder'd here." —Young.
XLII. They oftener employ ANTIQUATED WORDS and modes of expression; as,
1. "Withouten that, would come an heavier bale." —Thomson.
2. "He was, to weet, a little roguish page, Save sleep and play, who minded nought at all." —Id.
3. "Not one eftsoons in view was to be found." —Id.
4. "To number up the thousands dwelling here, An useless were, and eke an endless task." —Id.
5. "Of clerks good plenty here you mote espy." —Id.
6. "But these I passen by with nameless numbers moe." —Id.