537-543. Memorize. 538. Emblazed. See P. L. 5: 592. The New Eng. Dict. distinguishes the senses in these two instances. 540. Leigh Hunt, What is Poetry, remarks: Strength is the muscle of verse, and shows itself in the number and force of the marked syllables; as, Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds. Unexpected locations of the accent double this force, and render it characteristic of passion and abruptness. And here comes into play the reader's corresponding fineness of ear, and his retardations and accelerations in accordance with those of the poet: Then in the keyhole turns The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar [Of massy iron or solid rock with ease] Unfastens. On ǎ sudden òpen fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Abòmînăble, inùttĕrăble, and worse Than fables yet have feigned. Wallowing unwieldy, ĕnòrmous in their gait.' How many words of Latin origin are there in this line? 543. Reign. Kingdom; Lat. regnum. Chaos and old Night. Frequently associated by Milton, as in P. L. 2: 895, 970; 3: 18; 10: 477. Night is the daughter of Chaos, according to Hesiod, Theog. 123. 545. Ten thousand. How does this compare with the number in P. L. 5: 588? What is the Greek word for ten thousand, and what English word is derived from it? 546. Orient. Bright. Is this the usual modern sense? What is the meaning of the Latin verb from which it is derived? 547. Forest. A poetical image for spears, used by Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Tasso, and Scott, and in the poem of Beowulf. Thronging. See P. L. 6: 83. 548. Serried. Define. See P. L. 6: 599. 550. Landor objects: "Thousands of years before there were phalanxes, schools of music, or Dorians.' Is this a valid criticism? If not, why not? Dorian mood. The two great passages of ancient writers on the Dorian mood, or harmony, are from Thucydides and Plato. Describing the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 418, Thucydides says (5 : 70): 'The Argives and their allies advanced to the charge with great fury and determination. The Lacedæmonians moved slowly and to the music of many flute-players, who were stationed in their ranks, and played, not as an act of religion, but in order that the army might march evenly and in true measure, and that the line might not break, as often happens in great armies when they go into battle.' Plato, in discussing the different kinds of music, makes Socrates say (Rep. 3399): 'Of the harmonies I know nothing, but I want to have one warlike, which will sound the word or note which a brave man utters in the hour of danger and stern resolve, or when his cause is failing, and he is going to wounds or death or is overtaken by some other evil, and at every such crisis meets fortune with calmness and endurance.' Then, after describing the Phrygian harmony, Socrates adds: These two harmonies I ask you to leave: the strain of necessity and the strain of freedom, the strain of the unfortunate and the strain of the fortunate, the strain of courage and the strain of temperance; these, I say, leave.' Professor Gildersleeve says (Pindar, p. lxxv): 'The Dorian mood was manly and imposing, like the Dorians themselves; not expansive nor lively, but grave and strong. What it lacked in liveliness and variety, it made up by steadiness and impressiveness. . . . It is the mood for the tug of war, where the staying quality is priceless.' 551. Recorders. A kind of flageolet. The word occurs in Shakespeare, Haml. III. ii. 303, 360; M. N. D. V. 123. On the latter Rolfe has: 'Nares says the instrument was so called because birds were taught to record by it; one of the meanings of record being “to worble." Cf. Browne, Brit. Past. 2: 4: The nymph did earnestly contest Whether the birds or she recorded best." 556. Swage. See S. A. 184. 560. Breathing united force. From 11.3: 8: 'But on the other side marched the Achaians in silence breathing courage, eager at heart to give succor man to man.' 561. Charmed. Two things should be remembered about this word - its connection with music and with magic, both through Lat. carmen. See P. L. 2: 566. 563. Horrid. What is the primary sense of this word in Latin? Cf. P. L. 2: 710, and bristled,' P. L. 6: 82. Landor says: 'I wish he had not ended one verse with "his heart," and the next with "his strength." One might add that the collocation of 'heart' and 'hardened' in successive lines is not musical; but cf. Exod. 8: 15; Dan. 5: 20. 571-587. Jebb (Homer, pp. 16-17) has the following interesting remarks: 'It is . . . important. . . to perceive the broad difference between the Homeric epic and the literary epic of later ages. The literary epic is composed, in an age of advanced civilization, by a learned poet. His taste and style have been influenced by the writings of many poets before him. He commands the historical and antiquarian literature suitable to his design. He composes with a view to cultivated readers, who will feel the more recondite charms of style, and will understand the literary allusions. The general character of the literary epic is well illustrated by the great passage of Paradise Lost where Milton is saying how far "beyond compare of mortal prowess" were the legions of the fallen Archangel. . . It is a single and a simple thought - the exceeding might of Satan's followers 3-that Milton here enforces by example after example. A large range of literature is laid under contribution, the classical poets, the Arthurian cycle, the Italian romances of chivalry, the French legends of Charlemagne. The lost angels are measured against the Giants, the Greek heroes, the Knights of the Round Table, the champions of the Cross or the Crescent, and the paladins slain at Roncesvalles. Every name is a literary reminiscence. By the time that "Aspramont " is reached, we begin to feel that the progress of the enumeration is no longer adding anything to our conception of prowess; we begin to be aware that, in those splendid verses, the poet is exhibiting his erudition. But this characteristic of the literary epic-its proneness to employ the resources of learning for the production of a cumulative effect is only one of the traits which are exemplified by this passage. Homer would not have said, as Milton does, that, in compar ison with the exiled Spirits, all the chivalry of human story was no better than, "that small infantry warred on by cranes;" Homer would have said that it was no better than the Pygmies. Homer says plainly and directly what he means; the literary epic likes to say it allusively; and observe the turn of Milton's expression, "that small infantry;" i.e., " the small infantry which, of course, you remember in the third book of the Iliad." Lastly, remark Milton's phrase, "since created Man," meaning, "since the creation of Man." The idiom, so familiar in Greek and Latin, is not English, and so it gives a learned air to the style; the poet is at once felt to be a scholar, and the poem to be a work of the study. Hoiner's language is everywhere noble, but then it is also natural. So, within the compass of these few lines, three characteristics may be seen which broadly distinguish the literary epic from Homer. It is learnedly elaborate, while Homer is spontaneous; it is apt to be allusive, while Homer is direct; in language it is often artificially subtle, while Homer, though noble, is plain.' Cf. Garnett, Milton, p. 152. 572. In his strength. Modifies what? 573. 'What an admirable pause is here [after glories]!'-LAN DOR. Since created man. A Latinism, for 'since the creation of man.' Cf. Comus 48; P. L. 5: 247; 10: 332, 687; and the common phrase ab urbe condita = after the foundation of the City.' = 574-576. Landor would omit the words between force and though, together with the word giant. 575. Addison censures this as a pun (p. 39 of my edition). Cf. Jebb, supra. 576. Warred on by cranes. Cf. Il. 3: 3-6. 577. Phlegra. In Pindar's (522?-443? B.C.) first Nemean ode, Teiresias prophesies of Herakles, 'saying that when on Phlegra's plain the gods should meet the giants in battle, beneath the rush of his arrows their bright hair should be soiled with earth.' Ovid (43 B.C.-17 A.D.) represents Apollo as declaring (Met. 10: 150-151): 'In loftier strains have I sung of the Giants, and the victorious thunderbolts scattered over the Phlegræan plains.' Phlegra was in Thrace. 578. Name some of those that fought at Thebes and Ilium. 579. Auxiliar. Rare in this form. 580. Uther's son. King Arthur. See Tennyson, Palace of Art 105, and The Coming of Arthur. 583. Jousted. Define and pronounce. Aspramont, Montalban. 'Romantic names of places mentioned in Orlando Furioso.' - NEWTON. 584. 'All these places are famous in romances for joustings between the baptized and infidels.'- NEWTON. Landor objects to Damasco as being un-English, and as causing hiatus with the next word. The form is Italian; see Ariosto, Orl. Fur. 17: 18; 18: 3 ff. For Milton's 'muster-rolls of names,' cf. P. L. 4: 268-283; 11: 388-411; Introduction, p. 33; and especially Macaulay's Essay on Milton. Authors like Coleridge and Longfellow often excel in this particular. 585. That is, the Saracens who passed from Biserta in Africa to Spain.'-NEWTON. 586. Mariana and the Spanish historians are Milton's authors for saying that he and his army were routed in this manner at Fontarabbia, which is a strong town in Biscay at the very entrance into Spain, and esteemed the key of the kingdom.'-NEWTON. Cf. Marmion 6:33. Was Charlemagne slain on that occasion ? 588. Compare. See P. L. 3: 138; 6: 705; 9: 228; S. A. 556. Perhaps originally compeer (so New Eng. Dict. s. v.). Observed. Cf. Virgil, Georg. 4: 210-212: Neither Egypt, nor mighty Lydia, nor the Parthian tribes, nor Median Hydaspes, so deeply reverence (observant) their king.' For a similar, but not identical use, see P. L. 10: 430. 66 589-599. Cf. Lewes, Principles of Success in Literature: 'Burke, in his Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, lays down the proposition that distinctness of imagery is often injurious to the effect of art. "It is one thing," he says, to make an idea clear, another to make it affecting to the imagination. If I make a drawing of a palace or a temple or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; but then (allowing for the effect of imitation, which is something) my picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape would have affected in reality. On the other hand, the most lively and spirited verbal description I can give raises a very obscure and imperfect idea of such objects; but then it is in my power to raise a stronger emotion by the description than I can do by the best painting. This experience constantly evinces. The proper manner of conveying the affections of the mind from one to the other is by words; there is great insufficiency in all other method of communi |
