Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear That tips with silver all the fruit-tree tops. Juliet checks him, and retorts the changeableness of his She further advises him against swearing; favourite moon. but, if he must, then to swear by himself- Which is the god of my idolatry. She now falls back upon the seriousness of the situa tion : : Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night; She This is direct enough; but she too must now indulge in similes, although not with Romeo's expansiveness. very soon reverts to business : Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be. Ere one can say It lightens. The simile is not so apt as to be inevitable or irresistible : it is simply the poet's necessity of providing figurative material. ~ The same may be said of her next comparison :— This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. She now drops the search for figures, and is more successful when using plain and homely language, in keeping with her state: Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest This is the language of feeling, and yet not either original or far-fetched. The two still continue the parley, and Juliet again reiterates her affection, by the help of new hyperbolical comparisons : My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep: the more I give to thee This is too close an imitation of Romeo, and is by no means impressive or convincing. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the genuine ring of emotion accompanies her speeches far more than her lover's. Our great poets, with few exceptions, have cultivated EROTIC EXAMPLES-ANACREON. 145 the same field: while the creation of prose romance has bestowed upon it an ever-increasing expansion. The literature of every civilized or half-civilized nation has embraced the arts and circumstances of love-making, and certain recurring devices may be traced throughout; while the degree of perfection attained necessarily varies with the genius of each people. Arabia, Persia, India, China, Japan, afford contributions to display the passion alike in its happy and its unhappy issues. The most characteristic form of erotic composition is the growth of the sexual passion in its first outburst of youthful intensity; the consummation being the marriage union. But although this consummation quenches the flame of ungratified desire, it still admits of a high order of amatory feeling; and this too receives the occasional attention of the poet. It appears both in the Iliad and in the Odyssey; but was not often celebrated in the ancient world. The remaining illustrations will be chiefly cast into a systematic array, with a view of indicating the causes leading to success or to failure in this great emotional quality. The authors of the Anacreontic Odes had before them. the whole compass of classic poetry, Greek and Roman. For an example of personal description we can refer to the companion Odes, 16 and 17, the one on feminine, and the other on masculine beauty. The whole of Anacreon has been translated by Moore, with considerable variations to suit his own ideas of effect. We shall quote a portion of the translation of Ode 16; and a comparison with the original will be further illustrative of the arts of personal description. The method of proceeding, from the hair downwards in order, shows a desire to present a suggestive and cohering picture of the highest beauty. The figurative accompaniments add to the impression without destroying the continuity of the impression. Paint her jetty ringlets straying, The whole passage runs literally thus: 'Sketch me first tresses both soft and glossy; and if the wax can do it, sketch them also exhaling perfume'. We can judge how far Moore's additions are improvements. The poet passes to the brow, led by the contiguity to the tresses: Where her tresses curly flow The conflict of Anacreon has simply ivory forehead'. Let her eyebrows sweetly rise Just commingling—just dividing. 'Sweetly,' 'gliding,' are added by the translator: the point expressed in the original is that the black arches of her eyebrows should be shown as not altogether united, yet imperceptibly meeting. (In the East it is still a beauty to have united eyebrows.) Moore's additions are a mere excess of figures, which, though not clashing, are not suggestive of a higher type of beauty, and are therefore a waste of power. The poet, in passing to the eyes, feels the necessity of rising to his utmost strain. They receive six lines in Moore: four in Anacreon. First, their lightning': then 'the azure ray of Minerva,' and 'the liquid fire of Venus'. The combination is somewhat vague, but the resulting impression is considerable. Moore again fails to catch the points. The words in Anacreon run thus: 'And now for the eyes, make them truly of fire [not lightning], at once gleaming like Athene's and languishing [or liquid] like Cythera's'. The reference is to the statues of the goddesses. Those of Athene were made with light gleaming gems, while those of Aphrodite were made languishing' by a slight drawing up of the lower eyelid. O'er her nose and cheek be shed, 'Nose' and 'cheek' are given simply as 'roses mixed with milk'; in its simplicity a more effective combination. Then her lips, so rich in blisses, Pouting nest of bland persuasion, In Anacreon thus: Draw the lip as it were that. of Peitho [the goddess of Persuasion and handmaid of Aphrodite] inviting a kiss'. The redoubling of the thought is Moore's, and his additions are of very doubtful value. Then beneath the velvet chin, Whose dimple shades a love within, In the original thus: 'Within a soft chin, around a marble neck, let all the Graces be flying'. The poet passes now to the limbs, which 6 a lucid veil shadows but does not conceal'. Similar arts, but with greater intensity and fulness of details, are bestowed on the beautiful youth, in the next Ode. The fiction of the poet, in dictating to a painter the features of his beautiful pair, renders the poems all the more suitable, as exemplifying personal description. The We may next refer to a celebrated modern instance: Suckling's Bride, in his Ballad on a Wedding '. stanzas describing the bride are a mixture of descriptive epithets with action, the action predominating. There is no order in the selection of the features. A well-chosen comparison, not too far-fetched, and very impressive, gives us a general view to begin with: No grape that's kindly ripe could be The personal description begins with the finger, for which the ring was too wide, and looked like a great collar on a young colt's neck. This is manifestly overdone. The element of the little in beauty can easily be made ridiculous. Perhaps the most admired stanza is the next in order Her feet beneath her petticoat, As if they feared the light. Is half so fine a sight. This is felt to be exquisitely suggestive; it takes the full advantage of working by action. The second half is less effective; it is one of the comparisons that operate by intensity of degree in an alien subject. In the stanzas on the face, the description is aided by heightening figures: Her cheeks so rare a white was on, No daisy makes comparison, Who sees them is undone; For streaks of red were mingled there, The side that's next the sun. This is one of the innumerable attempts to portray richness of complexion; and is not unsuccessful. Still better, however, is the stanza combining mouth, chin and eyes : Her lips were red; and one was thin, The first half is strikingly managed; the descriptive epithets are suitable and heightened by the allusion. The second half flies off upon the very frequent usage of a mere intensity figure. In so far as the meaning can be interpreted, its force is dubious; a pair of fine eyes should not affect us like the sun's glare. The poet next surprises us by taking up the mouth, which is thus separated from its constituents the lips :— Her mouth so small, when she does speak, There is here the same unsuitable exaggeration of smallness; while the figure employed is harsh rather than agreeable. In the next example, we pass beyond personal beauty, whether in picture, or in action, or in both, and include mental qualities that inspire love. So powerful is this source |