Lonely she pines within the empty Court, Lies on the Couch which just before she left; Him absent, absent still, she hears and sees. Sometimes his Father's Image all her Soul Possessing, young Ascanius on her Lap She long detains; if possible, to cheat, With that Amusement, her unbounded Love.
Among the other fatal Predictions of the unhappy Queen's Death, an Historian might mention the foreboding Noise of the Scrietch-Owl; but would fall infinitely short of the inexpressible Elegance with which it is described in the two following Lines:
[54] Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo Sæpe queri, & longas in fletum ducere voces.
And on her Palace-Top The lonely Owl, with oft repeated Scream, Complains, and spins into a dismal Length Her baleful Shrieks.
I have produced, perhaps, already, too many Examples; but I cannot forbear adding one more, which exceeds Admiration itself: It is the Description of Tityos, in the Sixth Æneid, suffering Punishment in the Shades below.
[55] Necnon & Tityon, terræ omniparentis alumnum, Cernere erat: per tota novem cui jugera corpus Porrigitur; rostroque immanis vultur obunco Immortale jecur tundens, fœcundaque pœnis Viscera, rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto Pectore; nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis.
There Tityus, Son of the all-bearing Earth, One might behold: Whose Body's monstrous Bulk Lies stretch'd o'er nine whole Acres; and a huge Portentous Vulture, with her hooky Beak Pouncing his everlasting Liver, thrives Upon his Entrails, fruitful of their Pains; Rummages for her Meals, inhabits deep Beneath his Breast; nor do the Fibres find The least Relief from Torment still renew'd.
From the whole, I suppose it abundantly plain, that there is an Energy in the poetic Style, as it is much more adapted to copying Nature, than Oratory is, with all its Rhetoric.
Fifth Lecture.
'Tis farther to be observed, that figurative Expressions are far more frequent in Poetry, than Prose, as they are far more suitable to it; because it consists much more in the Embellishments of Style, in the Liveliness of Description, and impressing the Images of Things upon the Imagination. For tho' it rejects all false Colouring, and too great Affectation of Pomp, yet from the very Nature of it we may judge it takes in more real Ornaments than Prose. As to Tropes or Figures, as they are usually called, many of them are never used in Oratory, some but seldom, and very sparingly; others, again, agree naturally with it, particularly, the Irony, Metonymy, Synechdoche, and Metaphor. Tho' the last of these, for the Reason before alledg'd, is more the Property of Poetry. Some of the Figures are so familiar, and natural, that they are every Day used in common Speech, even by the Vulgar, of which Sort we may reckon those above, and some others. Metaphors never fail of being beautiful, when applied with mature Judgment, and a lively Wit; that is, when they are drawn from Nature, connect Ideas that have a due Relation to each other, and are not too much wrested to a foreign Sense. But nothing is more insipid, more ridiculous, or absurd, when these Rules are transgress'd in the Choice of them; which is the Case, very often, of our modern Writers, to their eternal Disgrace.