POETICAL SIMILARITIES. Editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. days. Among the most prominent, I observed the famous John of Gaunt, from whom sprang so many kings; the suit worn by the black prince at the battle of Cressy; the armor of Henry the VIth show-To B. B. MINOR, Esq. ing what was worn when the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster were raging, when Jack Cade and Joan of Arc became famous, and DEAR SIR: The Poetical similarities, which I when the imperishable art of printing was invented; have here collected and send you, may serve the the steel of Henry Vth the companion of Falstaff purpose of adding variety to the pages of the Mesand of Edward IIIrd, who added the words " Dieu senger, and of amusing that class of your readers et mon droit," to the Royal Coat of Arms. The who are, like me, lovers of good poetry. Farther armor appears highly polished, and from the pro- than to amuse has not been attempted. It is still tection it afforded against arrows and lances, I farther from my intention to arraign the authors deem it nothing marvellous that the heroes of here quoted, for the sin of literary larceny or plachivalry were bold to lead their followers to onsets, giarism. The imitation, and still more, the similiin truth, perilous only to the poor soldier who could tude, either casual or intentional, between passages not encircle himself with metal. The horses were of different authors, is certainly not plagiarism. likewise coated, and, therefore, the strongest were If it were, there is not an English author of my required. Some of the suits of armor were pointed acquaintance, who could not be convicted of apout by the warder as having been worn by noble propriating epithets, images, and sometimes entire knights of latter-day creation, who tilted at the passages, the property of others. Indeed, as Sir Eglinton tournament in 1839. The walls of this Walter Scott has remarked, [Intro. Min. Scottish great apartment, or Horse Armory, are lined with Border] Homer is only entirely original, because arms of every description, arranged in various we have lost the compositions of those bards who shapes, and representing different devices. Above must have preceded him, and from whom he must it is what was once called the Spanish Armory, have borrowed many thoughts, turns of expression, from the number of trophies it contained which images, hints, &c. For surely it were absurd to were taken from the Spanish Armada. They suppose, that such an art as Poetry ever sprang show you a quantity of instruments of Spanish in- into existence full grown and armed like the godvention and manufacture intended to have been dess of Wisdom from the brain of Jupiter; or, that used to torment the English prisoners, which that such splendid structures as the Epics of Homer "invincible" expedition expected to take-such as could have arisen, like the castle in the fairy tale, thumb screws, poisoned pikes, a machine for com- in one night, without having been perfected after pressing and fastening a man into the space of models, and designs and rules of art, resulting from about three feet; yokes, cravats of iron, &c. The the attempts and experience of ages. relics of the age of Elizabeth are very numerous, If I had more space and were disposed to inmany of them very curious, and some reflecting as vestigate this subject thoroughly, I would divide it little credit on the English as did the thumb screws into these heads: Plagiarism, Imitation, Similarity, on the Spaniards. There was the axe which and Coincidence. I would say, that the first must severed the head of Ann Boleyn from her body bear sufficient evidence of motive or purpose. a deed which was performed by an executioner, That it must be an intentional appropriating of specially brought from Calais. I held it in my something of value--such as an argument, an image, hand. Raleigh's room was there, where he was or some remarkable epithet belonging to another. confined before his execution, where he slept and Imitation is of two kinds that which is casual, wrote his history of the world. But the limits of or usual and customary among authors, and that this sketch leave no room to tell of many other which is servile, which latter does not strive to things in this apartment; nor of the antique cannon combine thoughts and beauties, so as to impress a in the yard; nor of the crown jewels and regalia, conclusion or result that is new, but is a mere remore than that, I saw them in the strong room, in production of the model which otherwise ought to the large glass case in which they are preserved. be brought out improved or altered to answer some They consist of several crowns, sword of State, end not known to the original artist. Similarity sceptre, staves, salt cellar, bracelets, spoons, wine needs no definition, and Coincidence differs from fount and other paraphernalia. I need not say it in this, that it consists in the employment of the any thing of the lustre of the polished gold and exact image or expression by two authors who the glittering diamonds and precious stones. The could not have known each other. And I would contents of the room are valued at £3,000,000, proceed to furnish examples under each head. But and the crown made for Queen Victoria of itself I am not attempting anything so extensive; endeaat £1,000,000. What a sum to pay for the daz-voring merely to write something that will amuse, zling reflection of a little concentrated light! Such is in a light gossipping sort of way. The quotations the sole use of the diamond upon a monarch's brow!' found here, would be generally ranged under the VOL. X-30 head of similarity and the reader must not look for to quote them entire, without marring their beauty much system. This similarity, though generally pervading the whole Republic of Letters, is particularly observable among contemporaries. Two great authors, both master spirits in the style peculiar to each, have not been ashamed to acknowledge the influence of contemporaries upon the general conception as well as upon particular passages of their poems. 66 Mr. Shelley, in his preface to the "Revolt of Islam," says "I have avoided the imitation of any contemporary style. But there must be a re"semblance, which does not depend upon their own "will, between all the writers of any particular age. "They cannot escape from subjection to a common "influence which arises out of an infinite combi"nation of circumstances belonging to the times in "which they live, though each is, in a degree, the "author of the very influence by which his spirit "is thus pervaded." "And this is "an influence which neither the meanest scribbler, "nor the sublimest genius of any era can escape, "and which I have not attempted to escape." by cutting them up, or abridging them, in hopes that the splendid gems of poetry with which I have adorned my pages, would afford pleasure to those who may peruse them, should my own short observations fail to arrest or merit their attention. If this should prove too long an introduction for so unimportant an article, it must be attributed to the influence of taste in the West, where porches are not unfrequently seen larger than the houses they are intended to adorn. To commence, then, with Shakspeare. It is remarkable, that many of the most admired passages in our poets are to be traced to the inspiration of his muse. As an instance, take the following celebrated and often quoted lines of Pope "Honor and fame from no condition rise, Act well your part, there all the honor lies."-Pope. The germ of this thought, and similarly expressed, is to be found in the following "From lowest place, when virtuous things 'proceed,' The place is dignified by the doer's deed."-Shakspeare. Young says in one place— "How blest is he who first gave tongue to time!" Night Thoughts. "The bell strikes one. We take no note of time After the publication of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," there appeared in the newspapers of the day, an article over the initials of Coleridge [S. T. C.] accusing Sir Walter Scott of plagia-And in another— rism. Coleridge having, at that time, but slight acquaintance with Scott, requested Southey to write to him and inform him, that he was not the author of the accusatory paragraph. Sir Walter, (then Mr. Scott) in answer to Southey's letter, replies "As for the imitations, I have not the “least hesitation in saying to you, that I was un"conscious at the time of appropriating the goods "of others, although I have not the least doubt, "that several of the passages must have been run"ning in my head. Had I meant to steal, I would "have been more cautious to disfigure the stolen "goods. In one or two instances, the resemblance "seems general and casual, and in one, I think it แ Ibid. The thought seems to have arisen quite naturally in his mind on hearing the tolling of a bell at midnight, as he lay oppressed with those bitter and intense thoughts which are the characteristics of his poetry. But there is a line in Hamlet very similar "The iron tongue of midnight has tolled twelve." Hamlet. Horatio in the same play says Mr. "I have heard The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn, Gray was perhaps thinking of the cock, as "The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, I may as well observe, that though this amuse-here ment is not despicable, and is frequently resorted to by literary men, as is observed by the "researching" D'Israeli, [so my Lord Byron calls him] and therefore I am not ashamed of indulging in so elegant and intellectual an entertainment, still I have not set me down with pen and ink at my side for the sole purpose of detecting similarities. Those here offered, are such as have occurred to me, and are such remarkable passages, as fixed themselves in my memory, either by the beauty which they possess, or the obvious similarity they bear to each other. As soon as any passages occurred to me, I turned to the author, and have preferred generally No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed." Elegy And from Mr. Gray, Mr. Rogers may have borrowed the feature of the swallow in the picture of quiet happiness he draws in his popular little poem, The Wish." "The swallow oft beneath my thatch Shall twitter from her clay-built nest; There is also some similarity between two very | give two instances, which seem to be surely more beautiful passages of Shakspeare and Shelley. than mere similarities. "But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill." Hamlet. Shelley's, whose poetry in many passages fre "There's not a garden walk I tread, There's not a flower I see, love! But brings to mind some hope that's fled, quently reminds me of the richness of Shakspeare, Unquestionably taken from Burns. is similar, though sufficiently unlike to prove its originality. "There's not a bonnie flower that springs From fountain, shaw, or green; There's not a bonnie bird that sings But minds me of my Jean!" Burns. These extracts show the characters of the Great Lyrists. Moore's flowers bloom in the garden amidst trimmed borders and cultivated vistas, which invite to the voluptuous softness of "Love's Young Dream." Burns' flowers are the mountain daisy, the violet "by some mossy stone," and such as spring spontaneously upon the rich and varied fields of nature. Moore is however not less natural because he is the poet of elegant society. Nor is Burns more so because he has selected for the source of his inspiration the tangled wildwood, the richness of mountain scenery, and the enchanted streams of his native land. They are students only of different pages of the great book of nature. If my memory does not deceive me, it was Horace who wrote And every one remembers the delightful song of has afforded a fine image to one of our popular Shakspeare commencing "When daisies pied and violets blue And lady-smocks all silver white And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight," &c. There is a fine example of the similarity, [without the slightest grounds for suspecting imitation, far less plagiarism.] which is almost sure to exist between authors who draw their inspiration from the same source-nature's inexhaustible fount-to be found in a description of the death of a stag in Thompson's “Season's” and in "As You Like It." They are however too long for quotation, and I am not inclined, where it can be avoided, to garble and mutilate a beautiful passage for any purpose. Moore, though the first Lyric Poet of the age, after Burns, is certainly at times very loose in his literary morality, appropriating without a word thoughts and entire sentences of others. I will hymns Perhaps when Scott wrote the concluding lines | concluding stanza of Byron's gives me no distinct of Marmion, "To all and each a fair good-night, And rosy dreams and slumbers light," idea. Night has been very beautifully, nay, grandly, personified in a similar manner by three great he had in his mind the almost identical lines of Poets. We quote in the order in which they were Gray "Their buxom health of rosy hue, And lively cheer of vigor born; The thoughtless day, the rosy night, Ode." Prospect of Eton." There is great similitude, almost identity, between two passages of Byron and Shelley. "Even the instinctive worm, on which we tread, Turns, though it wound not-then with prostrate head, Sinks in the dust and writhes like me-and dies." Revolt of Islam. Byron has improved upon this, for his poem was published sometime after the Revolt of Islam, and his verses are free from the blemish in the last line of the above in the allusion to self-the morbid sentimentality of men determined to be unhappy under any circumstances and yet continually complaining-which mars so much fine poetry of both these authors. The rythm of Byron's is as noble as Pope's, or indeed any in our language. "Man spurns the worm, but pauses ere he wake written. "Lest Philomel will deign a song, Il Penseroso. Shelley's are from the battle scene in Queen Mab already alluded to, "Hark to that roar, whose swift and deafening peals O'er these wild spells my watch I keep; The same figure occurs in Dr. Darwin's Botanie "Wave over wave the driving desert swims, And one great earthly ocean covers all. It is not improbable, that Lord Byron had another I might quote many similarities in different aupassage of Shelley's in his mind when he wrote a thors on the subject of love of country. Partico celebrated portion of the Seige of Corinth. Alp, larly might this be done from Goldsmith and Montthe renegade, is met by the spectre of his betroth-gomery-"The Traveller" of the one and "The ed at a tower outside the walls of Corinth. She West Indies" of the other. The comparison of persuades him to return to his allegiance to his country and his religion, and concludes with these remarkable lines I consider Shelley's the better poetry. the character of the inhabitants of a country with its natural appearance, productions, &c. is another favorite subject with Poets and has been more so since Byron wrote the Giaour, where it is beautifully done in the commencement of that poem. Goldsmith is not behind Byron however-for numerous splendid examples can be found in "The Traveller." But I am afraid of extending my pages to too great length. Mr. D'Israeli in his article on "Poetical Imitation," in his "Curiosities," points out an instance in the train of thought and imagery," of two passages from Beattie and Norris. I quote the first as I think it may have suggested a striking image to Moore. "Fond fool, thou deem'st the streaming glory nigh, "dim cloud fading on the moon" is better, I think, sion of an abstract truth--a noble sentiment. The "The babe may cease to think that it can play With Heaven's rainbow," &c.-Veiled Prophet. I may as well mention, in passing, an instance | means derogatory to the great American Poet,] that where Mr. D'Israeli's "critical sagacity" has over- the lines of the immortal Scotsman may have been shot the mark. Upon the lines of Goldsmith "Princes and Lords may flourish and may fade, A breath can make them as a breath has made" he suggests this reading as perhaps that intended by the author and more elegant "A breath unmakes them as a breath has made." Now this would be inadequate to express the "Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey ringing in his mind when he penned the more beautiful lines I have quoted. I say more beautiful, because the first, though very beautiful, contain a thought which is fictitious, [though of that kind of fiction allowed to Poets generally,] and therefore cannot, I think, be equal to those of the great American which are not inferior in cadence and have the higher merit of embodying a noble moral truth. I do not pretend to be an adept in the "ungentle craft" of criticism, as Southey calls it, and I may be incorrect in my standard, but I have always considered truth as a most essential ingredient in the highest kind of Poetry. Truth I mean of sentiment and opinion-moral truth-and not merely truth of incident. To fairy tales and poems, such as the Curse of Kehama of Mr. Southey, where we meet with little else than mere glitter, and are bewildered by useless splendor and unintelligible The Poet simply means, that the safety of a land allegory-and to such poems as are designed only does not depend on its Princes and Lords, for to amuse and captivate, I have ever preferred those should they be destroyed they could be easily again poems from whose perusal I could arise better and supplied, for "a breath can make them as a breath wiser-more prepared to oppose to "the peltings has made." But a bold peasantry, "who constitute the State," who are the nerve and sinew of the nation, "where once destroyed can never be supplied." This last assertion seems startling at first, but it may not be found incorrect when looked into. It, at least, seems warranted by the fact, that in all those countries of ancient grandeur where homely industry and manly fortitude have been banished from the land by habits of luxurious ease and voluptuous effeminacy, though there exist Princes and Lords in abundance, there are now no hardy peasantry with stern honesty to guard the rights and sustain the grandeur and integrity of the Nation. There is to me striking similarity in the structure and harmony of the verse, though not in sentiment or imagery between two very beautiful passages of Scott and Bryant. At least, I can never read the one without being reminded of the music of the other. The first is the opening couplet of one of the Cantos of the Lay "Call it not vain: they do not err, Mr. Bryant's are these "Truth crushed to Earth shall rise again; The Battle-field. There are not the slightest grounds for supposing Mr. Bryant guilty of even a slight and allowable imitation. Yet, I think, [and the thought is by no • Sir William Jones. of the pitiless storm" a breast nerved by virtue and a high and lofty sense of honor-the "Justum et tenacem propositi virum" of the Latin satirist. This seems to me to be the true object-the utility of poetry. Let us turn now to the much admired, much questioned, and only half genuine Ossian, and open at the first page of Fingal. There is a kind of simple sublimity in the beginning of the poem which will attract our attention. It opens thus"Cuthullin sat by Tura's wall: by the tree of the rustling sound." The "tree of the rustling sound" was undoubt- I must quote an entire stanza of Spenser. |