The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

Sense presuppos'd, and resolute Intent,
To regulate thereby poetic Bent,
Let us examine Language once again,
As erst we did to regulate the Pen;
And then observe how the peculiar Frame
Of Words in English may assist your Aim!

404

The End of Speech, vouchsaf'd to human Kind,
Is to express Conceptions of the Mind.
By painted Speech, or Writing's wond'rous Aid,
The Lines of Thought are legibly display'd;
In any Place, at any Time, appear,
And silent Figure speaks to mental Ear;
Surprising Permanence of Meaning found
For distant Voice and momentary Sound.
Whether by Heav'n at first the huge Effect
Reveal'd, or by inventive Wit,—reflect
What good may follow, if a Man exert
The Talent right, what Ill, if he pervert;
And to Exertion, whether good, or bad,
What Strength engaging Poetry may add;
That, if successful in your present Drift,
You may not risk to desecrate the Gift!

You see, in speaking, or by Sound or Ink,
The grand inceptive Caution is—to think;
To measure, ponder, ruminate, digest,—
Or Phrase whatever that betokens best
A due Attention to make Art and Skill
Turn all to Good, or least of all to Ill;
Never to give, on any warm Pretence,
To just Observers Cause of just Offence.

405

To Truth, to Good, undoubtedly belong
The Skill of Poets and the Charms of Song.

In Verse or Prose, in Nature or in Art,
The Head begins the Movement, or the Heart.
If both unite, if both be clear and sound,
Then may Perfection in a Work be found;
Then does the Preacher, then the Poet shine,
And justly take the Title of Divine.
By common Sense the World has been all led
To make Distinction of the Heart and Head,—
Distinction worthy of your keenest Ken
In passing Judgment upon Books and Men,—
Upon Yourself, before you shall submit
To other Judges what Yourself has writ.

The Heart, the Head, it may suffice to note,
Two diff'rent Kinds of Poetry promote:
One, more sublime, more sacred, and severe,
That shines in Poetry's celestial Sphere;
One, of an useful, tho' an humbler, Birth,
That ornaments its lower Globe of Earth.
These we shall here ascribe, if you think fit,
One to good Sense, the other to good Wit,
And grant, that, whichsoever be display'd,
It must have something of the other's Aid.
Without some Wit, Solidity is dull;
As bad the sprightly Nonsense, to the full.

To clothe them both in Language, and by Rule,
Let us again revise the Short-hand School,
And trace the branching Stamens of Discourse
From their most plain and primerly Resource!

406

Four Parts of Speech, you know, we us'd to make
The best Arrangement, for Enquiry's Sake;
And how spontaneous, to determine those,
The Noun, the Adnoun, Verb, and Adverb rose!
Occurring Hints, but to no Stiffness tied
Of formal Method, let these four divide!
They do, in Fact, partition out, you know,
The Sense of Words, as far as Words can go;
For, of a Thing the clear ideal Sense,—
The Properties that really spring from thence,
Actions, and Modes of Action, that ensue,
Must all unite to make the Language true.
If false, some one or other of these four
Unveils Delusion ent'ring at its Door.—
But wonted Lessons I shall here pass by,
Trusting to your Remembrance,—and apply.

The Noun, the Name, the Substantive, the Thing,
Let represent the Subject that you sing,—
The main essential Matter, whereupon
You mean to set the Muse at Work anon!
Ere you begin the Verse that you intend,
“Respice finem,”—think upon its End!
One single Point, on which you are to fix,
Must govern all that you shall intermix;
Before you quest for Circumstances round,
Peg down, at first, the Centre of your Ground;
Each periodic Incident when past,
Examine gently whether that be fast!

407

How can you help, if it should e'er come out,
Mistaking quite the Point you are about;
How, with no Tether fix'd to your Designs,
Help incoherent, loose, unmeaning Lines?

You need not ask of classic Rome or Greece
Whether your Work should all be of a Piece.
The Thing is plain, and all that Rule can tell
Is—Memorandum to observe it well:
To frame, whatever you shall intersperse
Of Decoration, well-connected Verse,
That shall, whatever may across be spread,
From End to End maintain an equal Thread;
That Botch, or Patch, or clumsy, awkward Seam
Mar not poetic Unity of Theme.

This Theme, or Subject, for your English Muse
Belongs of right to you and her to choose.
Your own unbiass'd Inclinations best
The freeer Topics for a Verse suggest.
All within Bound of Innocence is free,
And you may range, without consulting me,
The just, delightful, and extensive Sphere;
All else,—what need of Caution to forbear?
None;—if the Bards, and some of them renown'd,
Had not transgrest and overleapt the Bound.
This may indeed bid you to have a Care,—

408

Me, to renew the Warning to beware.
While unrestrain'd you set yourself the Task,
Let it be harmless, and 'tis all I ask.

Some, to be sure, more excellent and grand,
Your practic'd Genius may in Time demand.
To these in View, no Doubt, you may, in Will,
Devote at present your completer Skill;
And whilst in little Essays you express,
Or clothe a Thought in versifying Dress,
On fair Idéas they may turn, and just,
And pave the Way to something more august.
If well your earlier Specimens intend,
From small Beginnings you may greatly end,
Write what the Good may praise, as they peruse,
And bless, with no unfruitful Fame, the Muse.

A youthful Muse, a sprightly one, may crave
To intermix the Cheerful with the Grave.
Indulge her Choice, nor stop the flowing Stream,
Where Verse adorns an inoffensive Theme!
Unwill'd Endeavour is the same as faint,
And Brisk will languish, if it feel Constraint.
From Task impos'd, from any Kind of Force,
A stiff, and starch'd Production comes, of course;
Unless it suit, as it may chance to do,
The present Humour of the Muse, and you,—
Sooner, so ask'd, that willing Numbers flow,
The more acceptable and àpropos.
Tho' prompt, if proper the Occasion rise,
Her nimbler Aid no gen'rous Muse denies;
But, if a fair and friendly Call invite,

409

Speeds on the Verse to opportune Delight;
Cuts all Delays to Satisfaction short,
When Friends and Seasons are in Temper for't:
As by this present Writing one may see,
Dear Muse of mine, is just the Case with thee.

A gen'rous Muse, I must again repeat,
Disdains the poor, poetical Conceit
Of poaching Verse for personal Repute,
And writing only to be thought to do't,
Without regarding one of its chief Ends,—
At once to profit and to pleasure Friends.
Tho' to the Bard she dictate first the Line,
The Readers Benefit is her Design.
Mistaken Poets seek for private Fame;
'Tis gen'ral Use that sanctifies the Name.

Be free, and choose what Subject, then, you will,
But keep your Readers in Remembrance still,—
Your future Judges, tho' 'tis in your Choice
In what Committees who shall have a Voice!
Their Satisfaction if the Muse prefers,
And their Esteem, who justly merit hers,
They who do not, however prompt of Throat,
Stand all excluded from the legal Vote.
Verse, any Readers for whom Verse is writ,
May to the Press or to the Flames commit.
A Poet signs the Judgment on his Verse,
If Readers worthy to be pleas'd rehearse;
But, when the Blockheads meddle in the Cause,
Laughs at their Blame, and smiles at their Applause.

'Twill add to future versifying Ease
To think on Judges whom you ought to please;

410

To fancy some of your selected Friends
Discussing Points to which a Subject tends;
By whom you guess it would be well discuss'd,
And Judgment form'd that you might safely trust.
If you conceive them sitting on the Bench,
Hints, what is fit to add or to retrench,
Anticipating Fancy may supply,
And save the Trouble to the real Eye;
Judgment awaken'd may improve the Theme
With righter Verdict,—tho' the Court's a Dream.