THE SOUL'S DEFIANCE: "But thou mayst learn to trace the sun Around the earth and sky, And see him rising, setting, still, Where distant oceans lie. To other lands the bird may guide "Though strong and free, his wing may droop, Thought none may stay-more fleet its course A lovelier clime than birds can find, Beyond this earth remains for those, 333 Anonymous. THE SOUL'S DEFIANCE. I SAID to sorrow's awful storm, That beat against my breast, 'Rage on! thou may'st destroy this form, And lay it low at rest; But still the spirit, that now brooks Thy tempest raging high, With steadfast eye." I said to penury's meagre train, Yet still the spirit that endures, I said to cold neglect and scorn, Yet still the spirit, which you see, Its high-born smiles." I said to friendship's menaced blow, Strike deep! my heart shall bear ; Thou canst but add one bitter woe To those already there; Yet still the spirit, that sustains Shall smile upon its keenest pains, I said to death's uplifted dart, For still the spirit, firm and free, Triumphant in the last dismay, Wrapt in its own eternity, Shall smiling pass away." Anonymous. DESCRIPTIVE. "Oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven; Oh, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven!" "Nature I'll court in her sequestered haunts, BEATTIE. By mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell; SMOLLETT. We have adverted in another place to the intimate connexion between Pastoral and Descriptive Poetry. The latter, however, is more comprehensive in its range. One of its chief objects is to describe the beauties of scenery, and the appearances of external nature: but it extends to a much greater variety of objects: it embraces the wide and varied field of Natural Phenomena. The delineation of the revolutions and characteristics of the Seasons comes within its province. Descriptive Poetry is also employed in narrating the events and portraying the characters of history. The science of Natural History, in its various departments, is likewise a favourite theme with our best Descriptive Poets; in fact, every thing connected with the works of the Creator, in their most wonderful forms and minutest operations, is included in this pleasing species of poetical composition. There are few poems that are exclusively descriptive in their character, like, for example, the "Seasons" of THOMSON, or the "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" of MILTON. "Descriptive Poetry," as Dr. BLAIR has observed, "is intermixed with every other kind, Epic, Didactic, Pastoral, Lyric, and Dramatic." The highest degree of excellence in this form of poetry has been attained only by the most eminent writers. It requires an observant and a philosophical mind, an imagination vivid and fertile, and a taste for the beauties of Nature. Dr. JOHNSON has given too limited a definition of Descriptive Poetry: he has designated it a "species of composition, of which the fundamental subject is some particular landscape to be poetically described, with the addition of such embellishments as may be supplied by historical retrospection or incidental meditation;" and he adduces as examples of this kind, DENHAM'S "Cooper's Hill," and POPE'S "Windsor Forest." The productions of our great Descriptive Poets comprehend a wider range of topics than Dr. JOHNSON has specified, and prove that the best poetry of this class should be ranked amongst the highest efforts of genius. The love of Nature is instinctive in all cultivated minds. It begins in youth and continues through manhood, even up to age; but it is not wholly confined to those whose minds have been improved by education. It seems to be a principle implanted in the human breast for the wisest purposes; and although it may be checked by various causes, yet, if properly cultivated and fostered, it is never altogether extinguished. The majority of our best Poets, whether ancient or modern, were enthusiastic admirers of the wonders and beauties of God's works, and excelled in describing them. Among the poets of antiquity, including the Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, there are many whose works contain the most finished specimens of this kind of poetry. In general description, whe ther of Natural Phenomena or Rural Scenery, HOMER was a consummate master. Those who have read the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," even through the medium of POPE or CowPER's translations, must have re marked how accurate and vivid are the descriptions with which those celebrated works abound. The rural pictures and agricultural sketches of HESIOD, another celebrated Greek poet, have been warmly praised for their truth and simplicity, whilst THEOCRITUs luxuriates in describing scenes of natural beauty. Among the Latins VIRGIL holds a prominent place as one of the most natural painters of rural objects. "He is at all times," says Mr. BUCKE, in his interesting works on the "Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature," "on the watch to inquire into, and explain the phenomena of the Creation; to boast of the number of flocks and herds of Italy; the beauty of its groves; the fineness of its olives; the virility of its spring, and the mildness of its climate. In his 'Pas torals' and his 'Georgics,' we find him sketching with graceful exube rance; while, in the 'Æneid,' many of his individual scenes are drawn with the pencil of a finished painter." Mr. THOMAS WARTON, the Editor and Translator of THEOCRITUs, wrote a dissertation on the origin and nature of the Pastoral Poem, distinguished for profound erudition and refined taste. He places THEOCRITUS and VIRGIL in the first rank of Descriptive Poets belonging to the Pastoral division, and draws an inge nious parallel between them, from which the subjoined passage is transcribed. "VIRGIL, perhaps, is more correct, precise, and elegant than THEOCRITUS, but THEOCRITUs excels him in the variety and strength of his imagery, and often also in beauty. In fact, VIRGIL'S muse, when he writes Pastoral scenes, is clothed in an affected dress, and he supports a foreign character. THEOCRITUS supports a character of his own. The latter represents the manners of his countrymen, the former exhibits them from a foreign land. VIRGIL has transferred his ideas of pastoral poetry from the description of another. THEOCRITUS has taken his from life. To THEOCRITUS, who was a native of Sicily, pastoral images were more frequent and stronger; and hence those natural images with which we are so much delighted in this poet; for he drew them from objects with which he was acquainted. In short, THEOCRITUS is like some large pasture, of itself sufficiently fertile, abounding in a variety of ACS DESCRIPTIVE POETRY. 337 fruitful herbs and beautiful flowers, and watered with pleasant streams. VIRGIL is like a garden laid out in shining little beds, where there is an abundance of flowers disposed with great art, and which, cultivated and nourished with great care, were originally transplanted from that larger pasture." The works of LUCRETIUS, STATIUS, LUCIAN, HORACE, and OVID, are often quoted by our highest critical authorities on classical poetry for the beauty and correctness of their descriptions of nature. Some of the French poets have acquired distinction in this class of composition. From DE LILLE we have taken one or two specimens which indicate his exquisite appreciation of the charms of nature, and his power of deline. ating them in language equally remarkable for grace, force, and sweetness. Among the prose writers of France, whose descriptive powers have been generally admired, may be enumerated FENELON, ST. PIERRE, and ROUSSEAU. Italy, too, justly boasts of her DANTE,TASSO, and ARIOSTO; Portugal of her CAMOENS, and France of her VOLTAIRE; but no nation has surpassed the British in the school of Descriptive Poetry. The ancient poets we have named must yield to the moderns in glowing, lofty, and graphic delineation. It is sufficient to mention CHAUCER, whose gorgeous and varied pictures of nature have induced CAMPBELL to designate him the "RUBENS of English Poetry." SPENSER, too, may be selected as a writer, above all others, felicitous and picturesque in his enchanting descriptions of scenery; MILTON, whose "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," are the richest poems of a descriptive character in the English or any other language; SHAKSPEARE, whose universal genius adorned every thing that it touched; and OSSIAN, who, in force and majesty, and in his unequalled power of depicting Nature under her wildest and most savage aspects, has been compared, in poetical style, to SALVator Rosa in painting. There are several other celebrated British poets, whose compositions are eminent for descriptive talent. The names of BROWN, DYER, Pope, GRAY, COLLINS, PARNELL, GOLDSmith, Beattie, BLOOMFIELD, CLARE, and the most popular of our modern votaries of the Muse, will naturally suggest themselves to the mind of the reader. The noble compositions of WORDSWORTH, the graphic delineations of CRABBE, the vivid colouring of SCOTT, and the powerful sketches of BYRON, have placed these masters of song upon the highest pinnacle of fame in this department of the art. The poetry of the last-mentioned author furnishes numerous specimens of descriptive beauty. WILLIAM HOWITT, a popular living author, said of Lord BYRON, "he made acquaintance with Nature in her solitude and sublimity in his boyhood; and he may be said to have been her pilgrim into all lands in which she displays the sovereignty of her beauty and grandeur." Among our recent and living poets, there are many who have contemplated the charms of Nature, and delineated them in the spirit of genuine poetry and Christian philosophy. We refer par. ticularly to SOUTHEY, ROGERS, COLERIDGE, CAMPBELL, and MONTGOMERY. The extracts we have taken from the works of Mrs. HEMANS, Mrs. SOUTHEY, and other female poets, afford striking examples of the |