按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
{63} The chief objections。
{64} That time might be better spent。
{65} Beg the question。
{66} That poetry is the mother of lies。
{67} That poetry is the nurse of abuse; infecting us with wanton and pestilent desires。
{68} Rampire; rampart; the Old French form of 〃rempart;〃 was 〃rempar;〃 from 〃remparer;〃 to fortify。
{69} 〃I give him free leave to be foolish。〃 A variation from the line (Sat。 I。 i。 63); 〃Quid facias illi? jubeas miserum esse libenter。〃
{70} That Plato banished poets from his ideal Republic。
{71} Which authority certain barbarous and insipid writers would wrest into meaning that poets were to be thrust out of a state。
{72} Ion is a rhapsodist; in dialogue with Socrates; who cannot understand why it is that his thoughts flow abundantly when he talks of Homer。 〃I can explain;〃 says Socrates; 〃your talent in expounding Homer is not an art acquired by system and method; otherwise it would have been applicable to other poets besides。 It is a special gift; imparted to you by Divine power and inspiration。 The like is true of the poet you expound。 His genius does not spring from art; system; or method: it is a special gift emanating from the inspiration of the Muses。 A poet is light; airy; holy person; who cannot compose verses at all so long as his reason remains within him。 The Muses take away his reason; substituting in place of it their own divine inspiration and special impulse 。 。 。 Like prophets and deliverers of oracles; these poets have their reason taken away; and become the servants of the gods。 It is not they who; bereft of their reason; speak in such sublime strains; it is the god who speaks to us; and speaks through them。〃 George Grote; from whose volumes on Plato I quote this translation of the passage; placed 〃Ion〃 among the genuine dialogues of Plato。
{73} Guards; trimmings or facings。
{74} The Second Summary。
{75} Causes of Defect in English Poetry。
{76} From the invocation at the opening of Virgil's AEneid (line 12); 〃Muse; bring to my mind the causes of these things: what divinity was injured 。 。 。 that one famous for piety should suffer thus。〃
{77} The Chancellor; Michel de l'Hopital; born in 1505; who joined to his great political services (which included the keeping of the Inquisition out of France; and long labour to repress civil war) great skill in verse。 He died in 1573。
{78} Whose heart…strings the Titan (Prometheus) fastened with a better clay。 (Juvenal; Sat。 xiv。 35)。 Dryden translated the line; with its context …
〃Some sons; indeed; some very few; we see Who keep themselves from this infection free; Whom gracious Heaven for nobler ends designed; Their looks erected; and their clay refined。〃
{79} The orator is made; the poet born。
{80} What you will; the first that comes。
{81} 〃Whatever I shall try to write will be verse。〃 Sidney quotes from memory; and adapts to his context; Tristium IV。 x。 26。
〃Sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos; Et quod temptabam dicere; versus erat。〃
{82} HIS for 〃its〃 here as throughout; the word 〃its〃 not being yet introduced into English writing。
{83} Defects in the Drama。 It should be remembered that this was written when the English drama was but twenty years old; and Shakespeare; aged about seventeen; had not yet come to London。 The strongest of Shakespeare's precursors had not yet begun to write for the stage。 Marlowe had not yet written; and the strength that was to come of the freedom of the English drama had yet to be shown。
{84} There was no scenery on the Elizabethan stage。
{85} Messenger。
{86} From the egg。
{87} Bias; slope; French 〃biais。〃
{88} Juvenal; Sat。 iii。; lines 152…3。 Which Samuel Johnson finely paraphrased in his 〃London:〃
〃Of all the griefs that harass the distrest; Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest。〃
{89} George Bachanan (who died in 1582; aged seventy…six) had written in earlier life four Latin tragedies; when Professor of Humanities at Bordeaux; with Montaigne in his class。
{90} Defects in Lyric Poetry。
{91} Defects in Diction。 This being written only a year or two after the publication of 〃Euphues;〃 represents that style of the day which was not created but represented by the book from which it took the name of 〃Euphuism。〃
{92} Nizolian paper…books; are commonplace books of quotable passages; so called because an Italian grammarian; Marius Nizolius; born at Bersello in the fifteenth century; and one of the scholars of the Renaissance in the sixteenth; was one of the first producers of such volumes。 His contribution was an alphabetical folio dictionary of phrases from Cicero: 〃Thesaurus Ciceronianus; sive Apparatus Linguae Latinae e scriptis Tullii Ciceronis collectus。〃
{93} 〃He lives and wins; nay; comes to the Senate; nay; comes to the Senate;〃 &c。
{94} Pounded。 Put in the pound; when found astray。
{95} Capacities of the English Language。
{96} Metre and Rhyme。
{97} Last Summary and playful peroration
End