Poetry thus having its foundation in the nature of man, may be expected to exhibit similar features during the primitive ages of every country. The circumstances which caused it to be cultivated and cherished were every where nearly the same. The praises of gods and men, indivi dual or national glory or calamity, joy or lamentation, which constituted the early subjects or poetry, are topics common to every tribe and nation. But though, in the first stages of society, mankind in every country resem ble each other, they gradually vary: climate and modes of living form and develop principles and habits among one people which are unknown or despised by another. Thus, though in every nation the source of poetry, and its great general lineaments, were at first similar, it by degrees, among different tribes, exhibited distinct and pe culiar characteristics ; and was mild or impetuous, mar tial or tender, unpolished or refined, according to the cir cumstances and institutions of the different nations of the world. Hence the great national division of poetry, the Hebrew, Chinese, Arabian, Gothic, Celtic, Grecian, each kind being po,%erfully descriptive of the circum stances of the people, and the natural scenery of the coun try, where it obtained. Nor was this general division the only change that poetry underwent. Poetical composition at first embraced the whole impulses of which the human soul is susceptible, the unrestrained range or the human imagination ; and every species of the art lay confused in the same mass, according as circumstances or enthusiasm directed the poet's strain. But now, in addition to the national division just spoken of, the different kinds of poetry were severally discriminated, each being assigned its separate character and importance, and subjected to rules and restrictions unknown in the earlier stages of the art. History, eloquence, and poetry, long so closely con nected, were now disjoined, and each regarded as distinct from the others, and independent of them. The historian now laid aside the garb and brilliancy of poetry; he wrote in sober, elaborate prose, and was ambitious of no praise but that of candour and authenticity. The orator, though he did not altogether relinquish the splendid and flowing ornaments by which he was formerly characterised, la boured to gain his point, as much by ingenuity, and ar guments addressed to the understanding, as by his warm and impassioned appeals to the feelings and the heart.
" Poetry," says an elegant critic, " became now a sepa rate art, calculated chiefly to please, and confined gene. rally to such subjects as related to the imagination and the passions. Even its earliest companion, music, •was in a great measure divided from it." It now indeed assumed a comparatively tame and uninteresting aspect. The bard, instead of pouring forth his song as the native and irre sistible effusions of an ardent and inspired heart, had re course to study and to rules, affected to be actuated by what he did not feel, and supplied the want of native emo tions by pompous and artificial ornaments, chosen to daz zle and to deceive.
The divine art, therefore, of which we are treating, has, in the more civilized countries, been divided into dif ferent departments or professions, a thing unknown in the poetic compositions of a rude state of society. It must not be denied, however, that, even at the earliest periods of the art, we may trace symptoms and indica tions of that division which we are now contemplating. Thus, what we now denominate the Ode or Lyric Poetry, may, with propriety, be reckoned the first species of com position. As the word Ode denotes, it was a species of poetry intended to be sung or accompanied with music ; a distinction, however, at first peculiar, as formerly shown, to no one mode of poetical writing. But of that which we now call the Ode, the earliest productions, such as the Song of Moses and Miriam, the Psalms of David, ke., are correct and regular specimens. The Elegy would at a remote period be introduced, lamenting the death of friends, of chiefs, and of warriors. Nor would Epic Poetry be long uncultivated. To celebrate the exploits of heroes is a task which the bard would early be excited to perform ; and his effusions on such an occasion xvould literally give birth to the epic or heroic species of poetic composition. And if, while reciting a production of this
nature at any of the public meetings of the tribe, the dif ferent bards should endeavour to personate the dif ferent heroes and personages, and should feel, and speak, and act, agreeably to the several characters they had as sumed, this representation would necessarily be the origin and the first outlines of dramatic composition. Thus early, therefore, may we trace the undefined, original appear ances of the different kinds of poetry, of which the most ancient tribes (though this division was not nominally known to them, and though poetry of every description was then indiscriminately blended together) afford some striking indications ; but it was left to more civilized na tions to effect, by study, by rigid definition, and by criti cism, what the early bards did not fully understand or wil fully neglected, preferring, as they did, to give utterance to the strong movements and sympathies of their souls in such wild and impetuous language as nature spontaneous ly dictated, rather than do violence to the noble warmth of their feelings by study or by artificial arrangements. The remainder of this article shall be employed in giving an analysis of the different kinds of poetic writings, and in enumerating some of the more eminent authors, in the several departments of the art.
But before entering on this portion of our subject, we shall treat of the poetry of the Hebrews, not because it is the medium of divine revelation,—we shall not at present consider its awful dignity and importance in this respect,— but because it is the most ancient, as well as the most cu rious and perfect specimen of poetical writing handed down to us. Though the hooks of the Old Testament, being the production of various individuals and different ages, are characterized by great diversity of style, it is not diffi cult to ascertain which of them belong to the department of poetry. Of this class, undoubtedly, are the Book of Job, the Psalms of David, the Song of Solomon, the Lamenta lions of Jeremiah, a great proportion of the prophetical books, ith innumerable detached passages in the histori cal writings. Whether these compositions were originally written in verse has long been a subject of dispute with biblical critics, and is yet undetermined. Our knowledge of the correct pronunciation of the language in which they are written is so imperfect, that the dispute can never be expected to be settled. Hang learned writers, however, such as Dr. Lowth and Dr. Blayney, arc decidedly of opinion, that in the poetical books the arrangements of the words and the cadences of the sentences are so essen tially different from those in the historical, as to warrant the inference that they were originally composed in regu lar numbers. Music and poetry, among the Hebrews, as well as among all other people, seem to have been insepa rably connected. In the earlier notices on this subject in the Old Testament, it is mentioned that praises were offered up to the Lord in songs, accompanied with various instruments of music. We are told by Samuel of the prophets " prophesying with the psaltery and harp before them." " Sing unto the Lord a new song," is an expres sion every where to be found, and is evidently conclusive with respect to the intimate connexion formerly stated as existing between poetry and music. But whatever opi nions may be entertained on other points, Hebrew poetry, it is allowed by all, is of a peculiar description, unlike that of any other nation with which we are acquainted. And this peculiarity consists in no mean degree in its artificial external structure, in its repetitions, amplifications, alter nation and correspondence of parts. Every period is divi ded into two members, either tautological, or forming a contrast to each other, and always the same in point of sound and measure. Our English version, though in prose, being literally word for word after the original, re tains all the characteristic marks of metrical and poetical composition, and may with propriety be quoted for the benefit of those unacquainted with the Hebrew language. Thus, in the twentieth chapter of Job; " The triumphing of the wicked is short,—and the joy of the hy pocrite but for a moment.