Though his excellency mount up to the heavens,—and his head unto the clouds ; Vet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:—they which have seen him shall say, where is he ? lie shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be he shall be chased away as a vision of the night The eye also which saw him, shall see him no more ;—neither shall his place any more behold him." This method of composition, which forms the peculiar and distinguishing feature of Hebrew poetry, became at length so familiar, and so much the character of the lan guage, that it prevailed more or less in every other species of composition. In the prophetical writings this idiom is conspicuously remarkable. In Isaiah, chapter fifty-fifth, the reader find striking specimens of this, as well as in innumerable other places.
The origin of this idiom in the Hebrew tongue may probably be traced to the nature of their music. Their hymns or odes, like those of other nations, were uniformly sung; but with them this was accomplished in a way somewhat peculiar. Their singers and musicians did not all perform together, but each individual, et• the differ ent di) isions of the band, had their respective parts to accomplish, so as to obtain a varied but uninterrupted melody. Thus, for example, one bard sung, " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ;" the chorus or semi-chorus immediately succeeded, " let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof." " Clouds and darkness are around him," was sung by one, while tbe other replied, d, " judgment and ) righteousness arc the habitation of his throne." Of this peculiarity, the 24th Psalm may be adduced as, probably, the most striking and satisfactory instance. It is supposed to have been composed on the important and sclera n occasion of the ark of the covenant being brought back to Mount Sinai. " Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place ?". is sung by a semi-chorus, and the 'espouse is made by a full chorus, " He that bath clean hands and a pure heart, who bath lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." As the procession approached the door of the tabernacle, the full chorus is supposed again to join in the exclamation, " Lift up your heads yc gates, and be ye lifted up, yc ever lasting doors, and the king of glory shall enter in." " 110 is the king of glory ?" is a question by the semi chorus, and the answer is returned by the whole chorus, as the ark is introduced into the tabernacle, " The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle." These examples, while they illustrate the nature of Hebrew poetry, show, at the same time, how much of the beauty and magnificence of this portion of the sacred volume is lost to those who understand not the genius of the original tongue, or who know not the different circumstances for which these compositions were severally written.
It may be here remarked, that this practice of the He brew poets, of always amplifying the same thought by repetition or contrast, does not in the least degree tend to enfeeble their style—a result which, at first sight, we would suppose unavoidable. In managing this extremely difficult point consist their merit and their eminence. The same thought is never dwelt upon long; their sen tences are short; and, except with regard to the pecu liarity which we have just contemplated, they use no superfluous words, no artificial embellishments. There is nothing else very peculiar or idiomatical in the mode of construction of Hebrew poetry. It is certainly charac terized by beauties of every description to a degree alto gether unrivalled. Simplicity, strength, boldness, mag nificence, sublimity, pathos, are its distinguishing features. With the Hebrew poets there.are no far-fetched allusions and illustrations, no false feeling, or studied and artificial magnificence. The pastoral life, and the parched ground of Judea, the palm-t•ees and the cedars of Lebanon, are almost the only sources from which they draw their figures and their associations.
Flaying, thus treated of the poetry of the Hebrews, we proceed to give such an account of the different species of poetic composition as our limits will admit. Lyric Poetry, or the Ode, is probably the first that will suggest itself to the mind of every reader. As its name imports, it is in tended to be sung or accompanied with music—a distinc tion, as formerly shown, not originally confined to any one kind of poetic writing, as music and poetry were coeval, but which the ode was allowed to retain when these two arts were separated. The ode, therefore, may justly be • regarded as the form of the earliest poetical effusions ; and, consistently with this opinion, it is required to be more fervid, more impassioned, more directly the offspring of natural feeling, than any other department of the art. Following the dictates of natural emotion, it may be ab rupt in its transitions, it may make bold digressions, and give way to enthusiastic and energetic flights, incompati ble with every other species of composition, and which, at least, can never be justified in verses written for simple recitation. The subjects, too, on which it may descant, are more akin to those which originally formed the song of the poet.