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A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth CenturyBeers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

History

A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

Name: A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century
Author: Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Romanticism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century

Joseph Warton quotes this passage twice in his "Essay on Pope" (Vol I.,
pp. 7 and 356, 5th ed.), once to assert its superiority to a passage in
Pope's "Pastorals": "The mention of places remarkably romantic, the
supposed habitation of Druids, bards and wizards, is far more pleasing to
the imagination, than the obvious introduction of Cam and Isis."  Another
time, to illustrate the following suggestion: "I have frequently wondered
that our modern writers have made so little use of the druidical times
and the traditions of the old bards. . .  Milton, we see, was sensible of
the force of such imagery, as we may gather from this short but exquisite
passage."  As further illustrations of the poetic capabilities of similar
themes, Warton gives a stanza from Gray's "Bard" and some lines from
Gilbert West's "Institution of the Order of the Garter" which describe
the ghosts of the Druids hovering about their ruined altars at Stonehenge:

                "--Mysterious rows
    Of rude enormous obelisks, that rise
    Orb within orb, stupendous monuments
    Of artless architecture, such as now
    Oft-times amaze the wandering traveler,
    By the pale moon discerned on Sarum's plain."

He then inserts two stanzas, in the Latin of Hickes' "Thesaurus," of an
old Runic ode preserved by Olaus Wormius (Ole Worm) and adds an
observation upon the Scandinavian heroes and their contempt of death.
Druids and bards now begin to abound.  Collins' "Ode on the Death of Mr.
Thomson," _e.g._, commences with the line

    "In yonder grave a Druid lies."

In his "Ode to Liberty," he alludes to the tradition that Mona, the
druidic stronghold, was long covered with an enchantment of mist--work of
an angry mermaid:

    "Mona, once hid from those who search the main,
    Where thousand elfin shapes abide."

In Thomas Warton's "Pleasures of Melancholy," Contemplation is fabled to
have been discovered, when a babe, by a Druid

    "Far in a hollow glade of Mona's woods,"

and borne by him to his oaken bower, where she

                "--loved to lie
    Oft deeply listening to the rapid roar
    Of wood-hung Menai, stream of druids old."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth CenturyBeers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

History

A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Romanticism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century

Joseph Warton quotes this passage twice in his "Essay on Pope" (Vol I.,
pp. 7 and 356, 5th ed.), once to assert its superiority to a passage in
Pope's "Pastorals": "The mention of places remarkably romantic, the
supposed habitation of Druids, bards and wizards, is far more pleasing to
the imagination, than the obvious introduction of Cam and Isis."  Another
time, to illustrate the following suggestion: "I have frequently wondered
that our modern writers have made so little use of the druidical times
and the traditions of the old bards. . .  Milton, we see, was sensible of
the force of such imagery, as we may gather from this short but exquisite
passage."  As further illustrations of the poetic capabilities of similar
themes, Warton gives a stanza from Gray's "Bard" and some lines from
Gilbert West's "Institution of the Order of the Garter" which describe
the ghosts of the Druids hovering about their ruined altars at Stonehenge:

                "--Mysterious rows
    Of rude enormous obelisks, that rise
    Orb within orb, stupendous monuments
    Of artless architecture, such as now
    Oft-times amaze the wandering traveler,
    By the pale moon discerned on Sarum's plain."

He then inserts two stanzas, in the Latin of Hickes' "Thesaurus," of an
old Runic ode preserved by Olaus Wormius (Ole Worm) and adds an
observation upon the Scandinavian heroes and their contempt of death.
Druids and bards now begin to abound.  Collins' "Ode on the Death of Mr.
Thomson," _e.g._, commences with the line

    "In yonder grave a Druid lies."

In his "Ode to Liberty," he alludes to the tradition that Mona, the
druidic stronghold, was long covered with an enchantment of mist--work of
an angry mermaid:

    "Mona, once hid from those who search the main,
    Where thousand elfin shapes abide."

In Thomas Warton's "Pleasures of Melancholy," Contemplation is fabled to
have been discovered, when a babe, by a Druid

    "Far in a hollow glade of Mona's woods,"

and borne by him to his oaken bower, where she

                "--loved to lie
    Oft deeply listening to the rapid roar
    Of wood-hung Menai, stream of druids old."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

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