From THE PROGRESS OF POESY. A PINDARIC ODE. [Finished in 1754. Printed together with the Bard, an Ode. Aug. 8, 1757. MS.] F The Drin Now Deer PINDAR. OL. II. v. 152. V AWAKE, Æolian lyre, awake, And give to rapture all thy trembling strings. * When the author first published this and the following Ode, he was advised, even by his friends, to subjoin some few explanatory notes; but had too much respect for the understanding of his readers to take that liberty. Gray. V. 1. "Awake, my glory: awake, lute and harp." David's Psalms. Gray. "Awake, awake, my lyre, And tell thy silent master's humble tale." Cowley. Ode of David, vol. ii. p. 423. Pindar styles his own poetry, with its musical accompaniments, Αἰολις μολπὴ, Αἰολίδες χορδαὶ, Αἰολίδων πνοαὶ avλov, Eolian song, Æolian strings, the breath of the Eolian flute. Gray.1 The subject and simile, as usual with Pindar, are united. The various sources of poetry, which gives life and lustre to all it touches, are here described; its quiet majestic progress enriching every subject (otherwise dry and barren) with a pomp of diction and luxuriant harmony of numbers; This note was occasioned by a strange mistake of the Critical Reviewers, who supposed the Ode addressed to the " Harp of. Æolus." See Mason. Memoirs, let. 26. sec. 4.; and Crit. Rev. vol. iv. p. 167. And the Literary Magaz. 1757, p. 422; at p. 466 of the same work, is an Ode to Gray on his Pindaric Odes. 3 more rapid and irresistible course when swoln and d away by the conflict of tumultuous passions. Gray. 3. Thomson has joined the subject and simile in a e strongly resembling this: In thy full language speaking mighty things, Liberty, ii. 257. ee Quinctil. Inst. xii. 10. 61. "At ille qui saxa at," &c. Iuntingford, Apology for his Monostrophics, p. 80, d to by Wakefield, several passages of Pindar are 1 out, to which he supposes that Gray alluded, viz. 62. 229. vii. 12. xii. 6. 7. "The melting voice through mazes running." Milt. L'Allegro, 142. Luke. "Albaque de viridi riserunt lilia prato," Petron. "Ridenti colocasia fundet acantho," Virg. Ecl. and Achilles Tatius has the expression, rò Tέraλov úpw yeλã. See Burm. ad Ovid. v. ii. p. 1023. "Bibant violaria fontem," Virg. Georg. iv. ver. And mounting in loose robes the skies ed light and fragrance as she flies." Green. Spleen, v. 79. Has And 10 Perch Of J The 15 Thee Thro' verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign: Headlong, impetuous, see it pour; The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar. I. 2. Oh! Sov'reign of the willing soul, Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, Enchanting shell! the sullen Cares And frantic Passions hear thy soft controul. On Thracia's hills the Lord of War Var. V. 11. "With torrent rapture, see it pour." Ms. V. 9. Shenstone. Inscr. "Verdant vales and fountains bright." Luke. V. 10" Immensusque ruit profundo Pindarus ore." V. 12. "And rocks the bellowing voice of boiling seas resound," Dryden. Virg. Georg. i. "Rocks rebellow to the roar," Pope. Iliad. V. 13. Power of harmony to calm the turbulent sallies of the soul. The thoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar. Gray. V. 14. Milton. Comus, 555, "A soft and solemn-breathing sound." See Todd's note. V. 15. "While sullen Cares and wither'd Age retreat," Eusden. Court of Venus, p. 101. Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell," Dryden. Virgil, Æn. vi. 247. “Care shuns thy soft approach, and sullen flies away," Dryden. Ceyx, vol. iv. p. 33, the same expression occurs in many other poets. V. 17. "The God of War Was drawn triumphant on his iron car." Dryden, vol. iii. 60. ed. Warton. And Collins in his Ode to Peace, ver. 4: 66 "When War by vultures drawn afar, Mavortia Thrace," Statii Ach. 1. 201, Theb. vii. 34, and arvis." v. Bentl. on Hor. Od. i. xxv. 19. T In 45.) reser art th 4 . H. Walpole, in describing the famous Boccapa;le, of Greek sculpture, says: "Mr. Gray has drawn ging wing." See Works, vol. ii. p. 463. Philips .) She hangs her flagging wings;" Luke. Add on the D. of Buckingham, v. Works, v. ii. p. 208 vith their broken notes and flagging wing;" See on Virg. Georg. iv. 137; G. Steevens quotes Rone xxii. ed. 1632, fol. Power of harmony to produce all the graces of 1 the body. Gray. "Tempering their sweetest notes unto thy lay," Fletcher. P. Island, c. ix. s. iii. and Lycidas, 32. Luke. Fairfax. Tasso, xiii. 38. "She rears her flowers, and spreads her velvet-green." Young. Love of Fame, Sat. v. p. 128. This expression, it is well known, has met with reprehension from Dr. Johnson; who appears by his criticism to have supposed it first' introduced by Gray. It was numbered, however, among the absurd expressions of Pope, by the authors of the Alexandriad, (some of the heroes of the Dunciad,) see p. 288. It occurs in a list of epithets and nouns which Pope had used, and which these authors held up to ridicule. V. 30. V. 31. "I'll charm the air to give a sound, "In friskful glee, their frolics play," Thoms. Spring. Luke. V. 32. Wakefield refers to Callimachi Hymn. Dian. 3. and Hom. Il. Σ. 593. V. 35. Μαρμαρυγὰς θηεῖτο ποδῶν· θαύμαζε δὲ θυμῷ. 1 Shakespeare has, "Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds," Hen. V. act i. sc. 2. |