After these the rest of our English poets shall not be mentioned; I
have that honour for them which I ought to have; but if they are
worthies, they are not to be ranked amongst the three whom I have
named, and who are established in their reputation.
Before I quitted the comparison betwixt epic poetry and tragedy I
should have acquainted my judge with one advantage of the former
over the latter, which I now casually remember out of the preface of
Segrais before his translation of the "AEneis," or out of Bossu--no
matter which: "The style of the heroic poem is, and ought to be,
more lofty than that of the drama." The critic is certainly in the
right, for the reason already urged--the work of tragedy is on the
passions, and in dialogue; both of them abhor strong metaphors, in
which the epopee delights. A poet cannot speak too plainly on the
stage, for volat irrevocabile verbum (the sense is lost if it be not
taken flying) but what we read alone we have leisure to digest.
There an author may beautify his sense by the boldness of his
expression, which if we understand not fully at the first we may
dwell upon it till we find the secret force and excellence.
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