Descriptive Poetry
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Descriptive poetry is the name given to a class of
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
that belongs mainly to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in
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. From the earliest times, all poetry not subjectively lyrical was apt to indulge in ornament which might be named descriptive. But the critics of the 17th century formed a distinction between the representations of the ancients and those of the moderns. Boileau stated that, while
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
''paints'',
Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...
''describes''. This may be a useful indication in defining not what should, but what in practice has been called descriptive poetry. :" escriptive poetryis poetry in which it is not imaginative passion that prevails, but a didactic purpose or even something of the instinct of a sublimated auctioneer. In other words, the landscape,
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, still life or whatever may be the object of the poet's attention, is not used as an accessory, but is itself the centre of interest. In this sense, it is not correct to call poetry in which description is only the occasional ornament of a poem and not its central subject, descriptive poetry. The landscape or still life must fill the canvas or, if human interest is introduced, that must be treated as an accessory. Thus, in the ''
Hero and Leander Hero and Leander is the Greek myth relating the story of Hero ( grc, Ἡρώ, ''Hērṓ''; ), a priestess of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander ( grc, Λέ ...
'' of
Marlowe Marlowe may refer to: Name * Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator * Philip Marlowe, fictional hardboiled detective created by author Raymond Chandler * Marlowe (name), including list of people and characters w ...
and in the ''Alastor'' of Shelley, description of a very brilliant kind is largely introduced. Yet, these are not examples of what is technically called descriptive poetry because it is not the strait between Sestos and Abydos and it is not the flora of a tropical glen, which concentrates the attention of the one poet or of the other, but it is an example of physical passion in the one case and of intellectual passion in the other, which is diagnosed and dilated on. On the other hand, James Thomson's '' The Seasons'', in which landscape takes the central place, and Drayton's '' Polyolbion'', where everything is sacrificed to a topographical progress through
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, are strictly descriptive."—
Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
in
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. S ...
.


Boileau

It will be obvious this definition that the danger ahead of all purely descriptive poetry is that it will lack intensity, that it will be frigid if not dead. Description for description's sake, especially in studied verse, is rarely a vitalized form of literature. It is threatened, from its very conception, with languor and coldness. Therefore, it must exercise an extreme art or be condemned to immediate sterility. Boileau, with his customary intelligence, was the first to see this, and he thought that the danger might be avoided by care in technical execution. His advice to the poets of his time was: :''Soyez riches et pompeux dans vos descriptions;'' :''C'est là qu'il faut des vers étaler l'élégance,'' and: :''De figure sans nombre égayez votre ouvrage;'' :''Que toute y fasse aux yeux une riante image,''


Works

In England the famous translation (1592–1611) by
Joshua Sylvester Josuah Sylvester (1563 – 28 September 1618) was an English poet. Biography Sylvester was the son of a Kentish clothier. In his tenth year he was sent to school at King Edward VI School, Southampton, where he gained a knowledge of French. ...
of the Divine Weeks and Works of
Du Bartas Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544, in Monfort – July 1590, in Mauvezin) was a Gascon Huguenot courtier and poet. Trained as a doctor of law, he served in the court of Henri de Navarre for most of his career. Du Bartas was celebrated acr ...
, containing such lines as those that the juvenile
Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
admired so much: :''But when winter's keener breath began '' :''To crystalize the Baltic ocean, '' :''To glaze the lakes and bridle up the floods, '' :''And perriwig with wool the bald-pate woods.'' There was also the curious physiological epic of
Phineas Fletcher Phineas Fletcher (8 April 1582 – 13 December 1650) was an English poet, elder son of Dr Giles Fletcher, and brother of Giles the Younger. He was born at Cranbrook, Kent, and was baptized on 8 April 1582. Life He was admitted a scholar of E ...
, ''The Purple Island'' (1633). But on the whole, it was not until French influences had made themselves felt on English poetry that description, as Boileau conceived it, was cultivated as a distinct art. The ''Coopers Hill'' (1642) by Sir
John Denham John Denham may refer to: * John Denham (died 1556 or later), English MP for Shaftesbury * John Denham (judge), (1559–1639), father of the poet below, and one of the Ship Money judges * John Denham (poet) (1615–1669), English poet * John Denham ...
may be contrasted with the less ambitious ''
To Penshurst A country house poem is a poem in which the author compliments a wealthy patron or a friend through a description of his country house. Such poems were popular in early 17th-century England. The genre may be seen as a sub-set of the topographical p ...
'' of
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
and this one represents the new no less completely than the other does the old generation. If, however, ''Coopers Hill'' is examined carefully, it is perceived that its aim is after all rather philosophical than topographical. The
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
is described indeed, but not very minutely and the poet is mainly absorbed in moral reflections. Marvell's long poem on the beauties of
Nunappleton Nun Appleton Priory was a priory near Appleton Roebuck, North Yorkshire, England. It was founded as a nunnery c. 1150, by Eustace de Merch and his wife. It was dissolved by 1539, when the nuns were receiving pensions. Nun Appleton Hall Subsequen ...
,
Upon Appleton House "Upon Appleton House" is a poem written by Andrew Marvell for Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. It was written in 1651, when Marvell was working as a tutor for Fairfax's daughter, Mary. An example of a country house poem, "Upon Appleto ...
, comes nearer to the type. But it is hardly until the 18th century that in English literature appears what is properly known as descriptive poetry. This was the age in which poets, often of no mean capacity, began to take such definite themes as a small country estate (''Pomfrets Choice'', 1700), the cultivation of the grape (''Gays Wine'', 1708), a landscape (''Popes Windsor Forest'', 1713), a military manoeuvre (''Addisons Campaign'', 1704), the industry of an apple orchard (''Philips Cyder'', 1708) or a piece of topography (''Tickells Kensington Gardens'', 1722) as the sole subject of a lengthy poem, generally written in heroic or
blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...
. These tours de force were supported by minute efforts in miniature-painting, by touch applied to touch and were often monuments of industry, but they were apt to lack personal interest and suffered from a general and deplorable frigidity. They were infected with the faults that accompany an artificial style. They were monotonous, rhetorical, and symmetrical, while the uniformity of treatment inevitable to their plan rendered them hopelessly tedious if prolonged to any great extent.


James Thomson

This species of writing had been cultivated to a considerable degree through the preceding century, in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and (as the remarks of Boileau testify) in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, but it was in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
that it reached its highest importance. The classic of descriptive poetry, in fact, the specimen that the literature of the world presents that must be considered as the most important and the most successful, is ''The Seasons'' (1726–1730) of James Thomson. For the first time, a poet of considerable eminence appeared, to whom external nature was all sufficient and who succeeded in conducting a long poem to its close by a single appeal to landscape and to the emotions it directly evokes.
Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
, somewhat severely, described The Seasons as the work of a good rather than of a great poet and it is an indisputable fact that, at its very best, descriptive poetry fails to awaken the highest powers of the imagination. A great part of Thomson's poem is nothing more nor less than a skillfully varied catalogue of natural phenomena. The famous description of twilight in the fading many-colored woods of autumn may be taken as an example of the highest art to which purely descriptive poetry has ever attained. It is obvious even here that the effect of these rich and sonorous lines, in spite of the splendid effort of the artist, is monotonous and leads up to no final crisis of passion or rapture. Yet Thomson succeeds, as few other poets of his class have succeeded, in producing nobly-massed effects and comprehensive beauties such as were utterly unknown to his predecessors.


After Thomson

He was widely imitated in England, especially by Armstrong, Akenside, Shenstone (in ''The Schoolmistress'', 1742), by the anonymous author of Albania, 1737 and by Oliver Goldsmith (in ''
The Deserted Village ''The Deserted Village'' is a poem by Oliver Goldsmith published in 1770. It is a work of social commentary, and condemns rural depopulation and the pursuit of excessive wealth. The poem is written in heroic couplets, and describes the decl ...
'', 1770). No better example of the more pedestrian class of descriptive poetry could be found than the last-mentioned poem with its minute and Dutch-like painting. :''How often have I paused on every charm:'' :''The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm;'' :''The never-failing brook, the busy mill,'' :''The decent church that topped the neighboring hill:'' :''The hawthorn-bush, with seats beneath the shade'' :''For talking age and whispering lovers made.'' On the continent of Europe the example of Thomson was almost immediately fruitful. Four several translations of ''The Seasons'' into French contended for the suffrages of the public.
Jean François de Saint-Lambert Jean François de Saint-Lambert (; 26 December 1716 – 9 February 1803) was a French poet, philosopher and military officer. Biography Saint-Lambert was born at Nancy and raised on his parents' estate at Affracourt, a village in Lorraine near ...
(1716–1803) imitated Thomson in ''Les Saisons'' (1769), a poem that enjoyed popularity for half a century, and of which
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
said that it was the only one of its generation that would reach posterity. Nevertheless, as
Madame du Deffand Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts. Life Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolle ...
told Walpole, Saint-Lambert is ''froid, fade et faux'' and the same may be said of Jean-Antoine Roucher (1745–1794) who wrote ''Les Mois'' in 1779, a descriptive poem famous in its day. The Abbé
Jacques Delille The French poet Jacques Delille (; 22 June 1738 at Aigueperse in Auvergne – 1 May 1813, in Paris) came to national prominence with his translation of Virgil’s Georgics and made an international reputation with his didactic poem on gardening. ...
(1738–1813), perhaps the most ambitious descriptive poet who has ever lived, was treated as a Virgil by his contemporaries. He published ''Les Géorgiques'' in 1769, ''Les Jardins'' in 1782 and ''L' Homme des champs'' in 1803, but he went furthest in his brilliant, though artificial ''Trois règnes de la nature'' (1809), which French critics have called the masterpiece of this whole school of descriptive poetry. Delille, however, like Thomson before him, was unable to avoid monotony and want of coherency. Picture follows picture and no progress is made. The satire of Marie Joseph Chénier in his famous and witty ''Discours sur les poèmes descriptifs'', brought the vogue of this species of poetry to an end. In England, again,
Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...
, who treated the genius of Thomson with unmerited severity, revived descriptive poetry in a form that owed more than Wordsworth realized to the model of ''The Seasons''. In ''The Excursion'' and ''The Prelude'', as well as in many of his minor pieces, Wordsworth's philosophical and moral intentions cannot prevent the reader from perceiving the large part that pure description takes. The same may be said of much of the early blank verse of Coleridge.


Subsequent developments

Since their day, however, purely descriptive poetry has gone more and more completely out of fashion and its place has been taken by the richer and more direct effects of such prose as that of
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
in English or of Fromentin and
Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica El ...
in French. It is almost impossible in descriptive verse to obtain those vivid and impassioned appeals to the imagination that form the essence of genuine poetry, and it is unlikely that descriptive poetry, as such, will retake a prominent place in living literature.


Notes


References

* {{EB1911 article with no significant updates Poetry movements 16th-century literature 17th-century literature 18th-century literature