No. 178.]

[5 of VOL. 26.

For the Monthly Magazine. Some ACCOUNT of the COLUMBIAD, a POEM in ten BOOKS; by JOEL BARLOW: lately published at PHILADELPHIA.

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VERY nation that can boast of an epic poem of sufficient merit to become a classical work, has certainly a good cause for self-complacency. Such a work inspires an additional interest, when built on a national subject; when the author, who is destined to gratify his countrymen by soaring to this highest flight of human genius, can find among their own annals an action capable of supporting a strength of pinion equal to the task.

The subject of our great English epic is not national; neither is that of the Germans, the Messias of Klopstock. The most distinguished work of that kind among the Italians, the Jerusalem of Tasso, is but partly national, though wholly Catholic, and sufficiently interesting for the age of religious chivalry in which he lived. The Portuguese Lusiad, the great poem of the Romans, and the greater of the Greeks, were all reared on patriotic ground.

I know not whether the French of the present day persist in claiming for their country the honour of an epic poem : the work that went by that name while its celebrated author lived to support it by the strength of his own character (I speak of the Henriade of Voltaire) was altogether national. To whatever cause the fact must be attributed, I believe it will not be denied that the French epic poem remains yet to be

written.

Mr. Barlow has been particularly happy in respect to his subject. The discovery of America is in itself a great action; but its importance is infinitely augmented by the consequences resulting from the discovery. These consequences comprise by far the most interesting portion of modern history; and their interest is strongly concentrated in his country, it being MONTHLY MAG., No. 178.

The settlement therefore of the British colonies, the wars and revolutions through which they rose to independent states, that vast frame of federative republican government on which they now stand, and which in the eyes of our enthusiastic bard is to extend itself over the whole of North America, and give an example to the world, composes the principal part of the active scenery of the poem. But other and far more extensive views of human affairs, drawn from other countries, and from ages past, present, and future, are likewise placed beneath our eye, and form no inconsiderable portion of this magnificent work; magnificent it certainly is beyond any thing which modern literature has to boast, except the Paradise Lost of Milton.

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I will first present your readers with general plan or analysis of the poem, and then proceed to give such extracts from it as shall offer as fair a view of its character for imagery and style, as can be comprised in a small compass.

The author in his preface makes some pertinent remarks on the nature of the subject, and the difficulties it presented as to the best mode of treating it. "The Columbiad (says he) is a patriotic poem; the subject is national and historical; thus far it must be interesting to my countrymen. But most of the events were so recent, so important, and so well known, as to render them inflexible to the hand of fiction. The poem therefore could not with propriety be modelled af ter that regular epic form which the more splendid works of this kind have taken, and on which their success is supposed in a great measure to depend. The attempt would have been highly injudicious; it must have diminished and debased a series of actions, which were really great in themselves, and which could not be

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disfigured

plain,

Old Andes tremble for their proud domain; Till the fresh flood regains his forceful sway, Drives back his father Ocean, lash'd with spray ;

Whose ebbing waters lead the downward sweep,

And waves and trees and banks roll whirling to the deep."

The river St. Lawrence affords a noble opportunity for depicting the breaking up of winter in a northern latitude, and Mr. Barlow has made the most of it. The tremendous struggle of the ice-crusted gulph in the conflict between the legions of frost and the tides of ocean, exhibits an awful picture; and then the islands of ice accumulating into floating mountains as they drive out to sea, and move to southern latitudes, supplying thirsty ships with fresh water, or crushing and sinking them in the deep, shew that the poetic images of nature had not been exhausted by preceding bards. Here he takes occasion to deplore the loss of an American officer, whose ship was supposed to have perished in the ice.

The Mississippi is described with circumstances inore interesting, though not more majestic, than the other great rivers. As it runs through a vast and fertile country, and that the author's country, of which he takes many occasions to predict the future importance and feli city, he dwells much on these ideas in marking the great features of that river, "Strong in his march, and charged with all the fates

Of regions pregnant with a hundred states, He holds in balance, ranged on either hand, Two distant Oceans and their sundering land,

Commands and drains the interior tracts that lie

Outmeasuring Europe's total breadth of sky.”

Mentioning the principal tributary streams that lose themselves in this river, he brings in with propriety the character of the Missouri, which having run a much longer journey than the Mississippi, and acquired twice his magnitude, joins him with reluctance, being by that junction defrauded of his name :

"But chief of all his family of floods Missouri marches thro' his world of woods; He scorns to mingle with the filial train, Takes every course to reach alone the main. Orient awhile his bending sweep he tries, Now drains the southern, now the northern skies,

Searches and sunders far the world's vast frame,

Reluctant joins the sire, and takes at last his

name.

Here I quit the first book; but to return to it again for some examples of the descriptive powers of the author, and to express my disapprobation of some things I consider as defects.

The second book opens with a view of the native tribes of America, followed by some questions on the diversity of men, and the first peopling of that quarter of the world. I am then forced to pass in review the affecting scenes of Spanish devastation in Mexico and Peru. This leads to the interesting episode of Capac and Oella, the founders of the Peruvian empire, and parents of the race of Incas. The story is concisely told, though copiously enriched with incidents. It runs through a thousand lines, and displays a variety of heroic action, savage manners, sublime scenery, and beautiful sentiment. It ends with the third book.

The fourth brings us back to Europe, and exhibits the state of society there, and its progress till the settlement of North America. That expansion of mind, and freedom of enquiry, accompanied with ideas of honest industry, so necessary for the advancement of science and morals, which took place at that period, and which seemed to prepare the way for the great exhibition of human improvement, resulting from the British system of colonization, are represented, perhaps justly, as the immediate consequences of the geographical discoveries made by Columbus and his follow

tlers to North America. These persecutions are concentrated and personified in the fiend Inquisition, who is pictured with all her attributes in a highly finished group, and with great strength of expression. The rise of the British maritime power is exhibited in its first great victory gained over the invincible Armada of Spain. The view he then gives us of the great coloniarch Walter Raleigh, conducting the first fleet of colonists to British America, is one of the most finished pictures we have ever seen. The exultation of Columbus on that occasion leads to some reflections on the spirit of liberty, which is represented as the foundation of morals, as well as of prosperity to a nation. Lord Delaware arrives with a reinforcement of emigrants. The moonlight scene as they enter the Chessapeak, the speech of the river-god Potomac, saluting his new masters, predicting their future greatness, and offering his own bank as the seat of their capital, are incidents arising out of this part of the subject, and are presented with that magnificence which serves to raise our expec tations of the importance of what is to follow in the subsequent books.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh books, are chiefly occupied with war and revolution. The last of them terminates that memorable conflict with the mother country, which established the independence of the United States. On the planting of the British and French colonies, the energy of freedom which accompanied the former, compared with the feudal degradation attending the latter, are noticed with striking propriety.

The Indian wars which disturbed the early settlements are grouped in one general view. The French war is more detailed. Here the defeat of Braddock, the victory of Amherst, and the conquest of Canada by Wolfe, afford a greater variety of description. The subsequent peace is accompanied with an exhilarating view of colonial prosperity, and a great extension of territorial power, which prepares the reader for the wider scenes of havoc that are to follow in the war of independence. The action of this war is introduced with a pomp and dignity suitable to the grandeur of the object contended for. Darkness overspreads the continent. On the gradual return of light there is a view of Congress, and a notice of its leading members. The demon War strides over the ocean, leading on the English invasion. The general character of the war on the part of Eng

land, as the American poet chooses to represent it, is incendiary and barbarous. It begins with a wanton conflagration of towns, from Falmouth in the north, to Norfolk in the South. The battle of Bunker's-hill, the review of the American army, attended with many pathetic circumstances, the attack of Quebec, the death of Montgomery, the descent on New York, and its conquest by the British, are well distributed and described. This terminates the fifth book.

The whole of this war being shown to Columbus in vision, appears but one continued action, occupying about one-fourth part of the poem; that is, from the middle of the fifth to the end of the seventh book. This action, though but one, is greatly variegated with incidents, affording many examples of genuine pathos, novel and magnificent description, and pertinent moral reflection.

The sixth book opens with the famous (unhappily too famous) scene of the pri son ship. Here that rigorous mode of confinement, which the poet calls British cruelty to American prisoners, is describe ed with energy, I trust with exaggera• tion. Then follows the no less famous affair of Trenton; where the little Ame rican army re-crosses the Delaware in the night, to surprise the British vau. There is so much wild imagination in his management of this daring poetical exploit, that I scarcely know what to say of it, whether to praise or blame. The author seems here to have uncovered himself from the rules of criticism, on purpose to invite discussion. Happy will he be if he escapes the censure of more inflexible judges.

The approach of Burgoyne is brought forward with a pomp and splendour which indicate not only an important event, but a proud victory on the part of the author's country; and the battle of Saratoga, which follows this highly ornamented overture, and precedes the capture of the British army, is heightened in its interest and novelty by several peculiar circumstances, such as the part that the savages take in the contest, and the barbarous murder of Lucinda.

The 7th book brings on the alliance with France, the battle of Monmouth, the storming of Stonypoint, the siege and conquest of Charleston, the actions of Greene terminated by the battle of Eutaw, the naval battle of Degrasse and Graves, siege of York, and capture of Cornwallis.

The 8th book begins with a hymn to
Peace,

Peace, followed by an eulogy on the heroes fallen in the war. The author then makes a solemn address to his surviving friends and countrymen, exhorting them to preserve in peace the liberty they have vindicated in war. The danger of losing it by inattention is illustrated in the rape of the golden fleece: one of the most beautiful and best applied illustrations that poetry has produced. Among other serious, and I think welltimed warnings, is that against the slavery of the Africans. In this connection is introduced the speech of Atlas, alluded to in the former part of this article. These exhortations are followed by a change of scenery, which gives us a rapid glance of the progress of the arts in America; which, with a sketch of the characters of several American artists, philosophers, and poets, terminates the book.

The 9th and 10th books present us with a larger scope of human affairs, a more affecting contemplation of the moral tendencies of man than has hitherto been displayed. The ninth dwells on what is past, the tenth on what is future; and nothing can excel the grandeur of these views, or the philanthropy and benevolence of the sentiments which accompany them. To show that all things in the physical, as well as moral system of nature, are progressive and ever tend ing towards that perfection which would scem to satisfy the friend of human hap piness, Columbus is gratified by Hesper with a fanciful view of all her works, from the birth of the universe, through the formation and history of human society, down to such a state of improvement as shall lead to universal civilization, and the political harmony of all nations.

Thus the poem is terminated by a train of expansive ideas and consoling reflections, calculated to sooth the troubled spirit of the hero in a manner more satisfactory than all that could have been done for him by kings and ministers, had they been just and generous.

This is what Mr. B. in the preface calls the poetical object, the fictitious design of the poem. Thus the design is one, it is simple, clear, easy to be perceived, and is finally attained; the action is one, and as simple as the design, being, in fact, no more than what passes between the two principal personages, Columbus and Hesper; all the subordinate events, conducted by other actors,

being represented in vision, recounted from history and fable, or predicted by the celestial personages. The time also, and the place are kept each within the limits of strict dramatic unity, as is noticed in the preface; the place not extending beyond the prison and the mount of vision; and the time not exceeding two days.

So far, therefore, as I am to judge by the technical requisites of epic song, the Columbiad must be ranked in that class of works; and so far as the real object and intrinsic character of the poem are to guide the decision, the reader indeed must form his own, but mine would assign it a high rank; indeed, in that class it would even incline me to pronounce, that only three poems ought to stand above it, the Iliad, Eneid, and Paradise Lost.

Having sketched the general outline of the piece, I must proceed with more detail in my examination, and offer some specimens of the composition. The monologue of Columbus in prison, with which the poem opens, has considerable pathos, and some good description, but I think it too long. It is always a delicate business for a hero to complain, it is not a heroic employment; and in no situation will he find it more difficult to keep up his dignity. I am sensible that this case is a singular one; he is alone in a dungeon at midnight, his spirits broken down by a long train of cruel calamities, injustice, and ingratitude. A variety of subjects must crowd upon his feelings, and his feelings demand utterance in a manner too strong to be resisted by a mind which, without ceasing to be great, must be enfeebled by suffering.

These circumstances furnish some apology. Indeed it requires one; and the merit of the lines, though great, would not be deemed a sufficient one for extending such a solo to 74 lines, and that at the beginning of the poem. Other critics on this passage may differ from me in opinion; and I hope they will, as this is the only instance I have noticed in this author of any want of judgment in proportioning the parts to each other, or to the whole."

The approach and appearance of Hesper are brilliant ; the ascent to the mount of Vision, Europe, setting from the sight the Western Ocean, and then the American Continent drawing into view, may be cited as specimens of the magnificent.

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