Note 123 — Chapter I · THE TREATMENT OF NATURE IN ENGLISH CLASSICAL POETRY
Reading edition
Denham, “Cooper’s Hill.” The lines are,
O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull: Strong without rage, without o’erflowing full!
Pope’s lines (“Dunciad,” iii, 169), beginning,
Flow, Welsted, flow! like thine inspirer, Beer, Tho’ stale, not ripe; tho’ thin, yet never clear, ***** Heady, not strong; o’erflowing, tho’ not full,
are a parody rather than an imitation. The same cannot be said of the line (“Temple of Fame,” l. 374),
So soft, though high, so loud, and yet so clear.
Prior has these lines (“Carmen Seculare,” st. 22),
But her own king she likens to the Thames, With gentle course devolving fruitful streams; Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate, Swift without violence, without terror great.
Fr. Knapp addresses the sea on the Irish coast in the following lines (“To Mr. Pope”):
Let me ne’er flow like thee! nor make thy stream My sad example, or my wretched theme.
Mallet has the lines (cf. “Verbal Criticism,” l. 228):
Great without swelling, without meanness plain; Serious, not silly; sportive, but not vain; On trifles slight, on things of use profound, In quoting sober, and in judging sound.
In Dyer we have a fainter echo (“The Country Walk,” l. 69):
Methinks her lays I hear, So smooth! so sweet! so deep! so clear!