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Article WINGED WORDS OF ANCIENT ARCHERS.—PART 11. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part 11.
ing , a cloud upon his brow gathering , but not yet gathered all around , till the splendent form become a darkness visible . Let the seer at second sight shew how that awful archer " Down from Olympus , with his radiant bow , And his full quiver o'er his shoulders slung ; Marched in his anger ; shaken as he moved IIjs rattling arrows told of his approach . Like Night he came , and seated , witli the ships In view , despateh'd an arrow . Clang'd the cord Dread-sounding , bounding o'er the silver bow . Mules first , and dogs , he struck , hut aiming ; soon Again-t the Greeks themselves , his hitter shafts Smote them The frequent piles blazed night and dav . "
So shewetu the classic Cowper , true and well : yet hath he not reached to the great original . Hath Pope ? No , not with all his charm of tuneful verse . Hear him , however , for his name ' s sake . " The favouring power attends , And from Olympus lofty top descends , Bent was his bow , the Grecian hearts to wound , Fierce as he inov'd his silver .--hafts resound . Breathing revenge a sudden night he spread , Ami loomy darkness rollM around his head
g , The fleet in view he twang'd his deadly bow . And hissing fly 'he ftather'ri fates below ; On muh-s and dogs the infection first begun . And last his vengeful arrows ux'd in man . For nine long nights through all tile du-kyair The pyres thick gleaming shot a dismal glare . "
These two last lines present a vivid picture ; but faint do we feel the reflection to be of the full god throughout . " Fierce as he mov'd his silver shafts resound , " is perhaps the best of the passage ; though ' ¦ ' resound" is too much of a great gun to re-echo * K \ ay £ av . It is better , however , than Cowper ' s " rattling arrows . " No arrows didor could merel " rattle" in that
, y sonorous , silver case . They clanked or clanged , and banged about within the quiver , " covered round at every point ; " as Homer assures us it was , though neither of his seconds says so , antl which indeed of necessity it must have been , else would not these rampant shafts have instantl y flown out , or been thrown out , at the very first move of the mighty bowman ? The lid undoubtedly was down on the "full quiver , " as Cowper chooses to call it , synonymizing upcfapf-ifiea with
close-packed ; and that it must have held a goodly sheaf is true , to last nine days and nights . But the bow , the beautiful bow , rung it not too , responsive with its angry and imprisoned offspring , from which it was separated only by the bright silver partition that formed the back of the quiver ? Though Mreonides did not mention it , ancl might not have heard it for the noise the arrows made , we may well imagine its more passive ancl pliant disposition majestically murmuring in sympathy with
the shafts , and wishing them sincerely a very speedy discharge ! Both quiver and bow-case formed one graceful appendage of ihe archer . Pope , however , takes a terrible liberty witli the latter by whipping the bow from behind the god's back , and making him bend it long before it was necessary , or even expedient—a most un-archeriike act , ; is every tyro in the art knows . "Neq . e semper arcum tendit Apollo , " quoth one who ought to have known something about the habits of his own , or his country ' s adoptetl deities . Antl most assuredly Apollo did not draw bow from case till he had fairly alighted on terra firnifi , perhaps on some point of the Sigean promontory , and then and there placing him-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Winged Words Of Ancient Archers.—Part 11.
ing , a cloud upon his brow gathering , but not yet gathered all around , till the splendent form become a darkness visible . Let the seer at second sight shew how that awful archer " Down from Olympus , with his radiant bow , And his full quiver o'er his shoulders slung ; Marched in his anger ; shaken as he moved IIjs rattling arrows told of his approach . Like Night he came , and seated , witli the ships In view , despateh'd an arrow . Clang'd the cord Dread-sounding , bounding o'er the silver bow . Mules first , and dogs , he struck , hut aiming ; soon Again-t the Greeks themselves , his hitter shafts Smote them The frequent piles blazed night and dav . "
So shewetu the classic Cowper , true and well : yet hath he not reached to the great original . Hath Pope ? No , not with all his charm of tuneful verse . Hear him , however , for his name ' s sake . " The favouring power attends , And from Olympus lofty top descends , Bent was his bow , the Grecian hearts to wound , Fierce as he inov'd his silver .--hafts resound . Breathing revenge a sudden night he spread , Ami loomy darkness rollM around his head
g , The fleet in view he twang'd his deadly bow . And hissing fly 'he ftather'ri fates below ; On muh-s and dogs the infection first begun . And last his vengeful arrows ux'd in man . For nine long nights through all tile du-kyair The pyres thick gleaming shot a dismal glare . "
These two last lines present a vivid picture ; but faint do we feel the reflection to be of the full god throughout . " Fierce as he mov'd his silver shafts resound , " is perhaps the best of the passage ; though ' ¦ ' resound" is too much of a great gun to re-echo * K \ ay £ av . It is better , however , than Cowper ' s " rattling arrows . " No arrows didor could merel " rattle" in that
, y sonorous , silver case . They clanked or clanged , and banged about within the quiver , " covered round at every point ; " as Homer assures us it was , though neither of his seconds says so , antl which indeed of necessity it must have been , else would not these rampant shafts have instantl y flown out , or been thrown out , at the very first move of the mighty bowman ? The lid undoubtedly was down on the "full quiver , " as Cowper chooses to call it , synonymizing upcfapf-ifiea with
close-packed ; and that it must have held a goodly sheaf is true , to last nine days and nights . But the bow , the beautiful bow , rung it not too , responsive with its angry and imprisoned offspring , from which it was separated only by the bright silver partition that formed the back of the quiver ? Though Mreonides did not mention it , ancl might not have heard it for the noise the arrows made , we may well imagine its more passive ancl pliant disposition majestically murmuring in sympathy with
the shafts , and wishing them sincerely a very speedy discharge ! Both quiver and bow-case formed one graceful appendage of ihe archer . Pope , however , takes a terrible liberty witli the latter by whipping the bow from behind the god's back , and making him bend it long before it was necessary , or even expedient—a most un-archeriike act , ; is every tyro in the art knows . "Neq . e semper arcum tendit Apollo , " quoth one who ought to have known something about the habits of his own , or his country ' s adoptetl deities . Antl most assuredly Apollo did not draw bow from case till he had fairly alighted on terra firnifi , perhaps on some point of the Sigean promontory , and then and there placing him-