SECTION III.

THE TASK.

Cowper's Task is a Medley. It consists of six books of admirable blank verse-in which all the main aspects of English life, as it existed in the last century, are brought under review. The good and the true in it are commended; while the vices of the age are lashed with some of the very keenest satire that was ever penned. The principal charm of the whole consists in the truthful simplicity of its description both of nature and domestic life; and the moral earnestness which it displays in dealing with the most important social questions. The first book of The Task, which is here given entire, will be found admirably adapted in style for analysis—in sentiment for paraphrasing. The notes appended, and the indications in the text, will assist the student in both.

Truth, Hope, and Charity, | and touched with awe
The solemn chords, and with a trembling hand,]
Escaped with pain from that adventurous flight,

2. Truth, Hope, and Charity, the titles of three didactic poems of Cowper.

3. And with a trembling hand-Adverbial qualification to touched.

4. Escaped, i.e., having escaped. The Auxiliary Participle is very rarely omitted in the Participle Perf. Act. of Intransitive Verbs (as, for instance, Goldsmith's Deserted Village, 309, if to the city sped). Cowper has followed the example of Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 14, escaped the Stygian pool.

4. Adventurous flight. Poets rise above the level of ordinary men. Compare Milton's Paradise Lost, iii. 13,

Thee (holy light) I revisit now with bolder wing,

Escaped the Stygian pool, while in my flight,

Through utter and through middle darkness borne,

I sung of chaos and eternal night.

I. 13. My adventurous song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount.

VII. 3.

Above the Olympian hill I soar,

Above the flight of Pegasean wing.

The construction is,-I (who lately sang Truth, Hope, and Charity, and touched the chords with awe and with a trembling hand), having escaped with pain from that adventurous flight, now seek repose upon an humbler theme.

[As some tall cliff] that lifts its awful form, |

190 Swells from the vale,] and midway leaves the storm,]
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, |
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. |

Beside yon straggling fence) that skirts the way,
With blossom'd furze, unprofitably gay,

195 There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school ;)
A man severe he was, and stern to view,|
I knew him well, and every truant knew ;]
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
200 The day's disasters in his morning face; |

Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he ;|
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings | when he frown'd; |
205 Yet he was kind, | or) if severe in aught,]
The love) he bore to learning] was in fault ;)
The village all declared | how much he knew ; |
'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too ;]
Lands he could measure, | terms and tides presage,]
210 And even the story ran that he could gauge.
In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill,|

For even though vanquish'd, he could argue still ;|
While words of learned length and thundering sound
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; |
215 And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,|
That one small head should carry all he knew.]

189. As . . . head-This beautiful sentence is syntactically considered irregular; it is in technical language an anacoluthon, the end does not correspond with the beginning. The subject is cliff in the first part, but in the latter it is shifted to sunshine.

195. Skilled to rule-Adj. to Subj. master. 198. I knew him well, and every truant knew, sc. to be severe and stern—referring to the previous line.

199. To trace the day's disasters in his morning face-Obj. to learned. Gr. 75. 1. 4.

208. He could write and cipher too-The Conj. that is understood. The whole is a Subs. Sent., in apposition with it involved in 'Twas; consequently, all acting as Subj. to the Pred." was certain."

209. He could measure land, and calculate astronomical periods.

"

But past is all his fame. |

The very spot)

Where many a time he triumph'd, | is forgot.)

Near yonder thorn,) that lifts its head on high, | 220 Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye, Low lies that house) where nut-brown draughts inspired, | Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired; | Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound, | And news much older) than their ale] went round.) 225 Imagination fondly stoops to trace

The parlour splendours of that festive place;
The whitewash'd wall, the nicely-sanded floor,
The varnish'd clock) that click'd behind the door ; |
The chest, contrived a double debt to pay,
230 A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day;
The pictures placed for ornament and use,

The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose;
The hearth, except) when winter chill'd the day, |
With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel, gay ;)
235 While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show,
Ranged o'er the chimney, glisten'd in a row.

[Vain transitory splendours !] could not all
Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall?|
Obscure it sinks, | nor shall it more impart
240 An hour's importance to the poor man's heart. |
Thither no more the peasant shall repair,
To sweet oblivion of his daily care ;|

No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale,
No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail ;|

221. See note on line 172.

226-234. All enlargements to the word splendours," and in the objective relation to "trace."

232. The twelve good rules-In allusion to a printed paper of maxims often seen in old public-houses. Game of goose-A board with holes, and pegs in them.

238. Mansion-See line 140, note. Re

prieve the tottering mansion from its fall, i.e., reprieve the mansion from tottering and falling. Goldsmith does not mean to imply that the inn was in a tottering condition, when the village was flourishing.

239. Shall-An Irishism or an archaism for will. See also lines 241 and 244. 244. Supply there.

245 No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, |
Relax his ponderous strength,] and lean to hear ;]
The host himself no longer shall be found
Careful to see the mantling bliss go round ;|
Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest,
250 Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest.

[Yes] let the rich deride,] the proud disdain,
These simple blessings of the lowly train ;]
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm,] than all the gloss of art.]
255 Spontaneous joys,) where nature has its play, |
The soul adopts,) and owns their first-born sway ;]
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined :|

But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
260 With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these,) ere triflers half their wish obtain, |
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain ;)
And,) even while Fashion's brightest arts decoy, |
The heart distrusting asks,) if this be joy? |

265

[Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen,] who survey
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,]
'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land. |

Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,|
270 And shouting Folly hails them from her shore ;|
Hoards, even beyond the miser's wish, abound,|
And rich men flock from all the world around.
Yet count our gains.]
That leaves our useful

This wealth is but a name]
products still the same.

254. Supply is before one native charm. 257. Vacant-See lines 122, 136.

259. Irregular sentence. Pomp and masquerade are placed absolutely at the head of the sentence, instead of being governed by the preposition in.

266. The poor's-The s of the genitive case

belongs to Substantives, and not to Adjectives. Note the poetical license.

268. This line is all grammatically dependent on " limits," not on "stand." 269. With loads of freighted ore-complement to "proud."

273. Supply the Subj. "thou."

275 Not so the loss.] The man of wealth and pride
Takes up a space) that many poor supplied ; |
Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds ;)
The robe) that wraps his limbs in silken sloth, |
280 Has robb'd the neighbouring fields of half their growth ;)
His seat,) where solitary sports are seen, |
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green ;)
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies ;]
285 While thus the land, adorn'd for pleasure all,
In barren splendour feebly waits the fall. |

As some fair female, unadorn'd and plain,
Secure to please) while youth confirms her reign, |
Slights every borrow'd charm) that dress supplies, I
290 Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes ;]
But when those charms are past, [for charms are frail,]
When time advances, and when lovers fail, |
She then shines forth, solicitous to bless,
In all the glaring impotence of dress :|
295 Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd,
In nature's simplest charms at first array'd ;|
But verging to decline, its splendours rise, |
Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise ;|

While, scourged by famine, from the smiling land
300 The mournful peasant leads his humble band; |
And) while he sinks, without one arm to save,
The country blooms-a garden and a grave !——)

279-280. The robe . . . has robbed, looks too much like an intended pun.

287. The word female must have had, in Goldsmith's days, none of the police-report peculiarity which it enjoys now.

287. The simile is quite in the Homeric style. Beginning as a Secondary Sentence with as, the sentence emerges (in line 293) into a Principal one, and the comparison, instead of hinging on as and slights, is

carried over to the new sentence-Thus fares, &c.

297. But verging to decline, its splendours rise. The construction is again irregular ; the Partic. verging does not refer to the Subj. splendours.

302. A garden and a grave--Nom. Case after the Neuter Verb "blooms," acting as an adjunct of manner.