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 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 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,] Beside yon straggling fence) that skirts the way, 195 There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee For even though vanquish'd, he could argue still ;| 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 twelve good rules, the royal game of goose; [Vain transitory splendours !] could not all No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, 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, | [Yes] let the rich deride,] the proud disdain, But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, 265 [Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen,] who survey Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,| This wealth is but a name] 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 As some fair female, unadorn'd and plain, While, scourged by famine, from the smiling land 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. |