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.

BOOK I.-THE SOFA.

1 I SING the Sofa. | I) who lately sang

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.

The

4. Escaped, i.e., having escaped. 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 dark

ness 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 hum. bler theme.

5 Now seek repose upon an humbler theme ;)
The theme though humble,] yet august and proud
The occasion] for the Fair commands the song.|

Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use,
Save their own painted skins, our sires had none. |
10 As yet black breeches were not ;| satin smooth,
Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile :]
The hardy chief upon the rugged rock

Washed by the sea, or on the gravelly bank
Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud,
15 Fearless of wrong, reposed his weary strength.
Those barbarous ages past, succeeded next
The birthday of Invention, weak at first,

6. The theme though humble, yet august and proud the occasion-an elliptical expression, which is easily completed by the addition of the Auxiliary Verbs.

7. The fair. When the Adjective is used Lubstantively, it is either the Singular Number of the Neuter Gender, or the Plural of the Masculine, as, Sofa, 332, Communicative of the good he owns; line 396, Not such the alert and active; line 493, The innocent are gay. In the Masc. Sing. we only use Adj. as proper names, e.g., the Almighty. But Cowper by no means always adheres to this general rule. It can hardly be called a license, if he uses the Adj. in the plural as a feminine noun, as lines 73 and 460. But he makes it a masculine noun of the singular, line 89, The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick; and in the passage under consideration, as also in line 472, he actually makes the Adj. a noun Singular Feminine.

8. Clothing sumptuous or for use. Clothing is qualified by the Adj. sumptuous, and by the Preposit. phrase for use, which takes the place of another adjective, useful; such Preposit. phrases, which represent Adjectives, always follow the noun they qualify.

9. Save their own painted skins-This does

not bear a strictly logical examination, for
skins cannot properly be called clothing.
Clothing our sires had none," is equivalent
to "Our sires had no clothing."
"No"
when placed alone becomes "none."

12. Roaring loud-the expression is much weakened by the position of this attribute.

15. Strength. The abstract substantive is very frequently substituted for the concrete by poets, from Homer downwards.Sofa, line 389.

16. Those barbarous ages past. This participial construction, corresponding in use with the Latin Ablat. absolute, is rather frequent in Cowper, Milton, and other English poets, who have endeavoured to imitate in English the complicated and involved periods of their classical models.

16. Succeeded next. This inversion was formerly more common than now. It is a strict rule in German to place the predicate before the subject whenever the sentence is headed by some adverbial qualification, or any word bearing more directly upon the Pred. than the Subj.

17. Weak, dull, and clumsy-Attributes to Invention.

Dull in design, and clumsy to perform.

Joint-stools were then created; on three legs
20 Upborne they stood:-three legs upholding firm
A massy slab, in fashion square or round.
On such a stool immortal Alfred sat,|

And swayed the sceptre of his infant realms ;]
And such in ancient halls and mansions drear

25 May still be seen, but perforated sore

And drilled in holes the solid oak is found,
By worms voracious eating through and through.|
At length a generation more refined

Improved the simple plan; made three legs four,] 30 Gave them a twisted form vermicular,]

And o'er the seat with plenteous wadding stuffed
Induced a splendid cover, green and blue,
Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought
And woven close, or needlework sublime.]
35 There might ye see the peony spread wide,
The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass,
Lap-dog and lambkin with black staring eyes,
And parrots with twin cherries in their beak. |

Now came the cane from India, smooth and bright
40 With Nature's varnish, severed into stripes |
That interlaced each other, these supplied
Of texture firm a lattice-work, that braced
The new machine, | and it became a chair. |
But restless was the chair; the back erect

18. To perform-Used like the Latin gerund, equivalent to, clumsy in performing.

19. Created-A pompous word, chosen to suit the comico-grotesque narrative.

20. Upborne (Gr. 78 d.) on three legsFirm, for firmly. Three legs... roundIs a mere repetition, and has no further syntactical connexion in the sentence.

24. Such-Demonstrative adjective used as a pronoun (Gr. 14, Remark).

25. Perforated, and drilled in holes, a tautological expression, which is not re

lieved by eating through and through. For their syntax, see Gr. 76, Remark 1.

29. Made... four-Gr. 76, 1. 33. Of tapestry-Attrib. to cover. Richly wrought, and woven close, are Attributes to tapestry.

34. Needlework sublime-Attrib. to cover. 40. Severed is not a simple Attrib. to cane, but a Nom. absolute. Being severed into stripes, these stripes supplied, &c.

44. Restless-Giving (not having) no rest.

45 Distressed the weary loins, | that felt no ease; |
The slippery seat betrayed the sliding part

That pressed it, and the feet hung dangling down,
Anxious in vain to find the distant floor. |

These for the rich ;] the rest,) whom fate had placed 50 In modest mediocrity, content

With base materials, sat on well-tanned hides
Obdurate and unyielding, glassy smooth,
With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn,
Or scarlet crewel in the cushion fixed :)

55 If cushion might be called,] what harder seemed
Than the firm oak] of which the frame was formed. |
No want of timber then was felt or feared

In Albion's happy isle. The lumber stood
Ponderous, and fixed by its own massy weight. |
60 But elbows still were wanting; these,) some say, |
An alderman of Cripplegate contrived,)

And some ascribe the invention to a priest
Burly and big, and studious of his ease.
But rude at first, and not with easy slope

65 Receding wide, they pressed against the ribs, |
And bruised the side] and elevated high

Taught the raised shoulders to invade the ears.]
Long time elapsed] or e'er our rugged sires
Complained, though incommodiously pent in,

47. Dangling down—Gr. 78, d. 49. These, sc. chairs, Pred. were.

53. With here and there a tuft... or crewel in the cushion fixed, equal to having a tuft or crewel fixed-Attributive phrase to hides.

55. If that could be called cushion, which, &c.

56. Firm, frame, formed-an intended Alliteration.

58. Happy-The adjective must be taken in a most specific sense. Happy because of the abundance of timber.

59. Ponderous and fixed-Gr. 78, d.

60. These an alderman contrived-Subst. Sent. to some say, with that omitted.

63. Burly and big-Alliteration. 64. With easy slope-Adjunct to receding. 64-67. The effect of these lines is very comic after the preceding lines, "the alderman, studious of his EASE."

66. Elevated high-Complement to Subj.

they.

68. Or e'er-Or is a corruption of ere; or e'er is, therefore, before ever.

69. Though introduces two adverbial sentences, with they were understood.

70 And ill at ease behind. | The ladies first
'Gan murmur, as became the softer sex.]
Ingenious Fancy, never better pleased)

Than when employed to accommodate the fair,]
Heard the sweet moan with pity,) and devised
75 The soft settee ;] one elbow at each end,
And in the midst an elbow, it received,
United yet divided, twain at once.

So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne ;|
And so two citizens] who take the air

80 Close packed and smiling, in a chaise and one. |
But relaxation of the languid frame

By soft recumbency of outstretched limbs,
Was bliss reserved for happier days; so slow
The growth of what is excellent,] so hard
85 To attain perfection in this nether world.]
Thus first Necessity invented stools,
Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, |
And Luxury the accomplished SOFA last.]

The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick,|

90 Whom snoring she disturbs. | As sweetly he]
Who quits the coach-box at the midnight hour
To sleep within the carriage more secure,
His legs depending at the open door. |
Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk,
95 The tedious rector drawling o'er his head,|
And sweet the clerk below :] but neither sleep
Of lazy nurse,) who snores the sick man dead, |
Nor his) who quits the box at midnight hour

71. 'Gan murmur, i.e., began to murmur; the to being omitted by a poetical license. Became-Impersonal verb with it, understood for Subj.

73. [It is] employed.

75. The order is-It, united, yet divided, twain at once, received one elbow at each end, and an elbow in the midst.

78. Two kings of Brentford. Allusion to

an old custom of chairing mock-kings at Brentford.

83. After slow, supply is; after hard, is it 90. [By] snoring-After he supply sleeps. 93. His legs depending-Gr. 78, Observations.

96. And sweet, scil. sleep-The ellipse is hard, and unusual.