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mother； it needs all the conditions of fiction to surround the close of their
love…affairs with the least semblance of dignity。 Nor； in fact； can it be said
that the final winning of Sophia is an incident that errs by too much
dignity。 The scene is that in which Burchell； revealed as Sir William
Thornhill； feigns to offer her in marriage to the good…natured rogue；
Jenkinson； fellow prisoner with her father； in order that； on her indignant
and distressed refusal； he may surprise her agreeably by crying； 〃What？
Not have him？ If that be the case； I think I must have you myself。〃
Even for an avowedly eccentric master of whims； this is playing with
forbidden ironies。 True； he catches her to his breast with ardour； and
calls her 〃sensible。〃 〃Such sense and such heavenly beauty；〃 finally
exclaims the happy man。 Let us make him a present of the heavenly
beauty。 It is the only thing not disproved； not dispraised； not disgraced；
by a candid study of the Ladies of the Idyll。
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The Spirit of Place and Other Essays
A DERIVATION
By what obscure cause； through what ill…directed industry； and under
the constraint of what disabling hands； had the language of English poetry
grown； for an age； so rigid that a natural writer at the end of the eighteenth
century had much ado to tell a simple story in sufficient verse？ All the
vital exercise of the seventeenth century had left the language buoyant； it
was as elastic as deep and mobile waters； then followed the grip of that
incapacitating later style。 Much later； English has been so used as to
become flaccidit has been stretched； as it were； beyond its power of
rebound； or certainly beyond its power of rebound in common use （for
when a master writes he always uses a tongue that has suffered nothing）。 It
is in our own day that English has been so over…strained。 In Crabbe's day
it had been effectually curbed； hindered； and hampered； and it cannot be
said of Crabbe that he was a master who takes natural possession of a
language that has suffered nothing。 He was evidently a man of talent
who had to take his part with the times； subject to history。 To call him a
poet was a mere convention。 There seems to be not a single moment of
poetry in his work； and assuredly if he had known the earlier signification
of the word he would have been the last man to claim the incongruous title
of poet。 But it is impossible to state the question as it would have
presented itself to Crabbe or to any other writer of his quality entering into
the same inheritance of English。
It is true that Crabbe read and quoted Milton； so did all his
contemporaries； and to us now it seems that poetry cannot have been
forgotten by any age possessing Lycidas。 Yet that age can scarcely be
said to have in any true sense possessed Lycidas。 There are other things；
besides poetry； in Milton's poems。 We do not entirely know； perhaps； but
we can conjecture how a reader in Crabbe's late eighteenth century；
looking in Milton for authority for all that he unluckily and vainly admired；
would well find it。 He would find the approval of Young's 〃Night
Thoughts〃 did he search for it； as we who do not search for it may not
readily understand。 A step or so downwards； from a few passages in
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The Spirit of Place and Other Essays
〃Paradise Lost〃 and 〃Paradise Regained；〃 an inevitable drop in the
derivation； a depression such as is human； and everything； from Dryden to
〃The Vanity of Human Wishes；〃 follows； without violence and perhaps
without wilful misappreciation。 The poet Milton fathered； legitimately
enough； an unpoetic posterity。 Milton； therefore； who might have kept an
age； and many a succeeding age； on the heights of poetry by lines like
these …
Who sing and singing in their glory move …
by this； and by many and many another so divineMilton justified
also the cold excesses of his posterity by the example of more than one
group of blank verse lines in his greatest poem。 Manifestly the sanction
is a matter of choice； and depends upon the age： the age of Crabbe found
in Milton such ancestry as it was fit for。
Crabbe； then； was not a poet of poetry。 But he came into possession
of a metrical form charged by secondary poets with a contented second…
class dignity that bears constant reference； in the way of respect rather
than of imitation； to the state and nobility of Pope at his bestthe couplet。
The weak yet rigid 〃poetry〃 that fell to his lot owed all the decorum it
possessed to the mechanical defences and propsthe exclusions
especiallyof this manner of versification。 The grievous thing was that；
being moved to write simply of simple things； he had no more supple
English for his purpose。 His effort to disengage the phraselong
committed to convention and to an exposed artificedid but prove how
surely the ancient vitality was gone。
His preface to 〃The Borough； a Poem；〃 should be duly read before the
〃poem〃 itself； for the prose has a propriety all its own。 Everything is
conceived with the most perfect moderation； and then presented in a form
of reasoning that leaves you no possible ground of remonstrance。 In
proposing his subject Crabbe seems to make an unanswerable apology
with a composure that is almost sweet。 For instance； at some length and
with some nobility he anticipates a probable conjecture that his work was
done 〃without due examination and revisal；〃 and he meets the conjectured
criticism thus： 〃Now； readers are； I believe； disposed to treat with more
than common severity those writers who have been led into presumption