THE PARNASSIAD.
A VISIONARY VIEW. ______ 1 COME fancy, thou hast ever been, 2 In life’s low vale, my ready frien’, 3 To cheer the clouded hour; 4 Tho’ unfledg’d with scholastic law, 5 Some visionary picture draw, 6 With all thy magic pow’r; 7 Now to the intellectual eye 8 The glowing prospects rise, 9 Parnassus’ lofty summits high, 10 Far tow’ring mid the skies, 11 Where vernally, eternally, 12 Rich leafy laurels grow, 13 With bloomy bays, thro’ endless days, 14 To crown the Poet’s brow. 15 Sure bold is he who dares to climb 16 Yon awful jutting rock sublime, 17 Who dares Pegassus sit, 18 For should brain-ballast prove too light, 19 He’ll spurn him from his airy height, 20 Down to oblivion’s pit; 21 There, to disgrace forever doom’d, 22 To mourn his sick’ning woes, 23 And weep that ever he presum’d, 24 Above the vale of Prose; 25 Then, O beware! with prudent care, 26 Nor ’tempt the steeps of fame, 27 And leave behind thy peace of mind, 28 To gain a sounding name.* __________________________________________________________________________ *The career of genius is rarely that of fortune; and often that of contempt, even in its most flattering aspect, what is it, but plucking a few brilliant flowers from precipices, while the reward terminates in the honour. D’ Israeli. 29 Behold!—yon ready-rhyming carl, 30 With flatt’ry fir’d, attracts the warl, 31 By canker’d, pers’nal satire; 32 He takes th’ unthinking crowd’s acclaim, 33 For sterling proofs of lasting fame, 34 And deals his inky spatter; 35 Now, see he on Pegassus flies, 36 With bluff, important straddle! 37 He bears him midway up the skies, 38 See, see he’s off the saddle! 39 He headlong tumbles, growls and grumbles, 40 Down the dark abyss: 41 The noisy core that prais’d before, 42 Now joins the gen’ral hiss. 43 Now see another vent’rer rise; 44 Deep-fraught with fulsome Eulogies, 45 To win his patron’s favour, 46 One of those adulating things, 47 That dangling in the train of k—s, 48 Give guilt a splendid cover; 49 He mounts, well-prefac’d by my Lord, 50 Inflicts the spur’s sharp wound; 51 Pegassus spurns the great man’s word, 52 And won't move from the ground; 53 Now mark his face flush’d with disgrace, 54 Thro’ future life to grieve on, 55 His wishes crost, his hopes all lost, 56 He sinks into oblivion. 57 Yon city-scribbler thinks to scale, 58 The cliffs of fame, with Pastoral, 59 In worth thinks none e’er richer, 60 Yet never climb’d the upland steep, 61 Nor e’er beheld a flock of sheep, 62 Save those, driv’n by the butcher; 63 Nor ever mark’d the gurgling stream, 64 Except the common sew’r, 65 On rainy days, when dirt and slime 66 Pour’d turbid past his door; 67 Choice epithets in store he gets 68 From Virgil, Shenstone, Pope, 69 With taylor-art tacks part to part, 70 And makes his Past’ral up. 71 But see, rich-clad in native worth, 72 Yon Bard of nature ventures forth, 73 In simple modest tale, 74 Applauding millions catch the song, 75 The raptur’d rocks the notes prolong, 76 And hand them to the gale; 77 Pegassus kneels—he takes his seat-- 78 Now see, aloft he tow’rs, 79 To place him, ’bove the reach of fate, 80 In Fame’s ambrosial bow’rs: 81 To be enroll’d with Bards of old, 82 In ever-honour’d station,-- 83 The gods well-pleas’d, see mortals rais’d 84 Worthy of their creation! 85 Now mark what crowds of hackney-scribblers, 86 Imitators, rhyming dabblers, 87 Follow in the rear! 88 Pegassus spurns us one by one, 89 Yet still fame-struck we follow on, 90 And tempt our fate severe: 91 In many a dogg’rel Epitaph, 92 And short-lin’d mournful Ditty, 93 Our “AHS!—ALASES!” raise the laugh, 94 Revert the tide of pity, 95 Yet still we write in nature’s spite, 96 Our last piece ay the best; 97 Arraigning still, complaining still, 98 The world for want of taste!* ___________________________________________________________________________ * “Still restless fancy drives us headlong on, With dreams of wealth, and friends, and laurels won, On ruin’s brink we sleep, and wake undone.” 99 Observe yon poor deluded man, 100 With thread-bare coat and visage wan, 101 Ambitious of a name; 102 The nat’ral claims of meat and cleading, 103 He reckons these not worth the heeding, 104 But presses on for fame! 105 The public voice, touch-stone of worth, 106 Anonymous he tries, 107 But draws his critic’s vengeance forth-- 108 His fancied glory dies; 109 Neglected now, defected now, 110 He gives his spleen full scope, 111 In solitude he chews his cude, 112 A downright misanthrope. 113 Then Brother-rhymsters, O beware! 114 Nor tempt unscar’d the specious snare, 115 Which self-love often weaves; 116 Nor doat with a fond father’s pains, 117 Upon the offspring of your brains, 118 For fancy oft deceives; 119 To lighten life, a wee bit sang 120 Is sure a sweet illusion! 121 But ne’er provoke the critic's stang, 122 By premature intrusion: 123 Lock up your piece, let fondness cease, 124 Till mem’ry fail to bear it, 125 With critic-lore then read it o’er, 126 Yourself may judge its merit. |
title Parnassiad: from Parnassus. See note on l. 9.
9. Parnassus: from the Greek Mount Parnassus, above Delphi. Home of the Castalia fountain and the Muses, and thus a center of poetry, education, and music. Home of Pegasus. 17. Pegassus: intentional misspelling to better connect the horse Pegasus to the placed Panassus. Footnote: from An Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character (1795) by Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848), a British scholar. 29. carl: man of the common (esp. peasant) class; a husbandman or rustic; reference to class or rank. In depreciatory use: a man or fellow, esp. one of little account or worth; an old man; a miser. 30. warl: Sc. form of Eng. world. 44. fulsome: foul, offensive. 47. k—s: kings (Semple 51). 68. Virgil, Shenstone, Pope: Virgil and Pope - the canonical Roman and English poets. Shenstone: William Shenstone (1714-1763), an English nature poet. 69. taylor-art: tailor-art, e.g. the work of a clothing professional. 97. ay: always, ever, at all times. Footnote: From "On the Death of Burns" in The Highlanders, and Other Poems (1803) by Anne Grant (1775-1838) of Laggan. 103. cleading: clothing; a dress, a complete suit of clothes; cloth. 112. cude: the cud (of ruminants); a stupid person, daft. 117. doat: Sc. form of Eng. dote (archaic). A dowry; to endow, bequeath. 122. stang: The fang of a poisonous serpent or dragon; a means of inflicting pain or harm. |