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Untitled Article
the latest posterity , he seems to share the immortality of the Great Being" who inspired them .
1 are ( SpoTo ?*; , yspoa ; gcKXo Tt / xaZ ^ ov Ovre . &soTf ; , vj nowa y del yo ^ oy Iv S / vtTj vpyziv . ] No higher glory men or angels know , Than in accordant strains to hymn for ever God ' s everlasting , universal law .
We shall close these observations with an imitation of the €€ Song of Deborah , * ' on the defeat of Sisera , chief captain of the hosts of Jabin , king of Canaan , by the army of Israel : not so mucn with the hope of transfusing its beauties into English verse as of exciting in persons of greater talent the desire to give a more perfect imitation of it , and also of other passages in the Scriptures , which , though highly poetical , we have not yet seen either imitated or translated , in verse . Bishop Lowth in his elegant and instructive work ,
" De Sacra Poesi Hebrceorum , " ( Prael . xxviii ., ) mentions this triumphal song * as a specimen of the perfectly sublime ode , and divides it into three parts ; 6 rst , the exordium ; next , a recital of the circumstances which preceded , and of those which accompanied the victory : lastly , a fuller description of the concluding event—the death of Sisera , and the disappointed hopes of his mother . The catastrophe of this sublime composition he represents as
adorned with all the colours of poetry— " omnibus ornatam Poeseos luminibus ; " but confesses that some obscurities occur about the middle of the poem , which scarcely admit of elucidation . The difficulty of giving to these obscure parts any signification which would harmonize with the rest of the ode , and the inimitable grandeur of the exordium , induced us to confine the humble imitation that follows to the events described in the latter part of the
poem , introducing , however , some thoughts taken from the former portions of it , and others from the history of the battle , as detailed in the preceding chapter ( Judges iv . ) , and as explained by Josephus ( Ant . Bk . v . c . 5 , § 1—4 ) . This imitation , then , commences with the 19 th verse , The kings came and fought ; then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanaac , by the waters of Megiddo , ' and extends to the last , " So let all thine enemies perish , O Lord ; but let them that love thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might 1 "
By the waves of Megiddo , the kings of the land , In the bright pomp of war , led a numberless band ; Like the sea when it roars , was the terrible rattle Of their chariots that rush'd with loud din to the battle . On Mount Tabor the army of Israel stood , And beheld them approach like a dark-rolling flood ; E ' en the bravest were daunted , appall d at that sight , But the prophetess Deborah cried , " To the fight I
" For the Lord hath gone forth in His chariot of fire , And His thunder shall burst o ' er yon host in its ire ; Not a man shall survive of the thousands o v erthrown—4 To the battle , O Israel , the day is your own . ' " From that Mount , with the shout of defiance , they rush'd Like a torrent that down from its rocky side gush'd ; And their swords were as lightning that flash'd o ' er the vale , And their banners , as meteors , streani'd on the gale .
O er the sky there was gloom , aud a tempest of hail , From the clouds , rattled harsh on each warrior ' s mail ; The artillery of Heaven was discharged at the foe , And the firmament frown'd with dire phantoms of woe . The idolaters trembled—the onset scarce stood ; Soon thy dark stream , O Kishon , was red with their blood ; , And their mightiest hurried so quick from that tight , That the hoofs of their horses were broken in flight .
Then thy broad sword , O Barak , wav'd fiercer than flame , And thy deeds on that day did not sully thy name ;*
* Barak , in Hebrew , signifies lightning .
Untitled Article
On Devotional Poetry . 259
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1826, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2548/page/7/
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