Essay on the Character of Euripides as a Tragic Poet, Extract of a Letter from an American Artist in London, Julio and Ada, - 396 400. 473 461 245 146 82. 169. 405. 486 Note on the most probable value in admeasurements, &c. Return of Autumn, Recollections, Sketch, a Skies, the Song of Pitcairn's Island, Spirit of Spring, Verplanck's Address, Watts's Letters to Sampson, Wild Birds, N Bind THE NEW-YORK REVIEW. JUNE, 1825. ART. I.--Hadad, a Dramatic Poem, By JAMES A. HILLHOUSE, author of " Percy's Masque," and "The Judgment." NewYork. Bliss & White. 1825. pp. 208. THOUGH the author of Hadad has chosen to give his work the more general denomination of a dramatic poem, it has all the incidents and characteristics of a tragedy. It is continued through the proper number of acts, is written with a sufficient regard to dramatic unities, and is furnished with a reasonable number and variety of characters. It has a regular plot and catastrophe, and the personages are all finally disposed of according to the fairest rules of poetical justice. Perhaps, however, the author was prevented from calling it a tragedy, by supposing that the nature of the subject, and the introduction of supernatural agents into the plot, would exclude it from the stage. Let it be a dramatic poem, then, since the author chooses to call it so―at all events, we are ready to acknowledge that it is a very good one. The story of this drama is founded on the rebellion of Absalom. This is a very interesting event in the annals of the Jewish nation, and the actors in it were some of the most important personages of scripture history. How far subjects drawn from the sacred writings are proper for narrative or dramatic poetry, is a question about which there has been much discussion. It has been urged, among other objections to this use of such subjects, that it is a sort of unhallowed mingling of fiction with the pure truth of the sacred records, the tendency of which is to impair our reverence for the history of our religion, and our respect for the lessons which that history was intended to inculcate. We must say, however, that, with all proper deference for these scruples, we cannot help thinking them entirely unnecessary. The human personages mentioned in sacred history must be considered as actual human beings, subject to the common passions and infirmities of our race, and, for the most part, to the ordinary influences of good and ill fortune. It cannot surely be VOL. I. 1 impious to suppose that what we are told of them in scripture. is not the whole of this history. We are not forbidden to dwell upon what we may conceive to be their emotions, in the various passages of their lives which are recorded, nor to fancy the particulars of those events which are related only in general terms, nor even to imagine them engaged in. adventures of which no account has come down to us. So long as this is done in such a manner as to correspond with what is related of their characters and actions in holy writ, we cannot see that any thing is done to offend the most delicate conscience. We cannot see that it has the least tendency to weaken the impression produced upon us by the narratives of scripture; on the contrary, it seems to us, that by leading the mind to dwell upon them more intently, it will naturally deepen and confirm it. This field ought at least to be as free to the poet as to the pulpit orator. Nobody thinks of passing a censure upon the latter, when, suffering his imagination to kindle, and his heart to become warm with his subject, he expatiates upon the fraternal affection of Joseph, or amplifies the filial devotion of Ruth. It is obvious, that the form in which the poem is cast can make no difference with the principle in this case. It is immaterial whether it be dramatic or narrative, as long as it is not made the subject of scenic representation; for no greater liberty is taken with scripture history in the one case than in the other. We are aware, however, that it may be further said, that the natural effect of these subjects upon the mind of the writer is not such as to ensure the free and happy exertion of his powers. The habitual reverence with which we regard them, awes and represses the imagination. The dread of taking improper liberties with his subject, and the fear of offending the scruples of others, act as shackles upon the invention of the writer; and, amidst all these influences, there is danger that he will rest in common-places, and that his work will be tame and spiritless. There is great difficulty, also, in awakening, in the mind of the reader, a strong interest in the characters and fortunes of the personages upon whom the action of the piece depends. This is a consequence of the extraordinary dispensation of which they were the subjects. There is something in the idea of mortals taken into so intimate a relation with the Divine Being, which rebukes and repels earthly sympathy. These are difficulties serious difficulties; but they are not insurmountable. They render the work of the poet arduous-not impossible. The imagination may still soar high, and the invention act vigorously, in the permitted direction; and that sympathy which we are slow to yield, may still be wrung from us by the truth and |
