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Updated: June 25, 2025
I hear the din Of waters thund'ring o'er the ruin'd cliffs. With holy reverence I approach the rocks Whence glide the streams renown'd in ancient song.
The ode in which this allusion occurs is said to have been written about B.C. 470; and the eruption to which it refers probably took place shortly before that date. Virgil also describes the mountain very forcibly in the AEneid, lib. iii. 570. Dryden renders the passage thus: "The port capacious, and secure from wind, Is to the foot of thund'ring Etna joined.
A storm came on, we sprung a leak, and sorely were we tried, We plied the pumps, 'twas spell and spell, with lots of work beside; And what d'ye think this beggar did, the trick I do declare, He call'd us all to leave the pumps and join with him in prayer. At last our boatswain Billy, who was a thund'ring Turk, Goes up to him and says, "My man, why don't you do your work!"
Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declared how much he knew: 'Twas certain he could write, and cypher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And ev'n the story ran that he could gauge: In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill; For ev'n though vanquish'd, he could argue still; While words of learned length and thund'ring sound, Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, That one small head should carry all he knew."
"Autumn" opens bravely: Again the year's decline, 'midst storms and floods, The thund'ring chase, the yellow fading woods Invite my song. It contains two of the best things in the poem, the first in the opening part, describing the swine in the acorn season, a delightful picture which must be given in full:
Soaring through air to find the bright abode, Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God, We on thy pinions can surpass the wind, And leave the rolling universe behind: From star to star the mental opticks rove, Measure the skies, and range the realms above. There in one view we grasp the mighty whole, Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul. &c. &c."
Goldsmith is supposed to have had him and his school in view in the following sketch in his Deserted Village: "Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay, There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, The village master taught his little school; A man severe he was, and stern to view, I knew him well, and every truant knew: Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper circling round, Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd: Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declared how much he knew, 'Twas certain he could write and cipher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And e'en the story ran that he could gauge: In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill, For, e'en though vanquished, he could argue still; While words of learned length and thund'ring sound Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, That one small head could carry all he knew."
Thund'ring Jove stars in heaven hath fixed, And them in such beauteous order mixed, Which yearly future things predict.
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