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One of these Schlegel has versified in the "Lay of the Sunken Castle," with the piteous tale of the spirits imprisoned; and Simrock tells us in rhyme of the merman who sits waiting for a mortal bride; while Wolfgang Müller sings of the "Castle under the Lake," where at night ghostly torches are lighted and ghostly revels are held, the story of which so fascinates the fisherman's boy who has heard of these doings from his grandmother that as he watches the enchanted waters one night his fancy plays him a cruel trick, and he plunges in to join the revellers and learn the truth.
The versified French comedy was then much in vogue: the pieces of Destouches, Marivaux, and La Chaussee were often produced; and I still remember distinctly many characteristic figures. Of those of Moliere I recollect less. What made the greatest impression upon me was "The Hypermnestra" of Lemiere, which, as a new piece, was brought out with care and often repeated.
And when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the red tunic and stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he redoubled in attention to him and versified in these couplets, "He came in sable-hued sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to rack: Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful envious pack?
Then said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember aught of verse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be aroused by this and speak with thee. So I versified in these two couplets, When he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome, O son of Mansur!
But, if truth be the essence of the poet's work, "the right describing note to know a poet by", it would seem that the outward form of it, the metre and the ornament, are of little moment. "There have been many most excellent poets that never versified."
Indeed, except when he paints from actual models, from living persons and existing things, his superiority, at least his originality, is not so obvious; and thus it happens, that his gorgeous description of the sultan's seraglio is like a versified passage of an Arabian tale, while the imagery of Childe Harold's visit to Ali Pasha has all the freshness and life of an actual scene.
It is especially to be used, says Sidney, by a lover to persuade his mistress, urging her to yield while yet her beauty endures. This genre of versified oration to one's mistress was unusually popular in Elizabethan England. It may even be one reason for Bacon's classification of lyric poetry as part of rhetoric.
Facts having like implications might be cited from the histories of later times and people: as the practices of our own early minstrels, who sang to the harp heroic narratives versified by themselves to music of their own composition: thus uniting the now separate offices of poet, composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist.
Then they went their ways and I fell prostrate for weariness on the ground where I stood; but as I lay, pondering my case lo! I heard a Voice though I saw no one and the Voice versified with these two couplets, 'Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, * Nor pass the night with mind which cares an ace Between eye-closing and its opening, * Allah can foulest change to fairest case.
Probably something of this sort is the meaning of the Tannhauser legend, as versified both by Owen Meredith and Emma Lazarus, showing the poet robbed of his gift when he comes under the power of the Paphian Venus. Such likewise is probably the meaning of Oscar Wilde's sonnet, Hélas, quoted above.
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