Whatever other excellence may be wanting in the ensuing Poems, they
are, with only nine exceptions out of the hundred, strictly Sonnets.
Those nine vary only from the rules of the legitimate Sonnet in that
they rhime _three_, instead of _four_ times in the _first_ part. The
pause is in _them_, as in the _rest_, variously placed through the
course of the verses; and thus they bear no more resemblance than
their associates, to those minute Elegies of twelve alternate rhimes,
closing with a couplet, which assume the name of Sonnet, without any
other resemblance to that order of Verse, except their limitation to
fourteen lines. I never found the quadruple rhimes injurious to the
general expression of the sense, but in the excepted instances. When
it is considered how few they are in so _large_ a number, I flatter
myself the idea will vanish that our language is not capable of doing
justice to the _regular_ Sonnet.
From the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1786, I shall
insert Mr. White's definition of the nature and perfection of this
species of Verse, because I think it explains them with justness and
precision.
“Little Elegies, consisting of four stanzas and a couplet, are no
more Sonnets than they are Epic Poems. The Sonnet is of a particular
and _arbitrary_ construction; it partakes of the nature of Blank
Verse, by the lines running into each other at proper intervals. Each
line of the first eight, rhimes four times, and the order in which
those rhimes should fall is decisive. For the ensuing six there is
more licence; they may, or may not, at pleasure, close with a
couplet.
“Of Milton's English Sonnets, only that to Oliver Cromwell ends with
a couplet, but the single instance is a sufficient precedent;
however, in three out of his five Italian ones, the concluding lines
rhime to each other.
“The style of the Sonnet should be nervous, and, where the subject
will with propriety bear elevation, sublime; with which, simplicity
of language is by no means incompatible. If the subject is familiar
and domestic, the style should, though affectionate, be nervous;
though plain, be energetic. The great models of perfection, for the
sublime and domestic Sonnet, are those of Milton's, ‘To the Soldier
to spare his Dwelling-place,’ and ‘To Mr. Laurence.’
“The Sonnet is certainly the most difficult species of poetic
composition; but difficulty, well subdued, is excellence. Mrs. Smith
says she has been told that the regular Sonnet suits not the nature
or genius of our language. Surely this assertion cannot be
demonstrated, and therefore was not worth attention.
“Out of eighteen English Sonnets, written by Milton, four are bad.
The rest, though they are not free from certain hardnesses, have a
pathos and greatness in their simplicity, sufficient to endear the
legitimate Sonnet to every Reader of just taste. They possess a
_characteristic_ grace, which can never belong to three elegiac
stanzas, closing with a couplet.”
I have pleasure in quoting the preceding Dissertation on the SONNET,
conscious that there is no order of Verse, upon which so much
erroneous opinion has gone forth, and of whose beauties the merely
common Reader is so insensible. But when the Author of this just
Treatise says of the assertion, that the legitimate Sonnet suits not
our language, “its truth cannot be demonstrated,” he should perhaps
rather have observed, that its fallacy is proved by the great number
of beautiful legitimate Sonnets, which adorn our National Poetry, not
only by Milton, but by many of our _modern_ Poets.
Of the four of Milton's, justly disapproved by Mr. White, there is
one evidently a _burlesque_, written in sport. It begins,
“A book was writ of late, call'd Tetrachordon.”
Doctor Johnson has the disingenuousness, in his Folio Dictionary,
under the word SONNET, to cite _that_ Sonnet at full length, as a
specimen of Milton's style in this kind of Poetry. Johnson disliked
Sonnets, and he equally disliked Blank Verse, and Odes. It is in vain
to combat the prejudice of splenetic aversion. The Sonnet is an
highly valuable species of Verse; the best vehicle for a single
detached thought, an elevated, or a tender sentiment, and for a
succinct description. The compositions of that order now before the
Reader, ensued from time to time, as various circumstances impressed
the heart, or the imagination of their Author, and as the aweful, or
lovely scenes of Nature, arrested, or allured her eye.