Altar poem

Last updated

An altar poem is a pattern poem in which the lines are arranged to look like the form of an altar. The text and shape relate to each other, the latter usually giving added meaning to the poem itself. The tradition of shaped poetry goes back to Greek poets writing in Alexandria before the Common Era but most examples date from later and were written by European Christian poets during the Baroque period.

Contents

Classical examples

Three poems in the shape of altars date from Classical times, starting from the turn of the Common Era, and refer to Pagan altars, even though the last of the poets was a Christian.

The name of the creator of the earliest poem is known to be Dosiadas, but there is no other information about him. As in some of the shaped poems written before it, the 18 lines propose a riddle to which the shape gives a clue. Containing recondite allusions to Greek mythology which have to be penetrated first, they begin “I am the work of the husband of the man-mantled queen, the twice young mortal,” by which one understands Jason, husband of Medea, who had once had to flee for her life in male disguise and who rejuvenated her husband by boiling him in a cauldron. The puzzle continues on for another sixteen longer and shorter lines arranged to represent an altar balanced on a pillared base. [1]

The altar poem (Carmen XXVI) by Optatianus Optatianus altar.JPG
The altar poem (Carmen XXVI) by Optatianus

The second poem is also in Greek and was the work of Lucius Julius Vestinus, who describes himself as “High-priest of Alexandria and all Egypt, Curator of the Museum, Keeper of the Libraries of both Greek and Roman at Rome, Supervisor of the Education of Hadrian, and Secretary to the same Emperor.” The 26 lines of the poem represent the altar's self-referential soliloquy, but the initial letters of the lines are also an acrostic that spell out a complimentary message to the Emperor. [2]

Finally there is a poem written in Latin by Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius dating from the first quarter of the 4th century. In this the altar describes its construction as “polished by the craft of the poet's musical art (fabre politavitis artem musica)…I am straightly confined and hold back my edges as they attempt to grow and then, in the succeeding portion, let them spread more broadly." It then elaborates in an equally self-descriptive way. [3] The poem has been judged to be 'undoubtedly a direct imitation of “Jason’s Altar”' by Dosidas. [4]

The English Baroque

Poems in the form of an altar reappear in the Baroque period, written by educated authors who had come across the shaped poems preserved in the Greek anthology. At the very beginning of this period, an altar was found to be a convenient shape for an epitaph, as in the anonymous tribute in Greek to the poet Philip Sydney in the Peplus Illustrissimi viri D. Philippi Sidnaei (1587), [5] and there are later examples of such epitaphs in English by William Browne [6] and Robert Baron. [7]

There was an even earlier altar poem in Latin dating from 1573 by the English Catholic Richard Willis. Turning away from pagan associations, his poem declares itself “an altar of the Christian religion”. In its presence, Willis represents himself as "Reborn in the holy/ washing of baptism"; though tried by perilous exile, he will keep the faith to the end. [8] The dedicatory poems to King James the First, prefacing Joshua Sylvester’s 1604 translation of a Christian epic by Du Bartas, occupy a position midway between Pagan and Christian. They are arranged as altar shapes centred upon each of the Classical Muses, but chiefly their names are only used as markers of the various aspects of the poem recommended to the king. [9]

The 17th century text of George Herbert's "The Altar" Herbert altar.jpg
The 17th century text of George Herbert's "The Altar"

Most modern commentaries reflect on how altar poems of the period relate to the best known example, George Herbert’s "The Altar" (1633). An earlier anonymous example in Francis Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody (1602), the address of a rejected lover, approximates the form of George Herbert. A cross-rhymed octosyllabic quatrain is supported by three 4-syllabled quatrains which have as base another octosyllabic quatrain. [10] Herbert’s is quantitively different, however. It is rhymed throughout in couplets and has lines of differing length (a pentameter followed by tetrameter) at the head which are reversed at the base. His poem is also more serious in tone, for all that it is built on an extravagantly Baroque conceit. His altar, he declares, is constructed from a broken, stony heart that is offered as a sacrifice to God.

A nearly contemporary poem by William Bosworth (written about 1628, although not printed until 1651) matches the form of Herbert’s altar exactly. It appears untitled near the end of the “Haemon and Antigone” episode in his The Chaste and Lost Lovers, beginning with the lines “Those that Idalia’s wanton garments wear/ No Sacrifices for me must prepare”. There too is a repetition of the word ‘altar’ in connection with the word ‘sacrifice’ which, more logically than in Herbert, appears on top of the altar. [11] Edward Benlowes’ poem “The Consecration”, in his Theophila, or Loves sacrifice: A divine poem (1652), was dissimilar in form from Herbert, but was surrounded by a drawn outline to make the likeness to an altar clearer, [12] as happened in some later editions of Herbert's poem. [13] In the last quarter of the century appeared Samuel Speed's verbally “servile imitation” of Herbert, [14] also titled “The Altar”, in his Prison Pietie (1677). [15]

The taste for this kind of production was now over in any case. John Dryden satirised the Baroque taste in his “Mac Flecknoe” and Joseph Addison singled out Herbert's “The Altar” and its companion piece, “Easter Wings”, as a false and obsolete kind of wit. [16] In Germany, too, where there had been a similar craze, Johann Leonhard Frisch composed some extreme examples, including an altar bearing a flaming heart, as satires upon the style. [17] Few more shaped poems were to be written until centuries later, and then in the service of a completely different aesthetic.

See also

Related Research Articles

In poetry, metre or meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poetry</span> Form of literature

Poetry, also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, a prosaic ostensible meaning. A poem is a literary composition, written by a poet, using this principle.

A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonnet</span> Poetic form, traditionally fourteen specifically-rhymed lines

A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, and the Sicilian School of poets who surrounded him then spread the form to the mainland. The earliest sonnets, however, no longer survive in the original Sicilian language, but only after being translated into Tuscan dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concrete poetry</span> Genre of poetry with lines arranged as a shape

Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own. Concrete poetry relates more to the visual than to the verbal arts although there is a considerable overlap in the kind of product to which it refers. Historically, however, concrete poetry has developed from a long tradition of shaped or patterned poems in which the words are arranged in such a way as to depict their subject.

Poetry analysis is the process of investigating a poem's form, content, structural semiotics and history in an informed way, with the aim of heightening one's own and others' understanding and appreciation of the work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Herbert</span> English poet, orator and Anglican priest (1593–1633)

George Herbert was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists." He was born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University's Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. He sat in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.

The kyrielle is a poetic form that originated in troubadour poetry.

Tail rhyme is a family of stanzaic verse forms used in poetry in French and especially English during and since the Middle Ages, and probably derived from models in medieval Latin versification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Décima</span> Ten-line stanza of poetry

A décima is a ten-line stanza of poetry. The most popular form is called décima espinela after Vicente Espinel (1550–1624), a Spanish writer, poet, and musician from the Siglo de Oro who used it extensively throughout his compositions.

Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius was a Latin poet, possibly a native of Africa. Porfyrius has been identified with Publilius Optatianus, who was praefectus urbi in 329 and 333. For some reason he had been banished, but having addressed a panegyric to the Emperor Constantine I, he was allowed to return.

In poetry, a fourteener is a line consisting of 14 syllables, which are usually made of seven iambic feet, for which the style is also called iambic heptameter. It is most commonly found in English poetry produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. Fourteeners often appear as rhymed couplets, in which case they may be seen as ballad stanza or common metre hymn quatrains in two rather than four lines.

This is a glossary of poetry.

A masculine ending and feminine ending or weak ending are terms used in prosody, the study of verse form. "Masculine ending" refers to a line ending in a stressed syllable. "Feminine ending" is its opposite, describing a line ending in a stressless syllable. This definition is applicable in most cases; see below, however, for a more refined characterization.

<i>On the Morning of Christs Nativity</i>

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a nativity ode written by John Milton in 1629 and published in his Poems of Mr. John Milton (1645). The poem describes Christ's Incarnation and his overthrow of earthly and pagan powers. The poem also connects the Incarnation with Christ's Crucifixion.

Vietnamese poetry originated in the form of folk poetry and proverbs. Vietnamese poetic structures include Lục bát, Song thất lục bát, and various styles shared with Classical Chinese poetry forms, such as are found in Tang poetry; examples include verse forms with "seven syllables each line for eight lines," "seven syllables each line for four lines", and "five syllables each line for eight lines." More recently there have been new poetry and free poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easter Wings</span> Poem by George Herbert

Easter Wings is a poem by George Herbert which was published in his posthumous collection, The Temple (1633). It was originally formatted sideways on facing pages and is in the tradition of shaped poems that goes back to ancient Greek sources.

The Sapphic stanza is the only stanzaic form adapted from Greek and Latin poetry to be used widely in Polish literature. It was introduced during the Renaissance, and since has been used frequently by many prominent poets. The importance of the Sapphic stanza for Polish literature lies not only in its frequent use, but also in the fact that it formed the basis of many new strophes, built up of hendecasyllables and pentasyllables.

"The Altar" is a poem by the Welsh-born poet and Anglican priest George Herbert, first published in Herbert's collection The Temple. As an example of shaped poetry, its popularity in the 17th century is attested by several imitations and a musical setting.

Poetic devices are a form of literary device used in poetry. Poems are created out of poetic devices composite of: structural, grammatical, rhythmic, metrical, verbal, and visual elements. They are essential tools that a poet uses to create rhythm, enhance a poem's meaning, or intensify a mood or feeling.

References

  1. Theoi pattern poems
  2. Information from the Theoi site; also an image of the poem
  3. FAMSF
  4. J. Stephan Edwards, commentary on poem 26 in “The Carmina of Publius Optatianus Porphyrius”
  5. Higgins, p.24
  6. Rickey, p.12
  7. Higgins, p.96
  8. Rickey, p.11
  9. Internet Archive
  10. Rickey, pp.13-14
  11. Text online
  12. Online reproduction
  13. Rickey, p.14
  14. Westerweel, p.84
  15. Online text
  16. The Spectator no.58 (May 11, 1711), p.69
  17. Online visual poetry exhibits