Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-08-02
1iessrs. Snowden 4 Thornton:

1essrs. Sno,0dsn y Thornton:
Gen,Irmcn, l had ro'i'ed favorable mention
made of new publ'cation--"Pol ock's Course
of Time :" but, until in the Phenix OF This morn
ing, had seen no extract.
Laude,e ab kaudaiiS S considered the highest
employment to a great and good man. The
apholism has equal Eff Ct as 10 poets; and in
no instance whatsoev'r, cou'd i be more appii-
cable than this description, BY Pollock, OF the
aCuARAcrER AND GENUS OF BYRON"
The STYLE Of the poetry is IN gnifccn'-'he
selection o. blark verse, happy. 1t Is, in fact,
BYRON rene wed in his cri,io-for instance, The
following lines breathe the soul oil BYron's poe
try:
..Ue laid his hand upon the "the Oceans mane,"
And p,ayed familiar with his hoary locks
Stood on the Alps, stood on the Arpenn'nes'
And with the thunder talked as friend to friend
And woye his garland ofthe ~lghtnings wing,
In >por,iye twist the hghtning'S fiery wing,
which, as the footsteps of the dreadful God
March upon the storm in ENG snce seemed
Tb.n unrned. and with the grasshoppei, VINO sung
His evening song, beneath his feet, con'e'seo'
Such lines give thr poetic reader the thru
he mus, have often frlr in reading Byron
Allow me, Mrssrs. Editors contrary TO my
Intention when / took up the pen, to proceed
10 show the parallel between byron ana ms
c,;,ic-between these two poets, in their own
,osc,;,,ive lines: both desciip i've Of Byron.
Pollock says:
.w;,b terror now he froze the covering blood,
And now dissolved the heartin tenderness;
", would no, tremblc, would not weep HIMSELF
INT back into lis soul retired; slore,
Dark, ,ullen, prouu: gazing contt uptuousV
On hearts and passions PROSTATE at ms ieet'
Co Ocean from the plains, his waves hau i'e
70 desolstIon swept, retired IN prtde'
Exul,ing in the glory OF ms might,
And seemed TO mock the rum he hSu "ro"s"
The last lines contain a sinilie eq"a''o ny
ron. indeed truly Homeric
,r,rscr;be The lines descriptive Of himself IN
that character:
s.From my youth upwards
NJ, sn;,it walk'd not viii. the souls OF pen,
Nor iook'd upon the earth with human eyes,
The thirst of their ambition was not m'ne'
Tbe aim of their existence was moi mine'
a. ;oxs NV priefs, my passions, and m! powers,
Ms6s me a stranger; though wore me forin'
! had no sympathy with breathing hesh
Id with men; and with the thoughts OF Weh'
7 held but slight communion, but uhs'eao'
Nv ;oy was in the wilderness, to BREATHE
The difficult air of the iced mountains top,
W. The birds dare not build, nor Vsects wing
Fit DER the herbless granite, or the plunge
Into the torrent, and To roll alrng
I'm the swift whirl of the new breaking wave
Ofr,ver. stream, or ocean, in their flew.
To fellow through the night the moving noon'
1be stars and their development; OF catch
THE dazzling ightnings till my eyes gre" dim'
or IN look. listening, on the scattered 'taNes'
while Autumn's winds were at their evening sohS'
These were nay pashmss, &c.
Pollock finishes his powerfully drawn por'
trait Of Byron wi h the following wi!aerang MI
tonic lines, almost equal, in salyric severity, to
Burns lines
tsDovn TO the dust! and as thou rolPst along,
Even worms shall perish on thy poisonous clay
Almost equally blasting is Pollook's-
"His passions d.ed;
Died all but dreary solitary pride;
And all his sympa;hies in being died,
ASsome in.gulded bark, well built anAtali,
which angry wird cast out on desert shore,
And then retiring, left II there to rot
And moul1er in the winds and rains of heaven'
so he. cut from the svmpsthies of life,
AMI cast ashore from pleasures boisterous surge
w.nder,np weary, worn and wretched thing,
Iscnrcbed. and desola,e, and blasted soul;
A GLOOMY wilderness of dying thought :,
penined. and, groared, and withered from the ear'h.
rms, Gen,lemrn. these quotations, rather
ssr.c,;ons. will establish the correctness OF the
nara,lel 1 have attempted to draw confess a
-. H.