The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-03-10
The Poetry OF Love.

cinea Of whom he so often spake, he
replied, with commendable alacrity:
''But why should I undertake to de-
hneate and copy, one by one, each
several perfection of the peerless
Dulcinea? The task were worthy of
the pencils of Parahasius, Timantes,
and Apelles, or the craving tools of
Iysippus. The hands of the best
painters and statuaries should indeed
be employed to give, in speaking
paint, in marble, and Corinthian
brass and exact copy of her beauties;
while Ciceronian and Demosthenian
eloquence labored to reach the praise
of her endowments. % One naturally
infers from this little speech that the
Don was in love. Yet the fact that
he made use of simple prose instead
Of poor poetry as medium for the
expression of his estimation of the
female concerned, leaves room for
doubt as to the correctness of such
an inference. Be this as it may, we
must leave the erratic old fellow st
this point in order to consider sub
iect of vastly greater importance.
That males and females of all ages
and all conditions should, in the
course of their earthly existence,
lapse in love is expected as much as
that children will get the measles or
the whooping cough. Love, of course,
is an excellent thing. Nobody doubts
this, and probably nobody will, so
long as boys and girls and men and
women inhabit the earth Excellent,
too, are its manifestations, though
comical to disinterested observer
But of all the manifestations of this
passion none is so frequent as poetry.
It seems to be almost law of the
human mind that when one falls in
love the only vent for the feelings
should lie in verse. Men take to this
more readily, perhaps, than women;
and, very naturally, inasmuch as it is
regarded highly unbecoming for the
latter to do more than receive the ad-
vances of the former. The quality
of the rhyme which is begotten under
these circumstances, like that of
mercy, is not strained, but droppeth
less gently and more frequently than
the rain from heaven One effusion
of this sort per diem is small allow
ance for some persons, while others
are cool enough to be satisfied with
one month. Just where the golden
mean lies, it IS impossible to deter
mine. Love, like necessity, knows
no law. The number of those who
write good poetry is so very small in
comparison with those who do not,
that it occurs to us that few hints
to lovers who yearn for rhyme may
be of value not only to them, but also
to the unfortunate beings that are to
be the recipients of their effusions.
1t must be understood, however, that
what may follow applies only to the
stronger sex, sense of gallantry
forbidding any direct instruction to
the ladies.
No man really in love will obtain
the slightest relief from rhymes of
his own construction, unless he loads
his lucubrations with epithets. A no
vice In the business is safe in address
ing his beloved by the title of an
angel. Aside from the fact that the
use of this word at once removes the
whole matter from the low plane of
earth, the rhymster may enjoy the
sweet consciousness that the conceit
can by no possible means be open to
the charge of novelty. ''Apple of my
eye'' should be used sparingly, and
never in the spring or summer, the
reason for which any horticulturist.
can explain. In view of the poor
quality and the high price of gas in
this city, we would suggest that
young sprig, residing in the metro
polls, could not do better than to ad-
dress the object of his affection as the
light of his heart, thus combining in
a very few words the two ideas of or
nament and utility. Next in impor-
tance to epithets is a portrayal of the
writer's feelings. Inasmuch as sym
pathy provokes attachment, and at
tachment is closely allied to endear-
ment, the great object in view should
be to arouse sympathy on the part of
the recipient of erratic verse in behalf
of the one who grinds them out. The
most obvious way to accomplish this,
is to represent ones self as suffering
untold agonies. The rural genius,
who began a long poem with the
lines.
':Without thee, Im lonely and sad,
But with thee, 1 never feel bad"
evinced thorough appreciation of
the principle involved, though few
would regard his mode OF applying
it as the most mellifuous that could
be devised. It's always we'll to adopt
q melancholy tone; to appear on
paper as do the professional mourners