Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/195

 Satire's View of Sentimentalism 189 his "having lately studied with infinite attention, several fashionable productions in the Sentimental stile; in most of which, a misapplication, not a defect, of talents seems to have betrayed their Authors into some degree of false Taste. " M He begins his poem by contrasting the spontaneity of good lyric poetry with the simpering affectation of the fashionable versi- fiers. When first the Muse recorded Beauty's praise, says he, Sweet was the Poet's Song; undeck'd by art, For love was Nature, and his theme the heart.* 7 But he is of the opinion that the modern bard simply " sighs serenely for unfeeling praise." "This purer taste, this philo- sophic art," Tickell proceeds to analyze, showing that it falls far sho -t of the excellence of classical simplicity. At one point he interrupts his survey to give an aspiring lyric poet ironical advice, telling him to strew his "temperate lays," With Moral raptures, and sententious praise, and to choose as the object of his poetic devotion and the subject of his verses No giddy Nymph, of youth and beauty vain, But some fair Stoic, link'd in Hymen's chain. . . Now, sick of vanity, with grandeur cloy'd, She leans on Sentiment, to sooth the void; Deep in Rousseau, her purer thoughts approve The Metaphysics of Platonic Love. Thine be the task, with quaint, fantastic phrase, To variegate her unimpassion'd praise. Poetic Compliments from Sonnets cull Harmonious quibbles, logically dull! 88 Tickell expresses a dislike for Problems in verse, and sophistry in rhyme, 89 and a preference for natural poetry written in accordance with reasonable precepts. He grants that Cowley, Spenser, and 86 School for Satire, 145. w/Wrf., 147. 88 Ibid., 149. "Ibid., 150.