Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

THE POEM
elsewhere in the work and some, like the brisk opening formula, appear several
times. The passage is simple in structure and the writing is direct and straightforward.
There is little of diat interweaving of words and phrases which
Augustan writers employed to add tension to their verse. Enjambment is kept
to a minimum and in general the thought is accommodated to the units of the
hexameter verse. This is not Lucretius' invariable way of writing: there are
passages, for example in die prologues, where he creates a strong sense of
forward movement by allowing the thought to spill over from one line to
anodier (over a quarter of the lines in the poem are enjambed); but here an
important statement is enunciated in measured phrases and die shape of the
verse adds clarity and point to die argument.
Many of die formal features of Lucretius' style can be seen in these lines:
archaism (indu), periphrasis (oculorum uisu), dignified poetic diction (effabor),
die occasional telling use of a compound adjective (horrisond), and most
obviously, alliteration and assonance. But what makes the passage impressive
is the energy and fullness of die writing. Much of that energy resides in the
use and placing of the verbs {sustentata ruet, conquassart). Aldiough the De
rerum natura is a great descriptive poem, it depends far more for its effect upon
die choice of verbs and participles dian upon picturesque adjectives or decorative
epidiets. Lucretius' style is above all functional and the commonest
adjectives in die poem are colourless quantitative words like magnus and paruus.
In fact Lucretius is seldom content simply to describe: he wants to explain
what is happening behind die surface appearances of diings and for this words
of action are needed. They impart to his style a tremendous vigour and strengdi.
Alliteration contributes to the same result. Grammarians warned against its
over-use and sometimes Lucretius, like die older poets whom he imitated, may
be guilty of excess. But die device is effective when it is employed, as here, to
point a striking phrase like machina mundi or to draw attention to a new and
important subject. It can also underline and punctuate die meaning: the first
sentence, for example, divides into three parts of approximately equal lengdi
and each is marked off with its own alliterative sequence. The musical effect of
alliteration is particularly pleasing when it involves die blending of different
sounds: lines 104—5 provide a good example widi dieir interweaving of die
consonants d, t, and/"and their strong assonantal pattern, ta- -tls -tan -ter ter-
-ti- -tis. In trying to account for the characteristic energy and amplitude of
Lucretius' style, one should also mention his use of doublets (noua miraque)
and his habit of piling up nouns widiin a single verse (principio maria ac terras
caelumque tuere, 92). Like Milton, Lucretius is fond of such 'catalogue lines'
and employs diem widi a wide range of effects: impressiveness and majesty in
5.115: terras et solem et caelum, mare, sidera, lunam ' lands and sun and sky, sea,
stars and moon'; lyrical beauty in 5.n90: luna dies et nox et noctis signa seuera
223
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008