Trench Campaspe Essay JK

— The Corvey Poets Project at the University of Nebraska —

British Poetry of the later Eighteenth and Earlier Nineteenth Centuries

Bibliographical and Contextual Apparatus

[Melesina C. Trench]

Campaspe: an Historical Tale; and Other Poems. By Mrs. Trench. [Southampton: Baker], 1815. Pp. 40.

Descriptive Essay

Introduction

Melesina Trench begins Campaspe: An Historical Tale: and Other Poems first with a tragic letter to her daughter who was around three years old at the time the book was written. The letter dedicates the book to the toddler. The biographies of Trench indicate that she was very close to her daughter and is even quoted as saying the her daughter is "almost the only link which connected me strongly with my own sex" (qtd. Blaine 1095). The letter to her daughter in the front of the book goes on to advise her to improve her mind as she becomes a woman. What makes the letter so tragic is that Trench's daughter dies in 1816 at the age of four, and just one year after this book was dedicated to her. After this letter is a note from the author in which Trench says "the cords should be struck by a more powerful poet". She goes on to say that she knows that she's not qualified to write about such a noble tale, but asks her readers to forgive her for "such an error in judgment", and that she is entitled to "at least one claim to their indulgence".

Campaspe

Canto First

The poem begins speaking about young Ammon, which was an Egyptian oracle god, but in this case I believe Trench is referring to Alexander the Great because Alexander the Great claimed to be the son of Ammon. It says he's stung with hope and goes on to talk about how his wars have refined Barbarians:
          In sleepless ecstasy young Ammon lay
          Stung with wild hope of universal sway.
          Fancy and pride resplendent visions raise
          Of boundless glory, —of unsully'd praise, —
          Conquest extended but to bless mankind—
          Barbarians vanquishe'd,—soften',—rais'd,—refin'd;
          Learning diffus'd,—bright science taught to soar,
          On eagle wing, to heights unknown before;
          Till all encircle Truth's imortal shrine,
          And this fair world possess a race devine.

This first stanza established the power of Alexander. Then Trench goes on to use words like 'fade' and 'quivering' to describe Alexander. The poem mostly indicates that Alexander has conquered so much land that there is no where else to conquer and there's no fight left in his men. It then describes a painting of his mistress Campaspe, and Alexander "feeling a father's fears". This turns out to be a dream that Campaspe is having, and she is afraid that Alexander will discover that his court painter Appelles, who is a close friend of Alexander and travels with him, has fallen in love with Campaspe while he was painting her. I'm not sure if it was known, or commonly discussed, at the time that Campaspe was just a mistress of Alexander's because the poem seems to indicate that Alexander is trying to get her to marry him. She is in love with him but she doesn't verbally accept, rather she just blushes and smiles. Campaspe thinks that Alexander knows that her gestures mean yes, but he doesn't know and he keeps going off to wars. Also Larrissea is referred to as Campaspe's mother, but I'm not sure if she really is her mother or another mistress of Alex's. Trench uses a lot of references and comparisons to the Greek gods which makes it difficult to follow whether she is referring to a god or to a human. This is mainly because she begins the poem referring to Alexander as by a gods name. She really seems to think that this conqueror was a god. She also indulges the reader in some delightful foreshadowing. For example, when Alexander speaks to a friend, Hephestion who was known to be a childhood friend of Alexander's:
          "Hephestion come, my friend, long try'd!
          "Again we'll conquer, side by side;
          "My dearer self! The tide of life
          "Rises to meet the coming strife;
          "Existence like a torrent flows,
          "It stagnates in abhorr'd repose,
          "When realms I conquer, realms I give,
          "Then, then alone I seem to live.

This relays that Alexander is tired, and that maybe he thought he'd be dead by now. His conquering has gotten so big that Alexander can't stop even if he wanted to because now he's got to continue because he's come so far. Alexander then speaks of taking the painting and how the world will adore Campaspe. It is very difficult to figure out whether Campaspe is in love with Alexander or she looks up to him in this first Canto. Trench doesn't make it very clear who is speaking and of whom they are speaking about. In the end of the first Canto Alexander goes to war again
"—and leaves the drooping fair,
To tears, to anguish, and despair."

Canto Second

The second Canto begins with what I believe is a description of the painting of Campaspe:
          "ENCHANTING shore! thy clear cerulean wave
           That murmurs by the circling hill's slope-side,
           (While myrtle groves their fragrant blossoms lave,)
           With varying music gently seems to chide.
           Soft is the measur'd breathing of the tide,
           With flow'rs of ev'ry hue its margin glows;
           And on its bosom, in reflected pride,
           Her splended tints the gay pomegranate shows,
           And tremulously-blushing shines the liquid rose.
This is either a description of the painting or of Campaspe waiting for the return of Alexander while being painted. It then goes on, after this long description of landscape and our "liquid rose", so say "In honour of the long sought nuptial day:". I believe this is a double entendre referring to Appelles' painting Campaspe so wonderfully because he's passionate about her because he's fallen in love with her, and because Alexander is having this painting done in honor of a long sought marriage to Campaspe. Trench also uses a lot of nature in this canto; she describes the whole landscape and then says that "all is happiness until man appears". This also is another moment of foreshadowing, perhaps, because Alexander is trying to stop nature, by not letting Apelles be with Campaspe, though Alexander doesn't know about the love yet and it doesn't seem that Campaspe loves Apelles.

Alexander then returns from war and Apelles reveals his love for Campaspe, and Alexander is tortured because he loves Campaspe and Appelles:
          "Oh! lead me to him," Alexander cries,
          "To impart the balm Affection can bestow.
          "And is it thus my lov'd Appelles lies,
          "A pale chill monument of human woe ?"
          Oh! when a head with Genius fraught lies low;
          When glaz'd an eye where vivid Fancy play'd;
          When clos'd a lip whence wit was wont to flow;
          With what deep grief the soul of Love, dismay'd,
          Asks,—why to feed the Grave such glories were display'd

Alexander's torment goes on till the end of Canto Two:
          Young Ammon knelt. "To thee, Imperial Jove,
          "In boundless gratitude, my thanks I pour,
          "For this excelling proof of heav'nly love,
          "Than fame, than empire, or than conquest more:
          "Yet, Oh! I feel—how feebly I adore.
          "How full, how fervent, my petitions flew,
          "On eagle wing, to heav'n's celestial floor,
          "For mercy at thy gracious throne to sue;
          "That mercy gain'd,— how cold my words, how faint, how few."

Also at the end Campaspe is left hoping to be able to stay with Alexander though this is sometimes difficult to make out because it is hard to be sure of whom Campaspe is speaking.

Canto Third

The third Canto continues the story with Alexander going to his tent to sleep, but he can't sleep because he is bothered. He recognizes that Apelles is such a talented artist because Apelles did such a good painting of Alexander:
          "And here," he cries, "shall live Apelles' mind
          "Through rolling ages, here delight mankind.
          "Of conquest, empire, valor, brief the tale:
          "Too oft Oblivion shrouds them in her veil
          "At others' will, their fame withheld or lent;
          "But Genius builds her own proud monument,
          "Forms the mighty dead, illustrations, here,
          "In more-than-mortal majesty, appear,
          "Heroes and patiots. Alexander's own,
          "Amid this awful line superior shone.
          "His potent eye, firm lip, and graceful hand,
          "Denote habitual and high command:
          "Yet mild his aspect, and his air serene;
          "No action in this finish'd piece was seen.
          "It seem'd the painter had alone design'd
          "To give a transcript of th' immortal mind.
          "He views the countless forms of manly grace,
          "The regal air, the sage's pensive face;
          "Here the gay smiles of blooming youth engage;
          "And there the mild benignity of age."

Alexander again then looks at the painting of Campaspe and gets angry at Apelles love for her, but sees the passion and talent of Apelles . He then goes through a long dialogue and finally makes his decision by saying:
          "Friend of my soul! let dear Apelles live
          "In all the joys Campaspe's love can give—
          "His mind was form'd to bless domestic life;
          "He turns indignant from the fields of strife.
          "Pleas'd shall he linger in her perfum'd bow'r,
          "Guide her soft hand to trace the mimic flow'r,
          "And in her winning smile those Graces find,
          "He can immortalize, to charm mankind."

Campaspe, we find, did not want to be given to Apelles. After hearing she is to be give up to Apelles her reaction is:
          With mute indignant pride Campaspe heard,
          This strange request from lips so dear preferr'd:
          Restrain'd her tears, repress'd her struggling sighs,
          Nor from the ground once rais'd her burning eyes:
          Reply'd with all the stillness of Despair,
          And mark'd the limit of existence there.
          Breathing,—not living,—from that fatal hour
          She sank in slow decay. The vernal flow'r,
          Thus sheds its silken blossoms on the earth.

This stanza seems to make is obvious that she preferred Alexander to Apelles, but throughout he first Canto, she doesn't accept his marriage proposal outright. This poem could have been a device for Trench to teach the female reader not to be a tease or coquette. By the end of the poem it seems Campaspe dies. It's not clear how she dies, but she apparently finds joy in death.

Other Poems

The two other poems in the book are a poem called "Death of Buonaparte," about the death of Napolean, and a very short poem called "On a Blush Rose." "Death Of Buonaparte" sums up the mixed emotions people felt about the leader. It refers to him as a "flaming minister of wrath", but it also says "thou didst impress intolerable awe". I'm not sure why Trench followed "Campaspe" with a poem about Napoleon, although it could be argued that she was comparing Napoleon with Alexander the Great. She talks about all the lands Napoleon conquered and that "the astonished world obeyed".

"On A Blush Rose" is a little poem about a rose, but it's obviously about a woman or maybe her daughter. It says that a rose is beautiful, but it eventually has to shrivel and die thus ending "silent sorrows". Maybe she's speaking of women's rights because Campaspe clearly didn't want to be given away, and many women of the 19th century did have to "suffer in silent sorrow".

In all Trench seems to be a very talented poet, and though she wasn't well known for her poetry; it is well arranged and very liquid in its verse.