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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.
Prepared by Jessica Kubick, University of Nebraska, December 2004.
© Jessica Kubick, 2004.