Trench Campaspe Essay KS

— 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

Before the preface, there is a letter from a mother to her daughter, which is presumably a letter from Mrs. Trench to her only daughter. In this letter, the mother writes how she hopes that by reading Campaspe her daughter will be able to remember how affectionate she was towards her. The "mother" also writes how she hopes that her daughter does all that she can to learn and express her mind by reading as much as possible. This introductory letter is dated July 22, 1815.

The preface offers a brief description of what the poem is about. It also explains how Melesina came to the conclusion, after she finished Campaspe, that her choice was injudicious when it came to using the words "Glory," "Beauty," and "Genius," because she felt that these words were better suited for "a more powerful hand than mine" (6).

The poem itself is the tale of traumatic love that actually ends on a good note. Apelles, a friend the Alexander's family, is at war and is sentenced to death. His love at home, Campaspe, is sad that Apelles is at war and constantly worries about him. Trench writes of Campaspe,
           Fast fell Campaspe's, as o'ercome by fears,
           And waking day dreams of consuming love;
           Omens of ill in ev'ry sound she hears
           And seeks the darkest shadows of the grove,
           To nurse the secret pang divided lovers prove (18).
Here, Campaspe is divided between her father and her lover. Campaspe's father, Alexander is the leader of the army and has the power to decide whether Apelles will live or die. Alexander decides to let Apelles live:
           . . .And here, he cries, shall live Apelles' mind
           Through rolling ages, here delight mankind" (27). It is not out of love, but out of friendship to Apelles, that Alexander surrenders Campaspe to Apelles and spares his life. Trench writes,
           Friend of my soul! let dear APELLES live
           In all the joys CAMPASPE'S love can give (31).
And later on Trench also explains that "...Traitor to Love, — but true to Friendship's laws," was what was going through Alexander's mind when he decided to spare Apelles life (32).

Campaspe's mother, Larissea, is very compassionate and deeply loves her daughter, and vice versa. When Campaspe was worrying about Apelles, she knew that her mother would be there for her. Trench writes this about Campaspe's thoughts:
           Though veil'd, she knew the form, so dear,
           Of one, who liv'd for her alone;
           One in whom all the mother shone:
           And as some bird alarm'd, opprest,
           Flutt'ring seeks shelter in its nest,
           She sank on LARISSEA'S breast;
           While the fond parent throws her veil
           O'er that fair face, now coldly pale (13).

Campaspe is divided into three cantos. It is divided somewhat like the scenes of a play. This style of writing makes it easier to follow the plot of the poem, although the descriptive breaks between the sections of the dialogues sometimes seemed to have nothing to do with the poem's plot.

The first canto tells about the start of the war that Campaspe's father and lover must fight. It is also revealed in the first canto that Campaspe's mother, Larissea, is very important to both her daughter and her husband, Alexander.

The second canto tells how Apelles, at war, is constantly thinks about his love, Campaspe, and has dreams about her at night. Once he has visions of Campaspe in his head, he is then able to fall asleep,
...And in the arms of Sleep, serenely prest,
His death-like trance is chang'd to renovating rest" (25).

The third canto describes Alexander's decision to surrender Apelles, as well as Campaspe's reaction to his decision. Trench writes,
          With mute indigant 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,
           Transferr'd by hands unconscious of its worth,
           Thus sheds its silken blossoms on the earth. (33).
Here, Campaspe, so frazzled at the thought of losing her love and with a withered mind from thinking about it so much, cannot even move her eyes from the ground to her father; all she can do is cry tears that "sheds its silken blossoms on the earth" (33).

Throughout the poem nature is used prominently. One of the more striking stanzas is the following:
           Through fields of ether, pregnant with perfume,
           Here, to her flow'ry task, the bee is led:
           The sportive kid selects the tender bloom
           Of aromatic sweets, profusely spread,
           His playful youth on citron blossoms fed:
           In shade her love-tun'd note the turtle sings:
           While, drunk with vernal joy, above her head
           From cliff to cliff, the goat exulting springs,
           Till, like a speck of snow, on highest point he clings (18).
Here Trench is describing how Apelles feels towards Campaspe in reference to how a bee feels when it has found the sweet nectar from a flower.

Campaspe is followed by two minor, short poems. The first poem is called "On Hearing A Report Of The Death Of Buonaparte." This poem reflects on Bonaparte's attempt to rule the world. Trench gives him credit for accomplishing all that he did, but she concludes that in the end all bad things come to an equally bad end, even when the world still remains impressed:
           Thy keen and penetrating soul,
           Temper'd to conquer and control,
           Thy pow'rful glance, that measur'd Earth
           As thine inheritance by birth;
           Thy scornful smile, — thy searching eyes,—
           We might detest, but not despise (36).
Trench also mentions her astonishment or wonderment about how Bonaparte was able to compel so many people to do what he wanted them to do:
           ...Nor had thy hand that sceptre sway'd,
            Which half th' astonish'd world obey'd" (38).

The second minor poem following Campaspe is called "On A Blush Rose." This poem is about the beginning and end of love. Like a flower with its petals closed, the feelings of love between two people are enclosed within themselves:
           ...And that within thy bloom, hapless flow'r,
           Remains conceal'd from ev'ry human eye" (39).
Also, just as the freshness of a flower dies, so comes the death or end of a love:
           ...Such was her freshness,such her bloom,—
           So did her silent sorrows end" (40).

I enjoyed the fact that Trench placed these two poems at the end. The way that Campaspe ended, without our really knowing exactly what happened to Campaspe and Apelles in the future left me wanting more. These two poems at the end, although not explicitly related to Campaspe, gave me some kind of closer. I think Melesina Trench chose two poems that both complemented and completed the first one.