Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Dryden wrote his first ode for the celebrations of Saint Cecilia’s Day in 1687 and ten years later, he presented the second ode. Saint Cecilia was considered a patron of music and musicians. In 1687, John Dryden presented A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day which was the first of the two odes written by him for the annual function of Saint Cecilia’s Day. The other more famous ode was Alexander’s Feast which he presented in 1697. Alexander; Feast proved to be Dryden’s most popular song. In his first ode, A Song for St. Cecilia, Dryden emphasized praising the various musical instruments and the human passions they aroused. In the second ode, Dryden specifically explains the power of music by describing the story of Alexander the Great, and Timotheus the musician. The poet expresses a sense of wonder towards Timotheus's ability to manipulate human emotion using music and compares it to Catholic martyr St. Cecilia.
Characters:
In the poem, Dryden tells the story of Alexander III of Macedon, King of Macedonia, Pharaoh of Egypt, King of Persia, and Lord of Asia in the 4th century BCE who throws a feast in Persepolis to celebrate and share his with his lady love Thais. Timotheus is a bard who performs at Alexander's feast at Persepolis. He sings in praise of Alexander and plays the music so well that it enchants Alexander and Thais. Through his music, Timotheus enrages Alexander and Thais against the people of Persepolis to such an extent that leads to Alexander's impulsive decision to burn down Persepolis. Temothius invokes Jove, the Roman god of sky and thunder, Olympia, mother of Alexander, Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and religious ecstasy, and Helen of Troy, wife of King Menelaus. Her abduction by Paris was the cause of the Trojan War. He also mentions and praises Darius III, the king of Persia in the 4th century BCE. He was defeated by Alexander the Great. Dryden then mentions Saint Cecilia who is believed to have created the first organ.
Analysis:
Alexander’s Feast is a narrative poem containing seven stanzas that can be divided into four parts. The first three stanzas (1 to 3) provide the backdrop to the poem’s narrative, as they describe the pleasure, hubris, and excess involved at the beginning of Alexander the Great’s celebration of his military success. In this part, king Alexander and his people are oblivious to their own vainglory. Timotheus takes them to greater heights with his expressive song. In the second part (stanzas 4 to 5), Timotheus detects the hubris rising in King Alexander and he transforms his into an elegy mourning the tragic death of King Darius, and then into a philosophical musing upon both the futility of war and the need for gratitude, love, and peace. Timotheus’s song is so touching and expressive that King Alexander, in response to the performance, cries for the death of Darius whom he conquered. In the third part (stanza 6), Timotheus again changes the subject of his song and reminds Alexander and Thais of the atrocities people of Persepolis. The intense music of the lyre played by Timotheus creates feelings of vengeance, anger, and violence. These sudden changes in the narrative prove the power of music as music can inspire a broad spectrum of emotions, ranging from joy and hubris to grief and gratitude to destructive, cathartic rage. It also proves how easily music can manipulate the emotions and actions of its listeners. The final part is stanza 7 in which the poet closes the poem by praising the ability of the bard Timotheus to inspire a variety of emotions. Rather than empathizing with either of the two opposing political forces (Macedonians and Persians), the poet identifies himself with the musician who demonstrates the ability to manipulate those in power as well as the masses of people under their rule. And then the poet suggests that an artist or art itself can hold destructive powers on the minds of listeners. Then Dryden champions Christianity over Paganism and suggests that while Timotheus was a pagan, St. Cecilia, being a pious Christian musician is technically and spiritually superior musician.
Summary:
The first stanza sets the scene, with Alexander described as “The godlike hero” and Thais as “like a blooming Eastern bride / In flow’r of youth and beauty’s pride.” The four brief lines preceding the chorus fill with a celebratory tone:
Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,
None but the brave,
None but the brave deserves the fair.
In the second stanza, the poet introduces Timotheus the bard. He plays his lyre with “flying fingers,” his music ascending to the heavens, where it inspires joy. Lush imagery recreates the journey of Jove, moved by love in “A dragon’s fi ery form” and riding “on radiant spires” to Olympia. He then “stamp’d an image of himself, a sov’reign of the world,” and the audience assumes that the stamp is Alexander. Jove’s act, according to the chorus, “seems to shake the spheres,” a comparison of the warrior prince’s birth to a portent. The third stanza praises Bacchus, the god of celebration and drink. The celebration that Dryden describes followed Alexander’s attack on the Persian capital city of Persepolis. The original story stresses the greed of the looting soldiers, who lost all control in their thievery and the destruction of priceless treasures. Timotheus foreshadows the increased destruction that will follow the drunken debauchery, as he sings,
Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure;
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure
Sweet the pleasure after pain.
In the fourth stanza, the poet changes the subject as Timotheus recalls that “the King grew vain, / Fought all his battles o’er again,” and describes Alexander, as three times “he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew / the slain.” He sings of the madness of battle that challenged Alexander, the passion for war eventually softened by pity for Darius, the Persian ruler. At that point, Alexander “the joyless victor sat” as he considered chance, suggesting that he might have been in Darius’s place if not for fate, and he weeps. Stanza 5 celebrates the softening of the mighty master as “pity melts the mind to love.” Timotheus sings that war “is toil and trouble, / Honour but an empty bubble,” and he urges Alexander to consider that “If the world is worth thy winning, / Think, O think it worth enjoying.” He reminds the ruler of his lovely bride, and then:
The Prince, unable to conceal his pain,
Gaz’d on the fair Who caused his care,
And sighed and look’d, sigh’d and look’d,
Sigh’d and look’d, and sigh’d again;
At length, with love and wine at once oppress’d,
The vanquish’d victor sunk upon her breast.
Alexander remained undefeated in the battleground but fell under Thais' control. She in return, like many other women in classic stories, will co-opt the power of the male, tempting men with the passions she arouses to do as she bids them.
In the 7th stanza, the poet changes the tone again. Timotheus describes the prince awakening as he hears the lyre, amazed to “See the Furies arise! / See the snakes that they rear,” with the ghastly sights explained as ghosts of those slain in battle. Traditionally, women who haunted men, the Furies symbolize Thais in her control of Alexander, while the snakes suggest the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden that led to original sin. Dryden’s audience would have been familiar with the story of Thais’ tempting Alexander to burn Persepolis, after his men’s drunken looting of its riches. Thais led a procession of warriors and women to the accompaniment of flutes and pipes, as if in a grand celebration, and convinced Alexander to hurl his torch into the city. Her torch followed, and then hundreds of others, and the once-glorious city was destroyed. In Dryden’s ode Thais “led the way” of the revenging king “to light him to his prey / And like another Helen fir’d another Troy.” The reference to Helen also reflects on the power of women to stir men’s passions, even to war. That Thais used instruments during her “parade” to the city also suggests the power of music to stir passions, helping to overcome the strength of even the great Alexander.
In the 7th stanza, Dryden discusses St. Cecilia, the spiritual, pious, patroness of music.
Enlarg’d the former narrow bounds
And added length to solemn sounds
With nature’s mother-wit and arts unknown before.
Or both divide the crown;
He rais’d a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down.
The “narrow bounds” she enlarges with her music are those tied to the ability of mere mortals to make music. Where Timotheus praises the mortal, Alexander, raising his name to the heights reserved for celebrated individuals, St. Cecilia’s music is so powerful that it tempts heavenly creatures to descend to earth.
So, this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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