XXXIII
attempted this passage has proved that it is the cross of versifiers; and he who could carry it, without being put to shame, need not despair of accomplishing what must still be considered as a desideratum— a version of the Psalms, which shall not (on the whole) disappoint every reader. That such is all but impossible may be inferred from one case.—The 137th Psalm is one of the most poetical in imagery and diction; therefore one of the fittest for metrical arrangement. Now this has been oftener essayed than any other, by poets of the highest talents, from Lord Surrey, in the sixteenth century, downwards; yet all have laboured in vain, and spent their strength for nought; as may be seen by turning over the multitudinous volumes of Chambers's British Poets, as well as the countless collections of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs by versifiers of all ranks.
The prime cause of miscarriage in every attempt to paraphrase scripture passages appears to be, that, in order to bring them within the rules of rhyme and metre, all that the poet introduces of his own becomes alloy, which debases the standard of the original. On the contrary, when he adorns a train of his private thoughts with scripture images and ideas, or interweaves with his own language, scripture phrases, that fall without straining into his verse, the latter is illustrated and enriched by the alliance or the amalgamation. In a word, divine themes are necessarily degraded by human interpolations; while human compositions are necessarily exalted by the felicitous introduction of sacred allusions. This is a secret of which few that have meddled with the perilous and delicate subject have been aware. A single verse, in each way, will probably make the point clear.
Olney Hymns, Book ii, Hymn 74.
