The Progress of Art.

Oh happy time! — Art’s early days!

When o’er each deed, with sweet self-praise,

Narcissus-like I hung!

When great Rembrandt but little seemed,

And such Old Masters all were deemed

As nothing to the young!

Some scratchy strokes — abrupt¹ and few,

So easily and swift I drew,

Sufficed for my design;

My sketchy², superficial hand

Drew solids at a dash — and spanned

A surface with a line.

Not long my eye was thus content,

But grew more critical — my bent³

Essayed a higher walk;

I copied leaden eyes in lead —

Rheumatic hands in white and red,

And gouty feet — in chalk.

Anon my studious art for days

Kept making faces — happy phrase,

For faces such as mine!

Accomplished⁴ in the details then,

I left the minor⁵ parts of men,

And drew the form divine.

Old Gods and Heroes — Trojan — Greek,

Figures — long after the antique,

Great Ajax justly feared;

Hectors, of whom at night I dreamt,

And Nestor, fringed enough to tempt⁶

Bird-nesters to his beard.

A Bacchus, leering on a bowl,

A Pallas that out-stared her owl⁷,

A Vulcan — very lame⁹;

A Dian stuck about with stars,

With my right hand I murdered Mars —

(One Williams did the same).

But tired of this dry work at last,

Crayon and chalk aside I cast,

And gave my brush a drink!

Dipping —“as when a painter dips

In gloom of earthquake and eclipse,”—

That is — in Indian ink.

Oh then, what black Mont Blancs arose,

Crested¹⁰ with soot¹¹, and not with snows:

What clouds of dingy¹² hue¹³!

In spite of what the bard¹⁴ has penned,

I fear the distance did not “lend

Enchantment¹⁵ to the view.”

Not Radcliffe’s brush did e’er design

Black Forests half so black as mine,

Or lakes so like a pall⁸;

The Chinese cake dispersed¹⁶ a ray

Of darkness, like the light of Day

And Martin over all.

Yet urchin¹⁷ pride sustained me still,

I gazed on all with right good will,

And spread the dingy tint¹⁸;

“No holy Luke helped me to paint,

The devil surely, not a Saint,

Had any finger in’t!”

But colors came! — like morning light,

With gorgeous hues¹⁹, displacing night,

Or Spring’s enlivened scene:

At once the sable²⁰ shades withdrew;

My skies got very, very blue;

My trees extremely green.

And washed by my cosmetic²¹ brush,

How Beauty’s cheek began to blush;

With lock of auburn stain —

(Not Goldsmith’s Auburn)— nut-brown hair,

That made her loveliest of the fair;

Not “loveliest of the plain!”

Her lips were of vermilion hue:

Love in her eyes, and Prussian blue,

Set all my heart in flame!

A young Pygmalion, I adored

The maids I made — but time was stored

With evil — and it came!

Perspective dawned — and soon I saw

My houses stand against its law;

And “keeping” all unkept!

My beauties were no longer things

For love and fond imaginings;

But horrors to be wept!

Ah! why did knowledge ope my eyes?

Why did I get more artist wise?

It only serves to hint,

What grave defects and wants are mine;

That I’m no Hilton in design —

In nature no De Wint!

Thrice happy time! — Art’s early days!

When o’er each deed, with sweet self-praise,

Narcissus-like I hung!

When great Rembrandt but little seemed,

And such Old Masters all were deemed

As nothing to the young!

1 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

2 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

3 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

4 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 tempt   

vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣

参考例句：

• Nothing could tempt him to such a course of action.什么都不能诱使他去那样做。
• The fact that she had become wealthy did not tempt her to alter her frugal way of life.她有钱了，可这丝毫没能让她改变节俭的生活习惯。

7 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

8 pall   

v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕

参考例句：

• Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。
• I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。

9 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

10 crested   

adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点

参考例句：

• a great crested grebe 凤头䴙䴘
• The stately mansion crested the hill. 庄严的大厦位于山顶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

12 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

13 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

14 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

15 enchantment   

n.迷惑，妖术，魅力

参考例句：

• The beauty of the scene filled us with enchantment.风景的秀丽令我们陶醉。
• The countryside lay as under some dread enchantment.乡村好像躺在某种可怖的魔法之下。

16 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

17 urchin   

n.顽童；海胆

参考例句：

• You should sheer off the urchin.你应该躲避这顽童。
• He is a most wicked urchin.他是个非常调皮的顽童。

18 tint   

n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色

参考例句：

• You can't get up that naturalness and artless rosy tint in after days.你今后不再会有这种自然和朴实无华的红润脸色。
• She gave me instructions on how to apply the tint.她告诉我如何使用染发剂。

19 hues   

色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点

参考例句：

• When the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it. 太阳一出，更把它映得千变万化、异彩缤纷。
• Where maple trees grow, the leaves are often several brilliant hues of red. 在枫树生长的地方，枫叶常常呈现出数种光彩夺目的红色。

20 sable   

n.黑貂；adj.黑色的

参考例句：

• Artists' brushes are sometimes made of sable.画家的画笔有的是用貂毛制的。
• Down the sable flood they glided.他们在黑黝黝的洪水中随波逐流。

21 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！