e _Eclogues_ and
the _Owle_ are omitted; and in 1606 he published his _Poemes Lyrick and
Pastorall_, _Odes_, _Eglogs_, _The Man in the Moone_. Of these the
_Eglogs_ are a recension of the _Shepherd's Garland_ of 1593: we have
already spoken of _The Man in the Moone_. The _Odes_ are by far the most
important and striking feature of the book. In the preface, Drayton
professes to be following Pindar, Anacreon, and Horace, though, as he
modestly implies, at a great distance. Under the title of _Odes_ he
includes a variety of subjects, and a variety of metres; ranging from an
_Ode to his Harp_ or _to his Criticks_, to a _Ballad of Agincourt_, or a
poem on the Rose compared with his Mistress. In the edition of 1619
appeared several more Odes, including some of the best; while many of
the others underwent careful revision, notably the _Ballad_. 'Sing wee
the Rose,' perhaps because of its unintelligibility, and the Ode to his
friend John Savage, perhaps because too closely imitated from Horace,
were omitted. Drayton was not the first to use the term _Ode_ for a
lyrical poem, in English: Soothern in 1584, and Daniel in 1592 had
preceded him; but he was the first to give the name popularity in
England, and to lift the kind as Ronsard had lifted it in France; and
till the time of Cowper no other English poet showed mastery of the
short, staccato measure of the Anacreontic as distinct from the Pindaric
Ode. In the _Odes_ Drayton shows to the fullest extent his metrical
versatility: he touches the Skeltonic metre, the long ten-syllabled line
of the _Sacrifice to Apollo_; and ascends from the smooth and melodious
rhythms of the _New Year_ through the inspiring harp-tones of the
_Virginian Voyage_ to the clangour and swing of the _Ballad of
Agincourt_. His grammar is possibly more distorted here than anywhere,
but, as Mr. Elton says, 'these are the obstacles of any poet who uses
measures of four or six syllables.' His tone throughout is rather that
of the harp, as played, perhaps, in Polesworth Hall, than that of any
other instrument; but in 1619 Drayton has taken to him the lute of Carew
and his compeers. In 1619 the style is lighter, the fancy gayer, more
exquisite, more recondite. Most of his few metaphysical conceits are to
be found in these later Odes, as in the _Heart_, the _Valentine_, and
the _Crier_. In the comparison of the two editions the nobler, if more
strained, tone of the earlier is obvious; it is still Elizabethan, in