A Study of the Works of Alfred Tennyson, D.C.L., Poet Laureate
Journal: Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens Kew)
Year: 2011

all.A story or a character falls upon the mind of the poet, and sets it in vibration ; the vibration rendered audible is a lyric.The subject-matter is essential to set the poet's mind moving and to give a direction to that movement, but for this only is it necessary.Hence the lyric is, as nearly as possible, the expression, pure and simple, of the poet's personality.For what a man abstracted from the outer life by the power of imagination in action feels, that he really is.Not a man's thoughts,