Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-08-09
From the London Illustrated Nevs I
shnFP Cr1ticism on Tennyson,n New


Tennyson has not much to saw, exeent 70 Oreon
g'rls about to be, or just emancipated from the
oreau and butter and the pinafore of the board
ihS schools, or to the btlSes of literature. for
"hom wholesome Shakespeare and Milton have
no no zest- He gave promise of better things
II MS collected poems published in 1912 awakened
inc nope that great poet had arisen amongst
US. II nc had published no more than these
Two volumes his fame would have lived. like
ehat OF Burns, Shelley and Keats. not so much
lUr W "hat he had done, as for the rich promise OF
tnat ne seemed likely to do in the fuller maturity
VI MS powers. But since that time his every
step mas been downward. His "In Memorian,"
W was all but equal to his earlier poems. "The
Princess" was weak and puerile not even nm tn
the standard of the circulatinn library TJis
Maud was still flatter and more unproitable
AND now we have his "Idylls of the Kino !"
winch coteric Of critics will puff. which fash.
enable people will buy and affect to admire nnd
winch Will never reach, except in the echoes of
'ne newspapers, the great heart and understand
VI cue c men ot England. The men of England,
III Iact, are aVerSe from poetry, because poetry
or rather verse which nasquerades in the dis.
su'Se OF poetry-iS no longer written for men
or !, even for women, but for girls and raw BOYS
Inc poetry OF our fathers and forefathers was
Wl"e OF the right vintage; that of the present
age, with some few exceptions, is sugar and
water, without pith and spirit.
The tIdylls of the King" are four enisodos IN
the cpica history of King Arthur, and are sever.
ally named Enid "Vivien," elaine" and
"Guinevere." They have all the we'll know
characteristics OF the author-his delicate mod
uiatlon and melody Of Language; his skilIf1l
mastery OF our noble English tongue: his adm,i.
rabIe revival Of old words, which he uses in snch
manner as to make us forget that they have
ever become obsolete, and to make us determine
that they shall never again become so. His
manner is exquisite, but his matter is for the
most part, not exactly childish but eirliSh. and
bearing as little relation to the true poetry of the
high order as Ncrdi's operas to the music of the
spheres. The first story, entitled enid" reads
like one OF the fairy tales of Euans Christian An
dcrssen, only 1t is neither so original nor so
natural The lady Enid, whose faded silk dress
and whose right to appear in a more befttinc
costume are the main agonieS of the poem, is
welded to lord who becomes jealous of her
from overhearing the fag end of a sentence which
she uttered when he was half asleep ard OUGHT
not to have liStcnd to her. In consequence, he
subjects her to n series OF silly ndignities which
II they did not create amusement in the reader
might excite indignation against so stupid hus.
band, but which Mr. TennySon details with the
most marvellous simplicity and good faith The
whole plot turns upon her dress" He orders
her out into the wildS, in her ''meanest suit :"
with strict INDUCTION not to speak to her. he fol-
lowing on horseback -
Through marches, and by bandit-haunt holds,
gray sWamps and POOLS waste PLACES of the hern,
ana HltirrhesSeS, periloU5 paths they
Round was their race at first, hut slackeued soon:
a stranger meeting them had surely thought,
nhey roue SO slowly and they looked pale,
Ihat each had suffered some exceeding wrong,
For he was ever saving to himself,
~ that had wasted time TO tend upon her,
To compass her with observances
10 dress her 6eG UtjfIILy and Keep her true"