The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-10
NEW BOOKS.

MylS Of the King. BY ALFRED TENNYsoN. Boston Tick
nor L Fields. For sale by Cushings & Bailey.
The London AtheR@um does not hesitate to pro
nounce the present Mr.. TENNYsoN's chest and most
"arstic work., claiming tn at in the cluster of po-
contained in this volume, the Poet has done for
the cold mass of Arthurian legend" what HOMER
did with the "myths of the classic time" Certain
ly, none of the Laureate's previous effusons have
the same completeness of design, or present the
same artistic finish in execution. The present po
ems are four in number, each having story of its
own-taken from the legendary h STORY of King
ARTHUR and his Knights, and constituting together
Epical picture grand and harmonious, of the old
heroic time when the '.blameless King the selaess
oman, the stainless gentleman
The knighthood Grant of his realm and all
The realms together under him, their Head,
In that fair order of the Table Round,
glorious company, the flower of men,
To serve as model for the mighty world,
And be the fair beginning Of a time
The King himself, and great Sir LANcELor the
mightiest Of the Knights, and MERLIN,
Him, the most famous man Of all those times
who knew the range of all their arts,
| Had built the King his Ravens ships and halls,
Was also Bard and knew the starry heavens
The people called him wiZard
and GUINEvERE, the beauteous but sinful Queen; and
-''lissome Yivien, of hercourt
| Inc widest ana the worst
and ENID
-''whom her ladies loved to cali
Enid the Fair -
but IA grateful people named Enid the Good, +" and
brave Sir GERATNT; and ELAINE, the fair
-"Elaine the lovable
Elaine the lily maid of Astolat--''
these are some of the personages whom in gor-
geous procession, with music and minstrelsy, in
summer suit and silks of holiday, and shining ar
NOR, and with art more subtle than that of MER-
Inns self, Mr.. TENNYsoN brings upon the stage
A tournament by Camelot in the meadow; a maiden
in ruined Hall, singing $50 decately clear that
her voice made the listener
-elike man abroad at morn
When first the liquid note beloved of men
Comes flying many windy
To Britain, and in April suddenly
Breaks from coppice gemmed with green and red,
And he suspends his converse with friend,
Or it may be the labor of his hands,
| To think or say, There is the nightingale "
a combat with three robbers in the wood, ambushed,
wholly armed, behind rock in shadow feast
in a robber-hold, where
- all the hall was dim with steam of flesh"
and amid the spearmen there 1uttered in
Hafbold, halffrighted with dilated eyes, -
A tribe of women, dressed in many hues,
And none spake word, but all sat down at once,
| And ate with tumult in the naked hall,
Feeding like horses when you hear them feed ,;
barge 'palled all its length in blacklist samte
and on whose silent deck there lay fair young
corpse,
.... - all her bright hair streaming down
And all the coverlid was cloth of gold o.. f, .
Drawn TO her waist, and she herself in white
All but her face, and that clear-feat ured face
| Was lovely, for she did not dead
But fast asleep, and lay as though she smiled
these are some of the pictures, which, with brush
1;nt, ~ Ill H. 81 Al. -
shadows deeper than those of night, Mr. TENNYsoN
spreads upon the canvas. In none of his previous
works, the poets powers of graphic description
more grandly illustrated-more lavishly exerted
AS painter of natural scenery, of sunlight and
| shadow-of grey boulder and black tarn-of Itch
ened erags and bushless d6wns-ruined castles and
pavilions bright-the idyls abound with examples
of his skill. Take, for instance the following
vigorous sketch of thistle-grown castle-court
''Here stood shattered archway plumed with fern,
And here had fall'na great part Of tower, .a
Whole, like crag that tumbles from the cliff, a--
And like crag was gay with wilding flowers .
And high above piece of turret stair, f.-F
Worn by the feet that now were silent, wound
Bare to the sun, and monstrous ivystems
Claspt the gray walls with hairy fbred arms,
| And suck'd the joining of the stones, and LOOKED
knot, beneath, of snakes, aloft, grove"
Sometimes the poet substitutes the art Of the
sculptor for that of the Inner How perfectly
statuesque, for example, is the following descrip-
tion of warrior sleeping
s-..... THE new sun 5s.
Beat through the blindless easement of the room
And heated the strong warrior ia his dreams;
Who, moving, cast the coverlet aside,
And barred the knotted column of his throat,
The massive square of his heroic breast, T-
And arms which the standing muscle sloped,
As slopes wild brook DER little stone, ...
| Running too yehemently to break upon it," --.
II the foregoing sketch and statue illustrate,
each after its kind, Mr. TENNYsoSs skill in the de-
scription of familiar and natural objects-an ivy
crowned ruin and strong man dreaming in his
sleep-the following deserves o be presented as an
evidence of his power in painting the Unseen, the
Weird and the Supernatural. 1t is picture of
faery-land, than which nothing more exquisite can
be found in the whole range of imaginative poetry
A little maid is telling how the Elfn-folk-the
Spirits of Land and Sea testified joy and gladness
at the nuptials of ARTHUR and GUINEvERE ,.t
"Yea but know: the land was flu of signs
And wonders ere the coming of the Queen.
! So said my father, and himself was knight
of the great Fable-at the founding oft ''
And rode thereto from Lyonnesse, ana he said
That as he rode, an hour or maybe twain .ft'
After the sunset, down the coast, he heard
Strange music, and he paused and turning-thefe,
/ All down the lonely coast Of Lyonnesse, 1881
Each with beacon-star upon hi head,
And with wild sealight about his feet,
He saw them-headland after headland flame
/ Far on into the rich heart of the west: fa'tt-.
And in the light the Wnlte mermalden sWaul-
And strong man breasted things stood from the sea
And sent deep sea-yoice thro' all the land
Towhich the little elves ofchasm and cleft r4 ,ai
i Made answer, sounding like dist horn
/ SO said my father-yea and furthermore,
Next morning, while he passed the d m lit woods,
| Himself beheld three spirits mad withjoy at
| Come dashng down a tall waysde flower, 4Hf=a
That shook beneath them, as the thistle shakes
I When three gray linnets wrangle for the seed
And still at evenings before his horse "a a,t
| The Pickering fairy circle wheeled and broke ~
/ rlying, and .ink'd again, and wheeled and broke
| Flying for all the land was full OF life. t
And when at last he came to Cameot 81 iil t3lI3
! d wreath of airy dancers hand in hand e "a "a
/ Swung round the lighted lantern of the hail
And in the hall itself was such feast - = 4'''Ai.
1 AS never man had dream'd :for every knight 'a5
Had whatsoever meat he longd for served saihidG
| BY hands unseen and as he said
Down in the cellars merry bloated things H9A
ShouIder'd the spigot, straddling the butts sg0
/ While the wine ran: SO glad were spirits and men
Before the coming of the sinful Queen.n d3evy4