The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1861-01-23
Bayard TayIOr's Interview with
TennySOnN

I r. 2
We take from the Independent the fol-
lowing interesting description Of a poet
whose personal appearances aud traits are
as little known as his writings are widely
loved and potent in their influence on the
new era of English song. Baysrd Taylor
thus narrates the story Of delicious after.
noon passed on the Islo Of Wight:
The servant ushered me into the drawing
room and took my card to Tennyson. In
few minutes the poet entered, and with an
utter absence of formality, which at once
made ne feel entirely Ot home, walked up to
me and shook hands in the most cordial man.
ner. Although knowing that it must be him,
yet so different was he in appearance from
j all the pictures had seen OF heard of him,
Fl could scarcely believe that I actually stood
in his presence. Lqwrence's head does not
give you the slightest idea of the man. 1t
is altogether fainter, weaker, and quite m iss.
es the Characteristic feature of his face-a
nose royal acquiline curve, as fine as that
of Dante or an Arab sheik. The engrav-
ing from Woolner's medallion in Moxon's
illustrated edition Of his poems (Which /
had not then seen) is much more cor
rect.
In form and voice, Tennyson is a thor.
ough Englshman /; in features, complexion
and hair, a medieval Italian. His presenc.
impresses you with singular mixture OF
northern force and southern fire. Ho is
fully six feet high, broad shouldered and
large limbed, yet with black hair and eyse,
a pale olive complexion. full lips and
black beard and mustachc. Power is ex-
pressed in every feature. His voice is re-
msrkably full snd grand in tone, with lit.
tie Of that monotony which ootrays mind
withdrawn and absorbed in its own specua
tons. should Judge him TO be one Of the
least demonstrative men, yet you would pick
him out of crowd of ten thousand as the
wisest man among them, before he opened
his lips.
After | had made the acquaintance Of bis
wife, and two lovely boys, about FIVE and
three years old, hO promised 10 walk along
the clifs. We clined the steep down end
wandered westward along the sunny heights,
while B. lmy wind blew directly from the
Azores, and the blue waves broke ldzily
hundreds OF feet below. Tennyson describ.
ed to me the geology Of the Island; spoke
of the great river which, before the Atlantic
ocean existed, flowed thousand miles from
fthe westy and emptiad haFs; tesasihad
the fossils of the chafi, formation picked up
thyme, and daises and century, and gave
me botanical information, touching now and
then on art, and poetry and law, and reli-
giOn, with quiet earnestness that showed
that he was no superficial thinker. There
re few brighter afternoons in my memory.
The air was full Of light, and the chalky
headIands cleaned like snow in the sun
shine, and when, at last, we reached the
extreme head points on the Needles, Alum
Bay, on our right, opened its crescent pink,
and red, and orange, and violet tints-the
delight of artists. t.. ...
Returning, toward evening, from a wall
of some seven or eight miles, he took me
into bis garden which was musky with the
bresth of roses. A large, trailing fg-tree
which, he said, the artists compared to q
bleaking wave, stood in the midst. We
were presently summoned to dinner, where
met his aged mother, his brother, Mr
Horatio Tennyson, and bis sister with her
husband, Professor Lushngton. Afterwards
we retired to pipes in his attic study, wher
the words of poets Of the past generation
were mingled with the smoke rin9lets c
/ the fragrant herb. An after dinner conver
J. sation is sacred, but will tell you littl
incident which then related to the poet
He had been speaking of DR.. Kane, une II
grettiDg that he had not seen him during hi
last brist visit to England. 'Iregret it to 10
g said I, "because Kane had little story fc
!. you which had from him, and will give 20
J. in his stead. During that terrible secon
O Winter in the ice, when he was obliged I
a invest all kinds OF diversions to keep up tn
!, spirits Of bis survived and famishei crew, h
Q gave them the use of his library. One da
y he found the hardest and toughest of h
10 men-one Of the most sturdy old salts WI
e never finch at anything crying over bool
}. He took the book out of the mans hand, ar
!, looked at the open page upon which h
: tears were dropping. 1t was your.
!. "Break, break, break
a At the foot Of the crags, o seal"
- During the conversation, Tennyson refel
red to a statement then in circulation in II
=. newspapers, that his poems were wrtt'
=. under the influence Of opium. He was Mt
- uralIy indignant at the story. 81 new
% tasted opium but once" said he, "and tn
=. was at Cambridge, in company with son
:, College friends, after reading Quincy
8, book"
returned to Freshwa:er at midnight, b
Joined the family at breakfast the next NOR
ing, and passed the forenoon on the law
beside the cedars Of Lebanon in compar
er with Tennyson, and his brother.in law.
IN the depth and richness of the poets know
edge, saw the evidence of that severe al
8. conscientious study, without which thei
1