New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-27


Wasted and worn, and but 1.-THE Of them,
and one after another is called upon for his tale one
only-Lancelot, the trusted the brave the lover OF
the queen-here speaks at length. With shame ana
remorse his better nature struggling with his sn nc
tells Arthur how he had sworn to take part IN the
search only with the hope that could he touch OF see
the Holy Grail he might overcome
90 strange OF such n kind, that ali Of pure
Noble and knightly in me twined ann cl9 aao
And poisonous grew together, each as each,
Not to be puekd asunder'
But it was only for those already pure Of heart
that Heaven vouchsafcd the favor which he sought.
He comes to an enchanted castle In whose topmost
tower a sweet voice is heard singing
Glory and 10Y and honor to our Lord
And 10 the Holy Vessel OF the Grail"
he bursts open the door; stormy glare, as from q
seven tmes-heated furnace, strikes him down;
O, yet methought saw the Holy Grail,
All palrd In crimson samIte, and around
Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes
And but for all my madness ana my sin,
And then my swoOning, had sworn saw,
That which / saw; but what saw was valid
And coverd and this quest was not Tor me-
With a welcome sobered by regret for the brave
knights who, following wandering fires" come
back no more, by tender reproach for the wasted
DAYS and duties neglected and by solemn anticipa-
tons of the approaching time when his own work
shall be over, tho king addresses his assembled
the hall, followed by the praises and loving
words of his injured lord. So ends poem
into which TennysOn has crowded greater
number Of highly finished pictures than can readily
be found in any other production OF his muse, except
perhaps the idyll of Elaine" It's beauties are too
delicate its wording is too minutely perfect to be APP
preciated without close study, andts clumsy arrange
ment and singuary loose texture will rob it, at first
reading of many charms that rghfully belong to it,
For all that we believe it will be at once placed
among the poets most charming works.
The story of "Pelleas and Ettarre," which follows
this is not pleasant in itself Ii is the story OF
dear young knight who is made the paything OF
heartless woman. For her he wins circlet in the
jousts ,
Puts his own baseness In him by default
or will aud nature, did Pelleas lend
All the Young beauty OF his own soul to hers
and he held her as lovely and glorious Guineverc,
who to his innocent mind is peerless among women.
When Ettarre, having no more use for him, casts
him Off he believes that she only tests his constancy;
when she sends three knights to kill him, he believes
that she tests his prowcss and he oyerhrows them.
Gawain offers 10 get admission 10 her castle and
soften her heart Pclleas restless and inpatient
follows by night to Ettarres garden and finds her
asleep in the arms of his faithess friend, with the
circlet on her brow. lie takes the sword which he
has won in the same tournament,
and seeing them yet In sleep
Your sleep Is death aud The sword and thought
And sworn me to this Motherhood" again.
Alas that knight should be so false"
Then turn'd. and returnd, and groanng Laid
The naked sword athwart their naked ihroab,
There lett IL, and them sleeping; and she lay,
The circlet OF the tourney round her brOws,
And the sword OF the tourney across her throat
Riding away in the agony Of his grief, he hears
the FIRST rumor of Guineyeres crime, and is dashed
into fury Of honest rage in the midst Of which he
Tushes blindly. unarmed, upon Lancelot, and Is
speedily overthrown. Both combatants seek the
palace and entor the hall together, when Peeas
cast himself
Down on n bench hardbrcatbing
The Queen questions them. .,,
She askd Of Iancelot "Ay. my Queen" he said
And thou hast overthrowIi him ~ 'Ah. my Queen"
Then She turning 10 Pelleas. :. o young knight,
Han The gsat heart d 81 sogs1SS2G n thee d
A fall from hilnig Then, for he answered not.
May help them loose thy tongue aud let me know"
Bat Pelleas lifted mp an eye so fierce
spranc nom the door into The dark The Queen
Look'd hard upon her lover, he ON herr
And each fOrcsaw the doorOus day 20 be;
Aud all talk died, az IN grove all song
Beneath the shadow Of some bnd OF prey, q.
Then u long silence upon the hail. .
And MOdred thought " The time i hard at hand"
The best parts of tins short idyll are those which
describe the boyish faith of Polleas his utterly
worthless mistress. It's principal merit Is the almost
Homeric simplicity Of the language. The catastro-
Pie which il limited IN the closing lines forDs,
readers well know. the subj ect of the dyof Guno-
verep which in the new arrangement follows Z" Pei
leas and Ettarre." TO that succeeds "The Passing
of Arthur" Mr.. Tennyson has added about ono
hundred and fifty verses at the beginning of
this admirable poem, and twenty four at the
close; but the alterations arc not suni-
~. ant IN In il
place Of poem which is 80 well known and so gen
orally admired. ..I
Whether the series Of Idly lis Of the King is to be
carried any further we do not know bnt IL must
be evident that the subject is by exhausted
and there is no good why the laureate should
not pursue il long he peases In the matter of
style he has surpassed these three new poems,
aud the simplicity Of dicton which he has Guilt
waited 70 carefully Of late years here becomes
more exqnisitely and beautifully polished than in
any of his previous writings. There is hardly
trace Of the obscurity Of Thought, the ancfulness
OF conceit. the forced quaiDtness of expression
which arc TO be found in many of the poems pub
lished before 1882 The thought Is as simple the
style, and the tendency TO philosophical reflection
which Tcnnyson used 80 often to pnsh 10 extremes,
is here checked with most heroic resolution. Yet to
predict how these poems will BIO rated by pos
terity, Is by no means easy. We believe that
Tennysons genius reached its fullest development
many years ago, and sinco then the heavenly spark
has been growing slowly fainter and fainter, while
he has gradually elaborated and purified his power
of expression until IL has become well nigh perfect.
There is no single passage in the new idylls which
indicates power of reaching higher realms of inn
agination than he has attained before;
there Is certainly no indication Of increased
of loft md