, 1873-03-23
TENNYSOiI.

future number.
= TENNYSON.
The New Edition of the stEly1s of til.
I1ing.''
0 From the London Spectator,
. That the reading public processes itself weary
81 the theme Of these 1dyls we well know Til
= literary class is BY nature impatient. ASKING fol
new things, and can Ill endure to ba present at
the making Of q great poem, especially when The
artist molds his work according to the guidance
, OF his own genius,-here bit of the brow, and
there bit of the foot, here upIfted arm
and there the parted Ips,-and lots the by
stander see the elements in detail before they
are all harmonized in the unity Of the perfect
work. There can bo no doub: that Mr. Ten
nTson q own generation would have understood
the grandeur aud beauty OF his great poem far
better if his fourteen years work had never been
seon by us TIL now, aud then seen as whole. It
has beon mlsjudged through tho iIlperfcc.ion Of
the readers vi:..on, through the elowness Of his
sympathy to 60 back and re-read ali that he had
once read IN its proper relation to the new ele-
ments added, and through the susceptibility Of
| his literary pride, when he was asked to recon-
sider from perfectly now poiut Of view mat
ter that he had mentally closed. We do not
| doubt for q moment that those who shall form
| their first conceptions Of the 1dyls Of the
| very great advantage over Mr.. Tennyson's
contemporaries for the proper judgment OF tue
poem, aud will understand its unity Of purpose,
| and enter into the stately march Of its tragic
story far more rividly than those who beginning
! By praising tho beauty Of four highly-inished
cabinet pictures were conpeiled-with the
| sort OF reluctance which literary
| preposseseions always oppose to m ealarging
conception-to admit that Mr. Tennyson had
been brooding over a much greater theme than
whether he had succeeded or failed. In the
present form Of the ldy1s, no one can doubt for
moment that a1r. Tennyson has aimed at e1-
| hibiting, under rcry finely moulded form Of the
that divine End militant k,ndliness which alone
makes men free, and the story OF its gradual re-
lection and final Fepudiation By the world OF
senee aud passion. 'He has done this, Of course,
chiefly IN relation to the chivalric ideal OF king
linesst in which there WIS NO slight dash
Of the sensuous mysticism Of relg-
ious vision; but he has throughout main
tanned the authority Of tic truly spiritual ele-
equ2nimity aud magnhnimity, a comEosure
amidst the sensuous escitements Of religious
emotion. and sad serenity amidst the onsat Of
the darkest doubts, which make him much moro
than the ideal Hing OF the special age Of chralry,
though the form of character is suggested By
that age. No great poera into whatever mould
OF the past it is poured, can help being pene-
tra:ed By the ideas of the poets own age; Para
great poem Of English Puritanism; Goethe's
''Faust" was in no eense MEDIEVAL, it Vas the
great poem OF modern Teutonic aspirations; and
70 Tennyson's - 1dyls Of the King. though it may
not quite compare with these in strength and
volume OF its poetic current, is in no sense q
poem OF mcdiiEral chiyalry; it is the great poem
of English loyalty, loyalty not so mpch to tho
conscience, though M1. Tennyson himself SAYS
so, ,as to the perfect human will, the Eil which
truly obeys the conscience and asserts its own
divine right to rule BY virtue OF its strength
and fidelity to that obedience. Loyalty to q
sovereign will acting under mystic half-meas-
ured impulses Of love and truth and noble moral
worth, is tho keynote Of this great poem,
which nevertheless never loses the dedn,te and
gorgeous colorlng Of the age from which it |
takes its legendary theme. Take, as illustration |
Of this conception, this noble song, here for the
frat time published, which is surg by Athur's |
knights On his coronation:
Blow trumpet, for the world ts white with Hay:
Blow trumpet, the long night hath ron'd cWay
Blow through the living world. lie: the Eug rcgn.n
Shall St Rome o. Eeathen rule in A-:nur's realln2
Fell batse-ax, and dash brand! Let the King reign.
Strife for the Eing and live! Ills Knights have heard
That God hath told the King u secret VOID.
fAl bstte-a1, and fash brandt Lei tie King reign.
Blow trumpet he will lift us from the dust
Blow trumpet! i've the strength and die the lust!
Clsng bae-a1 and clash brand! Let the King reign
strike for the Kins and die and II thou tljcst
Ehe King is King and ever wills the highest.
2!ang battle-a1 and clash brandt Let the Kng reign.
|
3low, for our Sun is tniRnier day L.; dag.
'ang battle-.1, and cash brand! Let the King reign
The King will follow Christ, cad NO the Eing
n whom high God hath brea!hcd secret thing.
AL hattle-a1, and flash brand! Let tie King reign.
Tho belief in royal will, royal at once By its
trcngth and BY it's mystic aurcolo Of Divine in-
piration, could hardly be expressed in u grand
+ imaginative form. And tho contrast to this |
p1endid burst OF triumph with which the king
ON receives its King. is the anguish of Arthurs {
IL b9t tai9tlng heart when his law has been
ound too high for the world to which it was
lven. and when Just before the last great and +
atal battle in the West he is haunted by tho E
read that his trust has been dream, and that I
roa has 1orsaken him. This passage, too. is I
uite new, and almost the grandest in Mr. Ten :
yson' q writings:
ar on their march to Westward, Belivere, 1t
'ho slowly pacel among tho slurnhcring host +
card in hls tent the meanings Of the King r
17und Him in tho shining Of the STARS, =
n lnaEka q Him in the Towering Of Ills tie>!s
ut In His ways with ind Him not c
wagcd Els wars, and now pass and die
me! for why Ia all around us hero b
II some lc26er god had made the world Z
i'll the High God behold ii from beyond
nd enter it, aud make it beautiful?
else Ra II the world were wholly fair
ut that tho eyes of men dense and dim. s
nd have not power to sec It as 1t is:
erchaace bec1use not to the close: r.
Or !. being simple thought to work his viii -
ld have but stricken with tho sword In vain :,
I'D all whereon lean'l in wife md friend q
..
,els back into the beast nnd Is more II
God thou hast forgotten in my death: n
ay--God my Christi pass, but shall not eier a
How stately and yet how simple ia this Ian Il
1ago, how massive, and how utterly devoid Of il
igma and riddle! Our greatest poet at least | CT
ows even more natural and majestc in power -
he natures in genius. q
and IN tho noble epilogue, "To the Queen Il
oart of which has been SO often recently quoted tt
W grandly tho poet applies his conception Of 81
Q inward loyalty owe to tho true ruling con- t.
lence OF our nation, to our own day aud gen. b
alton:
Take withal1 f
y poets blessing, and his trust that heaven | F
Il blow the tempest III the distance back
OH thine and ouFH: for some are e3red who mark
wisely or unwiseiy, signs Of Storm, r.
Iver1oga OF every vane With e7ery wind, :;
d wordg tIuctlings to the transient ho1r, -
q 1ercc or carc1ess 1ooseners OF the faith 81
d softnesa breeding ecorn Of nirnplc life E{
Cowardlce, the child Of lust {or gold, pl
Labor, with 4roan and not a voice | If
art. with poisonous honey stol'n from Cr.nre | ~
9 that which knows, but careful Ct itself -.
that which knows not, ruling that which knows ~
ats own harm the goal Of this great world {.
: : beyond sight; yet--if our slowly grown Of
q croTnd Republics crowning common aense re
st saved her many tines, not fail-tbcir feaTs &C
morning shadoTs huger than the sha4cs tb
IL cast them, not those gloomier which sorcao II,
9 darkness OF the battle in the Vest -