The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-07-10
Recent Publications.

| dramatic, full of strength, fire, and motion;
and relying but little upon mere verbal graces
or effective points, is dignifed and harmoni-
GUS in its entire construction. Mr.. Tennyson
has selected as his theme, a period of history
which at first glance presents little opportunity
for dramatic treatment-its horror seeming
almost beyond the domain of art-while it is
thrown into shadow by the extraordinary reign
of Henry VIII on the one hand, and by the
| splendOrs of the Elizabethan era on the other
That from such material, he has formed one of
the grandest tragedies written since the time
of Shakespeare, proves the art of the poet.
He has been able to represent the fearful events
of the reign of Bloody Mary in forcible and
viyidly cOlored words, while his stately verse
suodues their physical responsiveness leaving of
them only the purely tragic element. No ex-
PLANTATION is necessary OF the progress of the
| action in which, of course, the poet follows
| history. The skill with which the tragedy is
led to its climax, the admirably drawn charac-
| ters, the fine blank verse. and the remarkable
prose passages allotted to the minor personages
which represen .Ae comic element so far as
any such may " said to exist in the drama
merit unqualified praise. The ease and free
dom that Mr.. Tennyson evidently feels in de-
lineating the everyday life of the period prove,
as conclusively as his stately and elevated met.
rical pas ,ages, how entirely he is penetrated,
with the genuine spirit of that time. Herosm
and its words, crime and its spoken expression
are of all times; and they, in any case, raise or
depress language from its ordinary level-but
to catch the fashion of the hour of homely
speech is no easy task and implies severe study
and clear insight as regards history. 1t is some-
what difficult for poet of to-day, writing
upon theme of the sixteenth century to
avoid, on the one side. the over-sophisticated
utterances Of his, own time; and. on the other,
too conscious and deliberate putting aside of
the results of the progress of the centuries
that lie between; or an affected adoption of
antique forms of language to disguise modern
thought. Mr.. Tennyson has sue ,eeded almost
perfectly in avoiding either fault; here and
there indeed, may be found passage in which
the author evidently felt little pardonable
pride of the antiquarian-for example the
charming phrase in Wyatt's speech, "the red
man, that good helpless creature"
From the sinister figure Mary, that moves
through the shadows of history like lost
spirit-Tennyson has awakened living and
breathing woman, whose hate was love made
bitter and whose fury was. of ga woman scorn.
ed" The tragedy of Mary's life had two
fold power-the fate that pursued her, and
from which there was no escape; the fate. still
more terrible, taken of choice. Every event,
every association of her life tended to its utter
ruin-and it is in the vivid understanding and
representation of this overmastering influence,
in the manner in which he has depicted the
development of her distorted nature, that Mr..
Tennyson's greatest power is displayed. Her
mothers wrongs had left to Mary the fatal
legacy of revenge that must include the MEM
ory of her father and the religion of her coun-
try. From fountain made bitter at its
source, what sweetness should come forth ?
For sake os a late, mad love for cruel king,
she blindly burned and Stayed her Subjects and
sealed the bond with fire aud blood. All that
should shape woman's life to graciousness-
her mother, her husband, heaven itself,were for
her associated with hardness of heart and re-.
lentlessness of hands, Here and there the
poet has set touche, of tenderness that show
pteously what might have been the rich pas
sion of the queens nature, had not bitter big
otry and endless misfortune blasted it. For
instance, in the opening scene:
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
Imean the Lady Elizabeth Did you hear Il hay e
daughter in her service who reported it that she
met the Queen at Wanstead with five hundred horse.
took her hand called her sweet sister, and kissd not
her alone, but all the ladies of her following.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
Ay that was in her hour of joy there will be pen-
" TO sunder ana unslster them again. this Gardiner
for one, who is to be Lord Chancellor and will pounce
like wild beast out of his cage to worry Cranmer
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
And, furthermore, my daughter said when there
rose talk OF the late rebellion she spoke even OF
Northumberland pitifully, and of the good Lady
lane as poor @ innocent child who had but obeyed
her time should be burnt for heresy.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
Well, sir, look for happy times.
The passage just quoted seems to strike the
keynote of the tragedy. Again, in the scene
where she fondly fancies goodness and gentle.
ness in the pictured likeness of Philip; in her
agonized longing for the love of the heartless
king; and in the evident sympathy and affec
ton that her ladies had for ber-are indications
that her nature had not become wholly unwom-
aned. In the final act of the tragedy, broken
by disappointment, the sad queen appears for
the last time. and sings her song of woe and
the emptiness of a world whose good was de-
MED her by destiny and rejected by her own
fateful will; and pleadin4aganst herself for the
wrongs she had done. she passes from the
scene-!he latest words on her lips those of
plying love for her much-wronged mother.
The song in which Mary expresses her DESPAIR
is profoundly pathetic, and the subte music of
its words seems to follow the broken sobbing
chords of the lutte:
Hapless doom of woman happy in betrothing!
Beauty passes like breath and love lost IN loath
ing!
Low, my lutte; speak low, my Lutte, but say the world
is nothing
Low, lutte, low!
Love will hover round the flowers when they first
Love will fly the fallen leaf and not be oyertaken
Low, my lute oh low my lutei fade and are for
saken-
Low, dear lute lowl
While this gloomy image of the queen is eve-
rywhere prominent in the drama, the poet has
given much care and strength to the delineation
of the other dranaatis persona Cranmer is a
powerful and living character, to whom
are allotted some grand lines. Philip is skilfuly
| drawn; Cardinal Pole, Simon Renard, Lord
Howard, and indeed all the actors, more or less
cons picuous in the tragedy are individual and
| vigorously outlined. The character of Eliza
beth is depicted with especial delicacy, finish
| and point. In the scene with Courtenay her
notable fnesse and presence. of mind already
exhibit themselves in the nature of the young
| girl; and in the succeeding dialogue with Lord
Howard. the pretty vanity, the lively and ele-
giant wit of the princess brighten the scene
| Mary's reception of Gardiner and the ambassa-
dors from France and Spain is exceedingly
dramatic; her utter refusal to credit the unfav.
orable reports of Philip, and the burst of pas.
sonate emotion called forth by Simon Renard' s
| mention of the king-are fine. The description
of Lady Jane Grey's death; and Mary's su-
| perb song of triumph, in the second scene of
Act Sd, are also among the many notable points
of the work. The scene at Woodstock, where
Elizabeth writes on the window pane her coup
| let:
Much suspected, of me
| Nothing proven can be,
Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner.
and contrasts TIE life of the merry milkmaid,
who sings outside, with her own troubled exis.
tence-and wishes that she too might be milk