The Portland daily press., 1877-01-13
Recent Publications.

recent PUBLICATIONS.
HAROLD, A Drama by Alfred Tennyson. Authors
Edition: from advance sheets. Boston: j. r.
Osgood & Co. Portland: Loring, Short g. Har-
mon.
Mr.. Tennyson is undoubtedly the repres enta-
tive poet of the age. No other has so reflected
its many-sided and radical thought its rapid
and fearless march, its refinement of artistic
and scientific acquisitions in brief the laureate
receives his wreath of right at the hands of the
century of which he is the faithful Interpreter.
1t is not necessary to dwell at any length upon
this striking essential quality of Mr.. Tenny-
sons genius, for not only is it very generally
sentiment but it has been developed in several
most admirable papers, included in the volume
of Victorian Poets, by Mr.. Edmund @. Sted-
man. No critic, on this side of the Atlantic at
least, is more competent for such analysis than
is Mr.. Stedman who has brought to the earnest
and scholarly consideration of the subject a
critical talent, most sympathetic, generous and
wide OF vision. It is also Mr.. Stedman who
predicts that the next field of poetic labor is to
age demands it. Whether Mr.. Tennyson's in
stincts have also led him to this conclusion,
which his two latest works Queen Mary and
Harold would seem to indicate; or whether it
is the natural wish of so versatile genius to
essay every form of poetic work, is question
of much interest, but of course impossible to
determine. How far Mr.. Tennyson will sue
ceed as a dramatist is at present doubtful.
Very much is to be expected of him in what
ever task he undertakes, and little short of
perfection will satisfy his readers; any fault
will be noted with severity which is only the
reverse of the medal of admiration; and pas
sages that would be hailed with applause COM
ing from an untried singer will be accepted
from him as thanklessly as the air we breathe,
so accustomed has the world become to the
harmonious outlines and exquisite detail of his
verse, rounded and delicate as "laborious orient
ivory, sphere on sphere"
Harold is not an advance in any respect upon
Queen Mary, except that the argument Of the
earlier play afforded no opportunity for the de.
velopment of a fine hero like Harold, the last
Saxon king Queen Mary indeed had the dis.
advantage of plot and personages almost unre'
lieved from gloom and responsiveness. In Har
old the poet had the fortune to have hero and
heroine who fulfilled the conditions of dramatic
and poetic interest, and the character of the
former, in especial, is carefully and spiritedly
drawn, yet lacks the last elements of greatness
Edith is tender and clinging, sort of Ophelis
about whose hair the willow leaves seem alway;
to hang and to her are allotted the most simply
perfect lines Of the play, the two songs:
Love is come with song and smile
Welcome Love with smile and song;
Love can stay but little while.
Why cannot he stay? They call him away;
Ye do him wrong. ye do HIM wrong;
Love will stay for whole life long.
and the wonderful, haunting minor melody
of
"Two young lovers in winter weather,
None to guide them"
the lines that Edith speaks from an exquis
itely musical rectative to this latter song, al
subtle in its semi-melodic beauty as a cantilent
of Gounod. In contrast, but admirable in it
way, is the snatch of drunken song trolled b.
the Thane at the royal banquet, scene which
suggests Macbeth as does also the followin!
scene (Act ", Scene L. with its visions of the
arisen dead. Mr.. Tennyson's lyric power il
and happy in his task than when employ
ing it.
The episode of history which is the ground
work of the tragedy is we'll fitted for dramatic
purposes. The baleful comet whose red ligh
burns above the action from Its beginning, is
keynote to its tragic motive which the poet ha
struck with emphasis and effect. 1t is singu
lar failure of the poets art that he did not i'm
prove the great opportunity given him to writ
drama in Saxon speech. He should have for
| gotten so far as might be without stiffness o
| affectation, the Latin and Romance words tha
came over with the Conqueror, and left hi
| Harold free from invasion of words as o
hordes. The contrast is great of such lines as
"Look! am not workman, flesh fallen?"
| and
SIN our winoy world, what's up is iaith.''
| and again
"--they should hang
Cliff-jibbeted for sea maIks our sea-mew
| Winging their only wall"
| or the superb primal harmony of the lines:
| ''Yea, and
Make blush the maiden-white Of oqr. tall cliffs,
Nor mark the sea- bird rouse himself and hover
Above the windy ripple and fill the sky
/
| with the unpardonable modern discord of sucl
| words as "Molochize" and "Normanize'
| which would hardly be admissible in news
paper report; or with such elaborate and soph
| isticated expression as this:
| Wisdom when in power
| And Wsest, should not tIOwn as Power, but smll
| AS kindness, watching all, till the true must
| Shall make her strike as Power"
| which is neither more nor less than dilute
| paraphrase of ''the quality of mercy" &c.
translated into clumsy metaphy scal speech
| The dialogue of the fishermen (Act III. scene l.
is not by any means as good as the prose dia
logues of Queen Mary which had fine qualit
| of the period, and were spirited and notable
| Mr.. Tennyson seems to have perceived the wan
| of ease of this scene himself, for he soon dis
missed the seafaring folk to clear the stage fol-
| the scenes between Harold, William OF Nor
| mandy and Malet, which are thoroughly ad
mrable and which rise to superb climax a
the end of the act The speeches of Wulfnot
are very striking in their pathos. The charac
ter of Edward the Confessor is drawn will
great fervor and skill. The pious, though fanat
cal spirit, already belonging to another world
| the inspiration of bis zeal and the forebodin
! of the fatal sangue-lac, form sketch of genu
inc dramatic power. The scene where Edit
| and Stigand watch the battle from distance
is intense. Mr. Tenpyson has employed her
the fino but familiar effect of chant of monks
contrasting with the din of the battle and cage
| human interest of the speeches OF tw
on-lookers an effect similar to that G
the introduction of the chorale Ell
Feste Burg with the counter-them
of the jewellers in lies Hugenots' of Scrib
and Mey erbeer, or the burial chant and brindi'
of the "Lucrezia" of Dumas and Donizetti.
Looking at the dramatic work of Mr.. Tenny
son, so far as one may judge of it from thes
first essays of his in that line-it appears tina
his successes are those which his commandiD
poetic gift and exquisite technical cultivatio
assure; and that his failures are due to th
imperfect quality of his medi@valism. Fe
lyric and especially for idyllic purposes, it
sufficient to produce beautiful effects. but
the severe light and sustained action of drs
matte poetry, its inadaquacy is betrayed. The
is a'popular form of dilettanteism of the presel