Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-07-17
LORD TENNYSON.
An Interesting Letter fro. tie Poei Lau-
reate-PIagIarism aud Suggestion.


An Interesting Letter fron the Poet LaH-
reate-PlagiaTism aud Suggestion.
The Pal. MlN Gazette pruts the follow
ing letter from Lord Tcnnyson, which is
contained in the second edition OF Mr.. s.
T.. Dawson's "Study Of Lord TeuHysol's
Poem, 'The Princess"
"ALDwORTH. lIAsLEMERE, SURREY. No
vembcr II, 1857. Sir,-I thank Won
for your able and thoughtful essay OF 'The
Princess You have seen. among other
things. that il women ever were to piay
such freaks the tragic and the burlcsque
might 90 hand in hand. | may tell you
that { e songs were not an a'terthOught
Before the first edition came out deiber-
| atcd with myself whether | should put
SONGS in between the separate divisions OF
the poem; again, thought, the poem will
explain itself; bu, the public did not see
that the child, a. you say, was the heroine
OF the piece, and at last ! conquered my
laz ness and inserted them. You wOuld be
still more certain that the child was the true
heroine ii, instead Of the frs, song ne it
now stands.
AS thro the land a. eve VIC WENT
I had printed the frst song which | wrOto,
The Losing OF the Child The child is
sitting on the bank OF the river and play
inc with flowers-a food come, dow1-I
dam has been broken through-thc child i
borne down by the flood-the whole vii
/ LACE dsuacted-.altcr 4 time the food has
! subSidcd-thc child is thrown safe AMI
sound again upon the bank, and all the
women are IN rlpturcs. quite forget the
words OF the ballad, but | think ! may
have it somewhere.
Your explanatory notes are very much
I 10 no I In Il n IA
finding paralleliSms. They must alwlys
rccur. 4 man "a Chinese SchOiar) some
time ago wrote 10 me, saying that In IN
unknown. untrauslatcd Chinese poem there
were two whole lines Of mine almost word
for word. Why nOti Are not human
eyes all over the world looking \: the same
Obiect,, and must there not consequently
be condolences o: thought, aui impress
siOuS. and expressions! IL i, scarcely pos
sIblc for any one 10 say or write anything
in this late time Of the worlu 10 watch
in the rest 81 the literature OF the world
parallel could not somewhere be found.
But when YOU say that this passage OF that
was suggested ny Wordsworth. or Sncler,
or another, / demur, and, more. / wholly
disagree. There was a perlOi in my life
when, as an artist-Turncr, FOR instance,
lakes rough SketchcG IL landscape, etc.. in
order TO work them eventually into some
great picture, SO | was in the habit OF
chronicling. in four or five words or more,
whatever might strike me as picturesque in
nature. | never put these down, and many
and many line has gone away on the
north wind, but some RENAME. g.:
a full sea glazed with mured moonlight"
Suggestion: The Sea one nightat TOrqulT,
when TorQuay was the most Lively sea VII
lIge in England, though now smoky
town: the sky was covered with thin yap)r,
and the moon was behind IL.
~ great black cloud
brags Inward from tine eD.
Suggestion: \ coming storm seen from the
top Of Snowdon.
In the ldyls Of the Klng:'
Withan
lLs stormy crtsts that smOle agalnit ne Res.
Suggestion y torn which came uD1u Us
in the middle OF the North sea
AS tie vater-lIly star IN sllIes.
Suggestions Water-lilics in M own pond,
seen on a gusty day by my own eyes.
They did start aud slide in the sudden
puffs u winds TIL caught and STAYED by the
tether OF their OWn >tllSs-Id,tu a. true
as WordSworth's smile and more in detail.
"A Wild wind shook
Follow, follow, thou shat win.
suggestion: ! was walking in the New
forest. \ wind did arise and
"shake the songs, the whispers, and Tie .hrieSs
or the Wild wood together
"Thc wind, believe, was west wind,
hut because | wished the Prince 10 20 south
! turned the wind 10 the south. and natu-
rally the wind said. Follow / believe
the resemblance which you note il just
chance one. Sheley'S lines are not familiar
a IN tlanoh Of paursa Z fb.t- n,c.,,.
the Trometheus / must have read them.
~ could multiply instances. but ! viii
not bore you; and far indeed an | from
asserting that books, as well a. nature. are
not, and ought not TO be. suggestive TO the
poet. | am sure that | myself snd many
others find a peculiar charm in those pas
sages OF such great masters as Virgil or
Milton where they adopt the creation OF a
by-g0ne poet and TeclOthe il, more OF less.
according TO their own f,rcy. But there
is, fear. prosaic set growing VI among
us, editors or booklets, DO Il worms.
indeE-hunters, or men OF or at mems
orics and no imagination-who imoute
themselves to the poet, and so believe that
be, too, has no Imagination, but is forever
p0king his nose between the pages OF some
Old volume in order TO see what he can ap- |
propriate. They will not allow one to say
ring the bells without finding that we |
have taken II from Sir L. sydney, or even |
To Use such n simple expression As the ocean |
'roars' without finding out the precise |
verse in Homer or Horace from which we |
have plagiarized 1t. Fact.)
&" / have known an old tishwiie who had |
lost two sODs at sea ciinch her list nc the |
advancing tide on stormy day and cry |
out: 'Av, roar; do How | hates to see /
thee show thy white teeth! Now. il
had adopted her exclamation and put il |
into the mouth OF some old woman
in one OF nav poems, | dare say the
critic would have thought il original
enough, but would most likely have
ADVISED NE to go b nature for my cd wo-
nan and not to my Imagination: and, in.
deed, ii Is a strong figure. Here is another
little anecdote about suggestion. When /
was shout twenty or twenty-one / went on
a tour TO the Pyrenees. Lying among these
mountains before waterfall that comes
down ole thousand feet or twelve hundred
feet. sketched il according to my custom
them in these words:
"Slow-dropping yeils OF thinnest Ia n
when printed this critic informed me
that lawn was material used in the
stres to initiate n waterfall, and graciously
added: MIR. L. should not 20 t. the
boards OF a theatre, but TO nature herself,
for his SUGGESTIONS And | went TO ma.
ture herself. | think II is a moot point
whether, il | had known how that effe.t
was produced on the stage, should have
yentured TO publish the line.
II beg you to believe ME, ETC.,
"a. TENNYsoS.
"P. s.-By the by, you are wrong about
.the tremulous isles OF light; Tiers are
. isles OF hight spots Of sunshine eening
through the caves, and seeming to slide
from one to the other, as the proc ,ssion Of
girls moves under the shsde.' And surely