The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-03-06
TENNEsOg,
DR.. EarrosFs' Lecture Before the Lon sfel.
low Association.

The many friends of Rev. DR.. Bavrows Of
San Francisco, in this oty, will gladly read
the following account Of lecture delivered by
MIN IN that city taken from the "Alta" of
February 23d:
Rev. Dr. Barrows Of San Francisco deliv-
cred a lecture on Thursday evening, before the
Longfellow Association Of Berkeley Uniyers.
sity, on "Alfrsd Tennyson." 1t was mas
terly effort, and the Rev. DIR. proved himself
as strong and graceful thinner of literary
portraits as he has long been acknowledged to
be OF biblical.
A large and appreciative audience welcomed
the speaker, who held them spellbonnd
for an hour. We regret that we can only give
faint outline of the most prominent features
of the lecture, which suffers from being 60
condensed
Life is gem whose setting is composed of
immutable laws. True worth may be innate.
but its innsteness is discoverable only in obe-
dience to these laws in which it must work
and through which it reproduces itself in the
mind of the age IN which it lives'
After noticing the style and model of the
earlier poets Shakespeare, Milton aud others
he said "In these more modern times,
whatever may be said in censure or blame of
who illustrates different type both in concep-
tion and execution, from all or nearly
all who have preceded him, Alfred Ten
Dyson, whose dominating aud fascinating
power has so leng held sway. The art force
III poetry took shape in Tenuyson, which lifted
the profession OF poetry into the very highest
rank. The speaker classified the Sly le OF his
poems under three beads the ideal, the seeu-
tlhc, aud the religious, according to the differ
cut decades, or parts of decades in
which NUQrl yUri oil
located IN the ideal, poem is like mouu-
tain without summit, q projectle ascending
into tho air without dead point from which
to return. The golden chain of memory fas-
tens one link into the unseen, and it drops
down towards the heart OF the human, cop
meeting 1t, link by link, with the ideal perfec-
tiou.
"His poetry in relation to ell scientific pro-
gress Is Interpretive. The scientist drives
down stake into the solid granite he is to H.
vestigate, and he sweeps round from that
point with one OF the dividers, corresponding
in place TO the stake thus driven, and the 9th
er, which IS his ogn thought, making q cir
cumference OF which thar Is the centre. The
UNDERLYING currents of all eIss are religious
currents.
THE man who voices in simplicity of utter
ance, yet elevated tone, the religious feeling
and ungraeped, yet not untouched, religious
IDEAS and who substitutes for the cup OF Tan
taus some chastened goblet which the very
gods bring to the lips of humanity, achieves q
success and fulfls a trust beyond all esti-
mate"
The speaker gave very clear aud delicate
analyst of the 'tPrincess,'' and made apt and
beautiful quotations Gu Memoriam,'' "IdylIs
OF the King" aud several other poems He
commended "Ulys ses on the Pains of Windy
Troy" to the careful consideration of the
University, with the hope that they might
yeaTn ITO follow knowledge like a sinking
star, beyond the utmost bound of human
In cumming v. the of ii
all, he said the genius of ha d work is the gem
ius OF Refinement, culture and power. This
was the genius of Tennysou.
He closed with a magnificent quotation,
which space for6ids repeating entire-"Better
Fifty Years of Europe than a Cycle of Gath
ay." The lecture has been requested for pub
licatlon, and it is to be hoped it will be seen
in print