Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-08-18
TENNYS0N.
THE BIBLICAL ILLUSIONS IN The
WORKS or THE POET.

WORKS OF THE POET.
A Number Of Quotations Showing How
the Scriptures Inspired Him-An
Interesting Review.
Ronry Van Dyke IN tho Century for Anguish
On the table at which am writing lies
the first publication which bears tho name
OF Alfred Tennyson--n thin pamphlet IN
faded ernv paper, containing the Prolu-
stones Academic@." recitcd at tho OniVer-
sity Of Cambridge in 1922 Among thom IS
one With the title, "Tinbuctoo; foein
which obtained the CHANCELLOR Medal,
etc. By A. Tennvson, of Trinity College"
On the eleventh page, in o. passage de-
scribing the spirit of poetry which ms Tue
branches OF the great vine OK Fable, we
find these lines:
There is no mghter Spirit than 70 way
The heart OF man. and teach HIN 70 attain
BY ghsdOwing forth the UDattalnaole:
And step ~ stop % scale that miGhly s.er
Whose landing place - wraps nbout WIN SiOu~9
OF glory OF Heaven.
And At the bottom Of tho page stands this
footnote: BE yo perfect. even as your
Father in Heaven IS perfect" .,
This is the earliest biblical alluslon
which we can identify in the writings or
Teunvson. Even the most superficial
glance viii detect its beauty and power.
There are few who have not felt the loity
attraction Of the teachings OF CHRIST, IN
which the ideal Of holiness shines 50 Tar
above our reach. while we are continually
impoled TO climb toward IT. rs
pecially these very words about per
lection. which he spoke in the Scr
mon on the Mount Matt, v, 49,, have
often lifted us upward just because they
uoiut our INSPIRATIONS to q goal so high That
il seems inaccessible. The young poet
who sets Jewel ike this in his earliest
work shows not only that be has under
stood the moral subhmlty OF the doctrine
of Christ, but also that he has rightly con-
ccived the mission OF NOBLE poetr!-t9
idealize and elevate human life. once ana
again IN his later writings we SEQ the same
picture of the soul rising step By step
To higher things,
and catch q glimpse of those vast altar
stairs
That slope through darkness up TO God.
In the poem entitled Isabel "-one of
the best in the slender volume OF lS3O-
there is a line which reminds MS that len
nyson must have known his New Iesta-
ment in the original language. lie says
that all the fairest forms of nature are
types OF the noble woman whom lie IS &c
scribing-
and thou OF God Ia thy great charity
No one who was not familiar with the
Greek of St. Paul and st. John would
have been bold enough to speak OF tho
CHARITY of God" 1t is phrase winch
throws a golden light upon the Thirteenth
chapter of the First Epistle to the Conn
thians, and brings the human love INTO
a., i wit -
1.-The May Queen" is poem which has
sung itself into the hearts of the people
everywhere. The tenderness Of its senti-
ment and the exquisite cadence of It's mu-
sic have made il beloved in spite OF us
many faults. Yet suppose that the ma;
jority of readers have read 1t again and
again without recognizing that one OF lts
most melOQlOuS verses is u nearly ulieC1
quotation from the third chapter OF JOB;
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the
weary are arrest
This is one Of the instances-by no means
rarc-in which the translators of our Eng
lish Bible have fallen uncOnsciously into
the RHYTHM of the most perfect poetry
and il is perhaps the best illustration OF
TennysOn's fehcitOus use OF the words Oh
the Scriptures.
But there are others, hardly less perfect,
in the wonderful sermon which the rector
in "Aylmer's Field" delivers after the
death of Edith and Leolin. 1t IL Mosaic
of Bblc language. most curlously wrought
and fused into one living whole by the neat
of an intense sorrow. How like henvy,
dull refrain of prophetic grief and lndlg-
nation recurs that dreadful text:
Your house is left unto you desolato
The solemn associations of the words
lend the force of a superhuman and unim-
passioned wrath 70 the preachers langu-
age. and the passage stands as monu-
mental Remuneration OF
Tho social wants that sin against tho strength OF
youth.
Enoch Arden's parting words to his wife
| contain some beautiful fragments oil script
ure imbedded in the verse:
Cast all crros on God; that anchor holds.
l. He not yonder ia those utterinost
| Parts OF tho morDing7 IL nee 10 thesc
Can 20 from Him. and the seal HIS,
The sea Is lis: he made IL.
The "Idyllsof the King" are full OF deli
cate and suggestive illusions TO tho Bible.
| Take Tor instance the lines from The
| Holy Grail: "
| For when the Lord Of all things made himself
| Naked OF glory for his mortal chang.
! Here ia commentary most illuminatiye
| on the sixth and seventh verses OF the sec
| Ond chapter Of Philippians. Or again IN
| the same Idvll where the hermit says TO Sir
Percivele, after his unsuccessful quest,
Thou hast not lost thysSf TO save thyseh.
we are reminded of tho words Of Christ
telling US the secret Of all victory IN spirit
ual things: He that loseth his lie
shall find it,"
In The Coming Of Arthur" VIII the
trumpet blows and the city seems on fire
with sunlight dazzling on cloth of gold, the
long procession of knights passes before the
| King. singing It's great song OF allegiance.
| The Idyll is full of warriors PRIDE and de.
lieht of battle, changing battle-aSe and
flashing brand-a true song for the heavy
fighters of the days of chivalry. But ha:
also higher touch, a strain Of spiritual
grandeur, which although 1t may have nc
Justification in an historical picture OF The
Round-Table, yet serves 10 lift these
knights of the poets Imagination INTO al
ideal realm and set them marching ~
ghostlv heroes Of faith and loyalty through
all ages.
The King will follow Christ, ard wo tho King.
Compare this line with the words Of st
Paul: ''Be We followers of me, even as
also am OF Christ" They teach US that thu
lasting devotion Of men is rendered not e
the human, but to tho divine, IN their he
roes. He who would lead others must frs
learn 10 follow One who is higher lhal
|
possible to please God, bat also impossible
to rule men. King Arthur is the ideal o
ono who has heard a secret word of promis
and seen vision of moro than earthl,
Glory. by virtue Of which be becomes tn
leader and master of his knights, able u
inspire their hopes and unite their aspira
tions and bind their service to himself.
And now turn to one OF the last poem
which Tennyson. has given US" Locksle.
Hall Sixty Years After" Sad enough IS It
lament for broken dreams, dark with tn
gloom of declining years, when the grass
bopper has become burden, and desir
has failed, and the weary heart has grow
afraid Of that which is nigh; but at tn
close the old man rises again to the sacre'
; strain:
! Follow you the star that nlights desert path
way, yours or mine.
Forward til you 500 tho highest human natur
is divine.
Fellow light and do the right-ior man can hal
control his doom
TIL you find the deathloss angel seated in III