New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TENNYSON.

THE POETRY OF TENNYsoN. BY Henry Van
Dyke. 12mo., PIP. 200. Charles scrbners sons
The poet who during the space of two full
generations has held the public ear must ex-
pect as he draws toward the end OF so long
career that critics will arise who are withheld
by no traditional reverence or strongly moulding
habit of admiration from questioning his pre-
eminence, and sometimes upon grounds drawn
from reactionary movements Yet, to such as
have lived long enough to remember the prime
of Tennyson, we are inclined TO think the strong
est impression made by this the Laureates latest
volume. will be surprise at the high average
of excellence sustained by the octogenarian sing
er. II IL be true that he does not touch herein
the greatest heights of his earlier poetry, 1t Is
net less true that the new volume abounds with
examples of noble verse and that more than
once--and most especially in the short but power
full poem entitled Crossing the Bart attains
to an ideal of solemn faith and lofty preparedness
for the great change such indicates no decline
of artistic skill or intellectual force. The
righteousness, the versatility, the powerful COM
mand of most diverse measures, the dramatic
bent and last, though not least, the faithful re-
Election of that zeitgeist" of which Tennyson has
always been the most trustworthy and sensitive
register and indicator, are each and all here and
In good illustrations.
the same musical blank verse, the same felicity
of phrase, the same artistic delicacy, that char
acterized "Aenone," half century and more ago.
Curiously enough, too we note In the later poem
that peculiarly Tennysonian habit Of blending his
classicism with the purest modern thought This
was we'll exemplifed in the "Lucretius" and
later in the "Idylls of the King" We do not
refer to it as defect for it is not SO to be re-
parded: il is a distinctive mark of the sanest IN
tellipence. For since all the experience of the
living generation is inevitably derived from con-
Temporary observation, it follows that the only
really true representation, whether external or
internal v.sssner mind or OF manners, Is thas
which is so obtained The historian, romance
writer or poet who hesitates to describe the past
until he has acquired gertrude concerning 1t,
will remain ingloriouSly mute forever. NO his
tory truly pictures The past. All history depends
largely upon imagination, and whose leaves his
own age to explore antiquity must rely upon TINS
aid or expect failure. The conclusion OF y" De
meter is in the vein Of reflection which belongs
to the nineteenth century, but II Is not tne less
imnressive because of this In the opening lines,
addressed to Lord Duferin, there Is touching
reference to the death of the poets son on the
,yay home from India and the funeral on the Red
Sea.
@Beneath hard Arabian moon
And alien stars"
But here the hope and assurance reach hgher
than in the days of In Memoriam. The age
of passion, even of strong sorrow, has passed. Inc
tone is sad and subdued, but underlying the
lament is this suggestion of the transcncy OF all
things and secure dependence upon the hnal
coming of something good" out OF Whatever
seems ill.
The few but graceful verses to Professor Jebb
are in the delightful meter Of the famous lines
TO Maurice, and not less pleasing TO the ear.
The dialect poem, Ovid Roa" is dramatic ldyH
of the school of Rizpah," though with less
tragical and moving motive we confess tha'
this kind of composition appears to us to be little
more than tours de force" and that we would
gladly exchange even The Northern Farmer
for another Dora" or Love and Duty" Turning
from this unouestionably clever but somewhat
unsympathetic lyric we come to the poem en-
titled "Vastness," and here Tennyson is almost
aft his best Here at least we find this zeltgeIst
thoroughly and finely represented; the restless
questionings, the impotence with partial soiu-
lions. the grasp of that largeness of view which
only modern science has rendered POSSIBLE are
all faithfully reflected in these wonderfully COM
pact and pregnant verses. Optimism and PcsSim-
ism seemed Joined in a given Dance of Death,
and everything is about to be
in the deeps Of meaningless Past
But as in The Two Voices" the debate whose
weight appeared to be leaning .most strongly
toward suicide, suddenly turns and energies lh.o
light and hope, so the gloom here is broken WIN
the thought of immortality, and the poet con-
cludes:
HPeace let It be for loved him, and love him Tor
ever the dead are not dead, but anve."
"The Ring" which is dedicated to James Rus
ic its antique
ting. dominated by modern tone. In this poem
which is not one of the strongest in the volume
NAV be discerned a sympathetic response to that
renaissance of interest in the supernatural which
is the natural and inevitable reaction from The
Grass materialsm of the eighteenth century. For
Iorn" takes us back very long way for IL reals
"We were three sisters Of one race" and ORA
nor" and assuredly no fair critic can pretend that
there is not in these fourteen stanzas suflicency
of force and passion, while the refrain, with Its
variations to suit the changing theme, is singular
ly effective. OF The Leper's Bride" 1T may be
said that the central idea is infelictous that the
thought of such union is incurably repulslve
and therefore it's employment bad art. But 1t
will have TO be acknowledged that Tennyson has
nsed this extremely disagreeable subject skill
fully as to evolve from it truly splendid Illus
tration of womanly heroism and love stronger than
DEATH and we think the end justifes the means
completely The beautiful poem called The
Progress Of Spring" is introduced as an early COM
position laid aside and forgotten by the poet
Assuredly it bears traces of juvenity or crude
ness but it serves to remind us that Tennysons
art was never halting; and that though no poet
has shown himself more amenable TO sound crit
icism, his equipment at the beginning was excep-
tionally complete. Another dramatic piece Is
"Romneys Remorse," and it is full Of power and
clear-cut impression. We will say no more OF
this volume save TO observe that if Iennyson never
should write another line his poetcal career could
not by any possibility be more nobly and fifty
closed than with the pathetic and majestic verses
bearing the title Crossing the Bar