The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-30

Biographical Sketch OF the Late Lord Ten
nyson, Poet Laureafe.

tfkO0, 1oet thbfehfc.
There Is no pleasanter way OF learning
or surer means Of remembering important
lessons than the study OF what we hear
called topics Of the day"
There are hundreds OF bright boys and
/ girls who never miss a literature lessen
at school or get kept I'm" on history or
dictionary. yet who could answer very few
! questions about Alfred. Lord Tennyson,
who died IN England on the 9th OF October,
and OF when all the world has been talk
ing, writing and reading about since
They perhaps know that he wrote 1.-THE
/ Charge OF the Light Brigade" and Locks
t ley Hail." for they have often repeated
those pieces on poetry days. and also
/ that he was poet laureate, without a very
/ clear idea of what this title meant. So
| let III take this convenient time TO find
out many interesting things connected with
/ this great man, for years hence, when his
name viii seem ms far away as that OF
Shakespeare or Milton, II viii be me
thing 10 remember that We bad lived in
the same age with him, and recall the very
time Of his death.
Alfred Tennyscn was born on August
C. 1863. the same year in which Gladstone
Darwin and Lincoln were born. Ana no
better time than this 10 find out all about
/
He was quite little boy when he first
wrote verses. He, with his brothers and
sisters. were on visit &c their grand
fathers. the Vicar Of Louth. In England
when one rainy Sunday, bis elders having
all gone to church. Alfred became restless
without the regular pastme that he was
used to in his own home, Somersby. HIS
older brother. to keep him DUET, gave him
slate and pencil and suggested 70 MIN
TO write something about the flowers Ia
| the garden which were sc beautiful,
though dronchrd with the rain. When the
| family came home from church they found
that the little lad had filled his slate with
verses. which quite surprised aid delight
| ed them. A little later be wrote an elegy
| on his grandmother, for which his grand
/ father gave him ten shlllings, remarklng'
! This is the first money you have ever
earned by your poetry. and take my word
/ it will be the last" This was not eb-
conraging, and so much greater credit to
the boy who lives tc see his verses make
his family name great one.
But what OF him az poet laureate!
The duties Of the poet 50 appointed are
not as difficult as yOn might nj first i'm
| agine. He has certain income, which Is
! not very large, bnt ia always secure, and
| he has a great deal Of honor, but IN return
for these he mast be ready to write verses
on any great national event or anything Of
speca importance that happens In the
royal family For instance. when the Duke
Of Clarence died last winter Tennyson
wrote verses about II, the Duke OF Clarence
| being You remember. the eldest son OF inc
Prince Of Wales Now this writing OF
verses 10 satisfy everybody AZ such time
Is II difficult thing, even for famous poet,
because perhaps the particular event may
! stir no feeling in his heart or brain. Verses
written at such times are therefore apt 10
ne while perfectly correct, what N called
| "perfunctory." That is Il big word but lock
II up and understand II; understanding,
100. that nothing that Is perfunctory can
ever be either great or pleasing whether
in poetry, In manners or IN HE. Ihat Is
why SO few OF the special poems by the
different laureates are ever quoted Iheli
| fame rests on ether works. though Tenny
sous 90. de % tue Duke Of Wellington,
an official poem. was great In itself. We
remember Tennyson. however not because
| he was n laureate. but because he was one
of the very greatest poets England evel
/ produced You must read his "ldylS or Tue
| King" and see.
The Greeks were the first OF nations tC
| crown the poets with laurel, it being look
ed upon by them as a symbol or sign q
victory; but il was Frederick the FIRST
Of Germany. who invented Inc term %
| poet laureate, which he gave 10 the Moii
| Gunther.
1t was two hundred years after that TIL
English borrowed the idea of thus honor
ing one poet above all others and then En
| ward the First crowned Chaucer, IN
father OF English literature, as My Nalet
Godfrey Chaucer," not saying sng'
word about his great poetic genius.
Lord Tennyson's wife was a niece
that Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer
who was lost so long age. You must nav
heard OF all the expeditions that nav
journeyed through Ice ana snow OF loh
northern winters 10 find him. This is tn
inscription TonnysOn wrote, 10 DE- place.
in Westminster Abbey for Franklin. Sc
how beautiful il is:
Net here, the white north hath thy bones
and thou.
Heroic sailOr-sOul.
, Art passing on thine happier voyage nov
Toward no earthly pole.