The record-union., 1892-12-03
ALFRED TENNYEON.
The Most llustrious Poet of the
Victorian Age.
a Former Sacramentan Writes Feel
ingly of the Poet and His
Great Work.

that first SHARED attention are made the warp
through which the sympathetic, the wise, the
thOughtess. the foolish weaVes each his own
passion or GOODNESS, mis- own folly or desire
Warren Cheney.
1t would be impossible to write criti-
cal exegesis of the works, or a compre-
hensive biographical sketch, of the most
illustrious poet of the Victorian age with
in the prescribed limits of a newspaper
article. He has enjoyed the distinction
of having been the most written about of
any literary celebrity of the century, and
Tor fifty years hosts of reviews and peri
odicais have published articles concerning
his life and work by the most eminent of
his contemporaries. From this mass of
biography, praise, and censure, collated
that which seemed to possess the most in
terest for the general reader, being not
unmindful Of the fact that in this prosaic
era even the fame-swept strings of his
Tyre gave forth their inspiring melody to
tall upon thousands of unappreciative
ears
But, as / read, through all the medley
OF Delles-lettres rose the memory of lit
Tie blue and gold edition of his poems
That WOve around me subtle spells of
musical necromancy in my ninth year in
Central New York State, and ''the threads
that first shared attention" have hope
lessly entangled the stray thoughts and
facts that had been collected
Now that ne has gone from us the mind
instantly reverts, not to his lyric achieve
ments, out to the white-walled rectory on
that Hover scented hillslope in drowsy
SomerSby IN Lincolnshire, where, when
the present century had seen but nine
springs vanish through the gilded gates
OF summer, he was born.
Somersby was fitting cradle of this
Of hn
shadowed lanes, its ripping brooks voic-
ing their lulIing monotones of sweetness,
the Holywell glen, garlanded with au-
lumn snowdrops, the surrounding iens
alive with wild fowl and covered with
aquatic plants, and the grand waterscape
OF the German Ocean.
And, above all the outward influences
there was an intellectual and moral at
mosphere in the home itself. His father
was rector Of Somersby, a man of culture
ana refinement, an athlete, a musician
and linguist, and his mother, daughter
OF the Rev. stephen Fytche, was scarcely
inferior to her husband in intellect. AL
1red was the third born. and OF the twelve
children OF the family tive We're poets
who "Hsped in numbers at an early age
We read Of the intellectual pastimes of
the Tedglings in this nest OF nightin-
gales" with admiration not altogether
unmiXed with wonder. How, gathered
around the dining table, they gave a loose
rein TO Fancy, and wrote in cola alteration
1nterm1nable histories, strange stories
ana quaint rhymes, through which shone,
as through curtained easement, the pale
fires of genius.
And, most happily for the world, the
little group OF romancists received the
most kindly encouragement from their
parents instead, as too often the case of
having their childish flights OF imagina-
ton laughed to scorn by the carping wis
dom of maturity.
In 1871 appeared little volume of
Poems by Two Brothers," Charles aud
Alfred Tennyson, and the public received
the book with warmer expressions of ap-
proval than are usually accorded to first
ventures of that character Coleridge.
then at the zenith of his fame, was prompt
to recognize the merit of the POEMS and
made the stanzas of Charles an object OF
special praise.
This thin little volume, containing
much that was crude and effeminate to
the last degree, was the thin point of a
wedge" that gradually opened the gates
OF the world of literature to Alfred Ten
nyson.
Two years later he won the Chancel-
lor's medal for a competitive poem
In blank verse. entitled "Timbuctoo,v
Among the competitors were Thack-
cray and Hallam, and Thackeray,
smarting under a sense of defeat,
notes appended to the poem, and write a
laughable burlesque, brimming over with
the keen satire that afterWaru made him
famous, and finished with a lengthy list
OF mlrth- provoking eXegetical remarks
that caused Tennyson to rigIdly exclude
all prosy explanations thereafter from
his works.
Thackeray, however. made the dnle1lde
honorable in 1863 when he elouuentlv
compared the poet to "a giant showing
beacon torch on a windy headland," and
is reported as saying that Tennyson was
the wisest man he ever knew.
Of ''Timbuctoo," the AhenG2tza, not
wlthstanding the incongruous title, said:
1T would have done credit to any man
that ever wrote"
The following year, 1880, he published
an additional volume. Many of the
poems in this and the earlier edition have
not been reprinted in any of
the authorized editions of his
late works, and this is well, tor
Tennyson was at that period passing
through the first and Only' callow love
stage of existence common to poets and
some prosaic men as well. and his songs
were Iinctured with the usual compii-
mentary addresses to maidens fair and
hope of an early grave, etc.
1t may be that Bulwer's sneering allu-
sion to Miss Alfred" in 1916 produced
healthier tone in him. There was indeed
character and graces OF manner in his
earlier years. for he was surrounded by
bevy OF fair cousins and gentle sisters
who were responsible, to a great extent,
Tor the airy fairy Lillian" style about
him.
But this effeminacy the article in
f,9ch crushed out finally and forever.
Rearolen tells us that ''rennyson gave
one deep-chested howl of ire in response
and then trimmed his style.'
In 1882 was published a volume that
placed our poet securely V upon the pedestal
OF fame, containing rs it did the exquisite
poems, The Lady of Shalott' and the
"Miller's Daughter" in which were en-
bodied the two delightful songs, a style
OF writing that be afterwards made so
effective in the Princess" F." THE Palace
OF Art and The May Queen" And
what dweIler in Polynesia, If he be
reader, has not reveled in the tropical
luxuriance of description in the Lotus
Eaters ?'
In which it seemed always afternoon,
All round the coast the languid air did swoon
Breathing like one that hath a weary cream
Ful-Iaced above the valley stood the moon
And like downward smoke, the slender
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fan did
seem.
In September, 1888, at Vienna, Tennv-
sons college friend and associate Arthur
Italian, poet and son OF the historian.
died.
In the light of the nineteenth century
friendship existing between Tennyson
and Hallam, the classic tie between Da-
mon and Pythias pales into insignificance.
Had il not been for his untimelv end he
would have been bound yet closer to the
poet by marriage with his favorite sister.
OF Hallam, OF his literary work, Of the