The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-10-26


it did the exquisite poems, "The
in which was embodied
the two delightful songs, style of
that he afterwards made so
effective in the princess" "The |
Palace of Art" and "The May |
Queen" And what dweller in Poly |
nesia, if he be a reader, has not re-
veled in the tropical luxuriance of
description in the Lotus Eaters"
a land
All round the coast the languid air did
Breathing like one that hath weary
dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the
And like downward smoke, the slender
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall
did SEEM"
In September, 1888, at Vienna,
Tennyson's college friend and associ-
ate, Arthur Hallam, poet and son of
the historian, died.
In the light of the nineteenth cen
tury friendship existing between
Tennyson and Hallam, the classic
tie between Damon and Pythias
pales into insignificance Had it not
been for his untimely 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 purity of his life, of the nobil
ity of his character, it is supertluous
| to speak -they have been embalmed
in that Tai Mahal of Literature, that
| grand mosolea of song, consisting of
129 elegaic poems that form the
most priceless sepulchre that ever
| entombed mortal dust, "In Memoir
am" To those who, like the writer,
had the good fortune to hear Mr.. F.
NJ. English's mastery lecture upon
this wonderful work, nothing need
be said further, but to those of my
readers who missed that intellectual
treat, address few words. A
noted biographical writer in 1857,
said Of in Memoriam," "In no Ian
guage probably is such another
series of elegies-so deep, SO meta
physical, so imaginative, so musical,
and showing such imprisoned and
solemnizing affection for the dead"
1t has been we'll said by Mr.. Rear
den that if the same poem had been
written upon the death of a sweet
heart or even a wife, it would have
lost much of force.
But, written in commemoration OF
dead friend. as monument to a
friendship for which, in strength
and manly purity, history furnishes
no parallel, it stands forth more
time-enduring than any pyramid
that ever held the mummitied re-
mains of any Pharaoh who has lord
, ed it over the hosts of the Nile.
In Johnson's beautiful though
brief epitaph on the Countess Of
Pembroke and III Henry Kings exc
guy" we have examples of some stir
ring poetry inspired by the death Of
loved ones of the opposite sex. But
in. these cases certain seXua
grief must necessarily predominant
that is entirely absent in ''In Mem
oriam."
| remember reading some time
ago novel by O. w. Holmes, "The
I Guardian Angel in which occurred
a slurring allusion to Tennyson'!
; masterpiece. | cannot recall the
exact language used, but it strucl
me at the time as being savagely un
just. Wholly incomprehensible in {
man like the author of the auto
crat," unless (the book was publish
ed in 1869 he had become tainted
with the then prevailing hatred o.
everything English, feeling that ha:
since happily almost disappeared
from among Americas educated
classes.
"A few months ago well-know1
San Francisco journalist, in an arti
, Gle on SIN Memoriam," spoke of the
f agnostic proclivities of the autho
and cited the lines, Behold we know
not anything" to substantiate hi
Interpretation of the work. But
would say, most humbly and defer
entially, that the gentleman reaC
=, the poems to little purpose if he die
not find a stronger faith his own.
In the Introductory stanzas occur
, the following:
"Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why;
He thinks he was not made to die,
And thou hast made him: thou art just
i, "Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be;
They are but broken lights of thee,
:, And thou, o Lord, art more than they.
(Nn la