The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-23
OUR LITERARY BUDGET.
DIFFERENT views OF rExSYsoS.
Few Writers Have Contributed so Much to
the Common Fund of speecis--Ihe world
More Lonely for His Disappcarsnce.

than popularity ShhSN W Wv f''~
any other art. We are a most reading
generation, we all know something OF
the difficulties OF expression in WORDS
We are all more or less qualified critics
in literature. and a long-continued popu-
larity of the select kind which Tennyson
has always been is at least PROOF Oh
a very rare power OF poetical expression
OF this power there Is no better test INA"
the number of familiar quotations u
which a poet has given currency Al
mos, The whole body OF Tennyson
poetry Is so familiar as 10 De ioOoe
nizabie. There is no modern poet, scarce
Nv any poet since Shakespeare even in-
Guiding the contentious and maxim mar
ing poets who wrote. II may De saiu' ~
the purpose Of being quoted VINO ho'
contributed so many phrases as emmy
son 20 the common fund OF speech; anu
made them familiar IN men Hlou'nS DO
household words
- ts ,,or,, we'll worth noting, In con-
sjdering this popularity, that 1t was not
Immediate. The artist had 10 create ms
own audience, because he had an lhui
yiduality of thought and or style win
which IL took time 10 familiarze MS pun
lie. Taine has described II III saying
that Tennyson's earlier poems made thelr
wav alone and under the surface ana
that upon the appearance OF his thlIu
volume after an interval OF full oecaue
of silence the singer took his place at
once at the head Of living English poets.
II was the appearance Of the English
Jdlvs and Other POEMS" in 1912, thai
marked the beginning Of the Tennyso-
rian era in English poetry. That was
half century ago. and we have not
seen the end OF II yet. Nobody WITHIN
that half century has successfully chal-
ierged the supremacy Of Tennyson
That this supremacy has been gained
nv more successful and complete express
sion than anybody else has attained or
the deeper thoughts and feelings that are
common to educated men and women OF
the Englsh-speaking nations, there can
be no doubt. He has been the musical
voice Of England. and Of America, too.
for two generations Americans cannot
sympathize with his English political
poems. which, indeed, seem to be little
more than the platitudes Of old-fashion-
ed Whigism most admirably presented,
but even English poems that are human
appeal to us as forcibly as the poets
own countrymen. Such landscape paint
ing, we are inclined to say, was never
before done in English words as that
which is TO be found in the English
Idyls and Other POEMS" in 1912, that
'In Memoriam," while in this latter
elegy the poet discussed the gravest and
most vexing problems Of the time
The time is not our time. and what we
accept as truisIns were looked upon
askance as heresies when they were pro-
mulgated. We have to bear in mind as we
read "In Memoriam' in 1892 that il was
published forty years ago and some Of it
written nearly sixty years ago, and that
wnat we accept as a matter Of course
was by no means accepted as a matter Of
course by the first readers Of the poen
"The writer who attains his full purpose
loses himself in his own luster." But
assuredly there was never poem written
upon a subject of controversy that more
completely disarmed rancor by the rever-
ent and tolerant and comprehensive spirit
IN which II was composed, or that so
recommended itself to lovers of pure
poetry.
'In Memoriam' is perhaps Tennyson's
masterpiece. and is that of his works by
which he will be longest remembered, for
while it has a certain unity, it contains
many Of the most exquisite Of his lyrics.
But all the work that he did from the
first OF the English Idyls" to the last Of
the "Idyls of the King" covering period
of thirty years, is assured of a dstin-
guished and peculiar place in English
literature Even the laureateship in his
hands had a distinction, for the lode on
the Death Of the Duke Of Wellington"
was an official poem, and It is the only
official poem Of an English laureate that
the world Will not willingly let die. For
the last decade the aged poet has scarcely
added to the fame which he has, never
theless, not survived. but he has had the
felicity of living until his place was We'll
assured among the great masters of Eng
lish speech.-New York Times.
Little is known respecting the collie
giate life Of Lord Tennyson. though occa-
eional references TO it crop out from time
TO time in the correspondence of his fell
iow-students To what extent he was a
student I'm the learned tongues is not
clear in his early verse, or not so clear
as that he was a student of English poe
try. Nor was he alone in this study,
and the practice which accompanied II.
for. besides his friend Hallam, his broth
er Charles was bent. like himself, on win
ming the laurel. The two brothers pub
]ished two more collections Of verse in
1880, not together, as in the Louth ven
ture, three years before, but separately.
Charles Tennyson's volume, which was
the smaller OF the two. consisted mostly
OF sonnets, or rather of carelessly con-
structed quatorzains, which so many
English poets will insist upon writing
and calling sonnets, while the volume Of
Alfred, though 1t contained seven Of
these unshapely compositions, had a
wider scope and range, as was indicated
by its title, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical"
1t was followed by a second collection
two years later. The reception that these
volumes met with is worthy OF chapter
In the Curlosities Of English Criticism,
should such a work ever be written. IL
was as singular and unreasonable as the
reception of Wordsworth's Lyrical Bal
lads" Byron's Hours Of Idleness," Shell
ley's "Laon and Cythna," or Keats EN-
dymion. "-Harper's Weekly.
Like numerous other poets Of the first
rank he was never at his best when
asked to write to order. His mind was
essentially contemplative. He concerned
himself with the great problems Of hu-
man life instead of any one Of its minor
and passing characterlstics-with the
eternal rather than the transient Never
theless. and largely because OF this, he
was the most august literary figure of
the era. Undoubtedly some OF his works
will always hold a place among the mas
terpieces Of the language. In a large de-
gree he has set the fashion for the
writers In his field who have appeared
since he acquired fame and he has erect
ed the standard by which excellence Is
20 be tested.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.
1t seems difficult to conceive that there
Is room for doubt that Tennyson will be
classed by posterity as the foremost poet
and the foremost name In English litera-
ture during the Victorian era He has
added 10 the treasures of our common
tongue To English verse he has given
new melodies and subtler graces than it