The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-05-25
TENNYSON'S DREAM .OF
FAIR WOMEN.
Second Essay of Series of Three
by the Students of the Lit
erary Class Of Henderson
College.

erary Glass OF Henderson
College.
Apart from its high literary excellence.
Tennyson' 5 Dream of Fair Women forms
a notable collection OF pen pictures de-
lineated with the wonderful inspiration
of the poet and grouped with that exqui-
site art which bespeaks him not only
poet and painter, but historian and art
critic as well.
What Michael Angelo the painter was
to architecture, this and much more is
Tennyson the poet to historical criticism,
as we shall presently see, as we follow
him through the mazes of " a dream that
was not all Dream
We are not quite sure when the poets
arm was lifted to hew down a cavalier
bearing in his saddle bow a lady from a
leaguer'd town, that Mary Queen of
Scots was Swallowed forth, yet the hint
is so suggestive OF the strange, sad story
OF the Scottish queen. that we must per
force believe it was she and not the bride
of young Lochinvar who walked the poet 5
ire
\ queen before she was week old, be-
trOthed when she was six, wife at six
teen, we may easily believe after the
training she had received under the
Guises in the frivolous, intriguing court
of France, that Mary would not scruple
to indulge illicit love for Rizzio, to be the
murderer OF Darnley, the partner of
Bothwell's flight from the "leaguered
town, the bitter enemy of Knox, and,
lastly, the promoter OF the conspiracy
against Elizabeth, which brought Mary's
own head to the block in 1897.
Mary $ peer and prototype in love and
beauty and misfortune, is Helen Of Troy,
that " daughter of the gods divinely tall
and most divinely fair For her, many
drew swords and died; for her. oil Greece
wore the garb of mourning and the
waters of Nautilus were red with TrOj Jan
blood; yet. with all her faults and frail-
ties, we could i'll afford to lose her from
the precious setting wherein poets and
painters, from Homer to Tennyson, have
enshrined her.
Had there been no bcauteous Helen,
the stolen bride of Paris, there would
have been no Had and Homer, that
morning star of song in ancient Greece,
would have been dumb as well as blind.
With no Helen, there would be no fiery
Achilles, no dauntless Hector, no stern
AgamemnOn.
With no Helen, there would benO tender
AndrOmache, no faithful IIecuba, no
chaste and chastened Iphigenia, who
alone in pagan myth and story is worthy
to stand on the light-kissed peaks of the
ages with that fair Hebrew maiden VINO
knew
"How beautiful a thing it was to die
For God and for her sire.
Just as the daughter of Agamemnon
was the sacrifice of fate and duty, so
Jephthah's daughter was the free will
Offering of love and faith: the same in
outward seeming, if not in spiritual sig
niticance, the two maidens epitomize the
virtues of their respective races and stand
for what is most worthy of imitation
among the herOines of Grecian and
Jewish civilization. Between these twain,
in the grouping of the poets dream,
stands Cleopatra, the most gorgeous eX-
preston of elite paganism, the browning
efiOrescence of Il civilization that died
with her. This civilization of the
Ptolemies, that had built the Pyramids
and Swayed the destinies of the world
so long, was about to pass away, and in
passing, lett US a creation, strange, alb
sorbing and majestic. Cleopatra was
essentially a woman, and in all the short
cOmings and excuses of her life, she
sinned and suffered by virtue of her
wOmanhOOd, as only a woman could and
did sin and suffer. Strange it was, that
with only warriors for lovers, she wor-
shipped no god but Eros; strange, that
she who conquered Rome's conqueror,
succumbed only to the little blind gods
skill, and stranger still that she "who
governed men by change, and so swayed
all moods" should haveloved her Roman
t,,4 .l,l I
so absolutely, so unreservedly that dis
daining new trophies, she might have
won in winning Augustus Caesars heart,
died as she had lived, Mark AntOnys
very own.
Her cruel taunt to ROsamOnd
go you tamely died,
You should have chung to
Fulvia'S waist and thrust
The dagger thrO' her side
gives all too plainly the Poets estimate
of the worlds beauteOus rose, passing
sweet ere while, now, naught but odor
vile
But History tells us this English Fulvia,
Queen Eleanor herself was anything but
a tame and passive sufferer by Rosa
mond's charms, for, following the silken
clew that guided the king to Rosamond's
secret bower, the proud queen offered fair
RosamOnd Clifford the choice between
death by poison or a dagger.
AS a foil to the lurid splendOr of Gle
opatras life and the rich eXuberance of
Fair ROsamond's charms is grouped q
trio, Margaret More Roper, Joan of
Arc and Eleanor, the wife of Edward /.
of England whose love, patriotism and
loyalty have long been famous in song
and story.
Margaret More ROper's devotion to
her good and gifted father is a theme
worthy any pen or pencil, and nowhere
except in her own heart and in her
fathers Utopia could such lifelong love
have found a place "Her murdered
fathers head" plucked at her own LIES
risk from London Bridge, kept near her
life through, and finally buried with her,
attests the strength and depth of her
devotion.
More like the creation of the poets
fancy than yeritable actor, arises j oan
OF Arc, that Light of ancient France. In
the threefold character of saint. warrior.
martyr, she fulfilled her mission. By
years of holy vigils and prayers, she was
trained for great work; at the head of
the armies of France, she drove back the
English invaders and restored Charles
to his throne. Her mission completed
she fell into the hands of the English to
be by them burned as a witch and sor-
ceress, thus passing through the fires
or deal to a canonized saint reward.
Eleanor, worthy Spouse of the noblest
and best of the Angevin rulers of Eng
land, is Intentionally and artistically
reserved by the poet for the most effec-
tive place in his Dream of Fair Women.
This chaste queen, this loyal wife, this
holy woman, in her triple character, is
left with the captain OF the Poets dream
shining refulgently upon her, to be to
us, whether queen, wife Or woman our
model and ensample forever
Not learned, perhaps, save in gracious
household ways
Not perfect, nay. but full of tender wants:
No angel, but dearer being all dipt.
In angel instincts breathing Paradise
Interpreter between God and men,
The Washington News says: "In
ono thipr Tho South .,,oo.