The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-12-09
AN AFTERNOON WITH TENNYsoN.
Rev. John w. Bellows Lectures Upon the
Late Laureate.


The Unitarian Women's Alliance exer-
cised good judgment in the entertain
ment at the First Parish yestry yester-
day afternoon. The announcement that
the Rev John ". Bellows was to lecture
upon Tennyson, and that music would
be provided by the First Parish choir,
crowded the accommodations. The CHI If
first sang "Sweet and Low" and The
OWL"
/ Mr.. Bellows began by saying that just
after the death of Tennyson one felt that
there was no one left to fill the vacant
throne Who could bear to think OF Swim
burn with his hot passion, or Morris,
with his too fluent verses? The question
| arose, perhaps. "Do we need poetry any
longer?" The laureateship might, per-
haps, go abegging and the world of
poetry settle down to sleep like the bears
in the winter.
In this materialistic age Tennyson was
the lineal descendant of Wordswor and
Goethe. Perhaps, because this singer
so frankly faced the puzzles of our
modern life he is deemed to be the
representative poet. He sets forth the
meaning and mystery of what were else
an unintellig1ble world.
A kind of impenetrable reserve fingers
about his life. He baffied the vendor of
gossip's details about great man. He
expressed what we should feel in this con-
nection when he said "Thank God we
know nothing about Shakespeare"
There was and is certain satisfaction
to think in this age of newspapers, of
the inaccessibility that surrounded our
poet.
While considering the different stages
of the poets life, MIR. Bellows said that
there must have been something that
was not the, general idea of his morose-
ness in man to whom Lander could
write, II entreat you Alfred Tennyson
come and share with me this vision" etc.
The chief characteristic of Tennyson's
mind and art was his love of form. He
was always the master OF form, no la Dor,
no polishing with the file was too ardu-
Gus for him. He possessed an unusual
power of taking pains, which, ii not
quite genius is the only safeguard of
genius. He was not an impre ssionist.
giving a great block of green for tree.
He was -Raphealite in abiding by
fact with just that touch of the poets
own art that lifts us to the lakeland of
immortal song. At this point, it was
very appropriate as well as enjoyable
that Mr.. Pierce should sing one of Tenny-
sons lyrics, Home they Brought Her
Warrior Dead"
Mr.. Bellows continued by asserting that
everywhere in Tennyson's poerty you see
the breathing and stirring of questions
that must shape the modern world. His
description of a shell in Maud" is
science transfieured into glowing poetry.
But he also felt in far higher sense the
spirit of the age. The master word of
the latter half of the nineteenth century
is that word evolution" and wefind his
estimate of it's meaning in In Me nor1am.
But the poet must be something
more than the writer of pleasing lyrics
We cannot think of Homer as guilty
of a triolet. In assigning Tennyson
place as a great poet we must estimate
him as an epic and dramatic poet. If the
is always to set the fashion of the Iliad
epic, perhaps Tennyson cannot sit in that
vast place. There is no room at the
board for him with Milton But ours is
no age for the old time epic, not war,
but the soul of man is now the central
idea. King Arthur was an Ideal man,
who reyereneed his conscience. This
is strain foreign to the old epic. Fancy
Achilles reverencing his conscience.
Arthur is a type Of idealized manhood.
AT this point Mrs. Fellows sang
Sweetest True Love" from Elaine" and
| after Mr.. Bellows had commented upon
the Princess" as not perhaps touching
our modern problem of woman's rights,
yet asserting the grand relationship of
woman to man as an inspiration. Mr..
Barnard sang ASK Me No More" which
is from the "Princess.n
AS dramatic poet Tennyson was not
success because he could not present
| other people Independent of his own per-
sonality, although he was more success
full than Browning, because of less
potent personality However, Mr. Bellows
expatiated upon the real dramatic spirit
in :" Maud which though in form lyri-
cal, is firmly dramatic. Tennyson put
new soul into at least one historical
character, that of Queen Mary, whom he
shows us so much of woman, SO little
an impossible fiend as is the general i'm
preston from history.
The choir closed with Crossing the
Bar" and everyone in the large audience
had reason to feel that the afternoon
with Tennyson had been particularly de-
lightful. OF course our report can give
no idea of the pleasant feature of the
reading of selections.