The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-02-07
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Some Verses by tho laureate and
His Brothers.
Version of "Maud" Which Has Never
Appeared in Any Collection OF Ills
Works = Tho Writings of
Poetic Family.
lCoPYRIGuT, 1897


one over whom the poetic call had alb
solutc control. No editor or magazine
could compel or hasten his inspiration,
and he only yielded to the periodicals
when had something that he would
have printed in due time without them.
His method of working enabled him to
dispense with the literary vehicles most
authors prize. 1t is even doubtful if
any editor ever addressed him the fa-
miliar legend: "Returned with
thanks" Not longer ago than last
year he commented on this special habit
of keeping aloof from the magazines.
lie felt that the magazines function
was not in accordance with his methods
and genius.
Charles and Alfred were the authors
of the Poems by Two Brothcrs'' in
1877. The publishers of this volume
were Messrs. Jackson, printers and
booksellers, ut No. s Louth, Lincoln.
shire, and they showed some discern.
ment and courage in giving the young
authors ten pounds for this book
Charles was nineteen and Alfred cigh
teen when it appcarcd), but it proved
the forcrunncr of the greatest pocti.
year i'll England since Elizabcthan
times. Among book hunters this vol
ume has Il priceless value now, and is
nearly as rare as Poc's "Tamcrlane,"
published at the same time, l think, by
an obscure printer in Boston.
The Poems by Two Brothers" had.
along with its promise, distinct STAMP
of youthful authorship, The motto on
the title page, however, is unassuming
enough 1t was the following line from
Martial: "IIacc nos novimus cssc nihil."
Frederick Tcnnyson, like Alfred and
Charles, was IL student of Trinity col.
lcTc, Cambridge, going there before
them. lie received prize in 1928 for Il
Greek poem on Egypt" 1t was Just a
year later that Alfred got the prize
there for his poem entitled "Timbuc,
too" Frcdcricli's first collection of
verse came out in 1871, and was called:
days and Hours" a copy of this book
now would be marked very rare 1t is
known that Alfred's competitor for the
Trinity college prize was his friend
Arthur Henry lIallam but not so we'll
known that it was proposed when they
were about to publish books that they
initiate the union Colcridgc and Wads-
worth cXcmpliiied in their Lyrical
Ballads" 1t was Ilallam's father who
broke up this arrangement. Three lines
of Tcnnyson's "Timbuctoo" he en-.
bodied in his lode to Memory" pub.
lishcd in 1880. The "Timbuctoo" caused
the Athcncum to say, July %, 1920, that
it was the work of a Greatly first-class
poetical genius" and would have done
honor to any man that ever wrote"
The Poems Chiefly Lyrical was
Alfred Tennyson's first book written
free from partnership; and the West
minister's criticism and prophecy con-
corning it were really acute. The
Westminster writer said of the poems
among other things that 'their very
generally appreciated for n time"
which was true enough. And scarcely
less fclicitous was the following pas
sage: "If our estimate of Mr.. Tommy
son be correct, he too is poet; and
many years hence may he read his
Juvenile description of that character
with tho proud consciousness that it
has become the description and history
of his own work"
Charles Tennyson, too, began to print
independently in 1880. He brought out
that year n volume entitled "Sonnets
and Fugitive Pieces" The dedication
of it was in sonnet form to his sister
Mary. Leigh Hunt spoke well of this
book, and was also an early admirer of
Alfred Tcnnyson's poetry. Five years
later Charles Tennyson became n vicar
in Grasby, Lincolnshire, and about the
same date. in order to inherit certain
property, he assumed the name of
Charles Tennyson Turner. AS late as
1864 he wrote new volume of sonnets
and dedicated this book ITO the Poet
Laureate"
A little incident may be worth men,
tioning at this point, concerning a
young lady friend of Alfred Tennyson
and himself years ago. Her name was
be called the acquaintance of n sum
mer merely Before finally parting
Tcnnyson sent the girl some verses
which will not be found in any of his
volumes, and therefore copy below a
stanZa from them:
Because she bore the iron name
OF him who doomed his king to die,
deemed her one OF harsher frame
And looks that awe the passcrby:
But found n maiden tender, shy,
With fair blue eyes and passing sweet
And longed 10 kiss her hands and lie
thousand summers OF her feet
All the Tennyson brothers, except the
first three, who have absorbed this COM
ment, seem not to have appealed long to
the public, and to the larger public not
at all.
But the piece of most distinction and
interest, of course, is the poem by Al
fred Tennyson, which he simply titled
''stanzas." 1t became afterward, if not
the most mclodious, one of the most
memorable lyrics, in Maud" but not
nm L. 4 :.