The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-05-27
THE CRITICS CORNER.
WEEKLY Chat REGARDING WRIT
ERs AND hooks.
"Tennysou; His Art and Relation to Mod
ern LIfc"-By stopford Brooke-"F.F "
Receipt Books"-Mc. Phaii Notes.

lOTu n. BTOOke, M ~ W" NN''
Sons. New York. London. ". FOR SAFE
by West, Johnston Company
In this Invaluable addition to the nu
merous books which have been written
about Tennyson, Mr.. Stopford Brooke mas
given us the very best and most complete
of them all, and has proven hihseil iiic
possessor of that deep power vi e'''
pathetic insight without which the worh
of the keenest analyst Is no more Jus'
than the decision of the value Oh ne
by visible results. merely. ana not III
ward motives. The truest CRITICISM u
not purely and coidly intellectual. IL
respects whatever is sincere ana earnest
in effort more thoroughly than what Is
superb or brilliant In accomplishment
and can as iittle bear TO ming sheerips
witticlsm into the press at the expense
of some mans honest work as to reward
the Intellectual effort OF small hands az
task too large for them with an unioVihs
blow.
Criticism which is scorching In It's sar-
casm and congealing In it's superhciai
perceptiyeness. frequently gets the credit
OF being strong and brilliant and conciu-
siye. Strong and brilliant 1t may be; II
can never be conclusive.
IT Is delightful to perceive, IN this
volume of Mr. Brooke's how cultivated
and keen yet reverent, an anatomist ne
is; how entirely sympathetic and yet
how incisivey discriminating.
In charming introduction he comments
upon the Laureate, first, as an artist;
second. his relation 10 Christianity, third,
his relation to social politics.
As an artist, he finds him characterized
by simplicity and clearness, state
illness which arises out OF reverence for
his own individuality. power TO see beau
ty and to shape it.
In his comments upon Tennys0n's rela-
ton to Christianity. Mr.. Brooke states
that the true beginning OF the poets
poetical life twas coincident with the
birth Of the movements afterwards called
the High Church" and the "Broad
Church" movements. and with the birth
OF "A new political and social era"
This religious awakening" says he,
"was felt and seized by two distinct
types Of character, or OF human tendency,
and crystalized by two representative
men. ]. II. Newman and Frederick Maur-
ice; and Il is curious for those who care
for analogies to the evolution of species
to trace how the one was the child Of
the University of oxford and the other
Of the University of Cambridge. The
main difference which lay between their
method of presenting the faith was
time-djfference II / may be allowed TO
invent that term. In the matter OF re-
ligion the past was the foremost thing
TO Newman to Maurice the present New
man looked back to the past, the nearer
to the apostles the nearer to trutb0 for
the highest point to which religious life,
but not doctrine, had attained, and his
immense reverence for the past became
part of the mind Of Tennyson. But It
was balanced in Tennyson by even
greater reverence for the present, as con-
tanning In II an immediate inspiration and
revelation from God. This foundation for
poetic thought and emotion was given
10 him by the religious work OF Maurice.
The deepest thought i'm the mind of Maur-
ice was that God was moving IN the
present as fully as He had moved in the
past; and the incessant representation
OF this. in every form OF II. was his
great contribution to theology. or course,
others before him had said similar things.
but he said this in q new way. and under
new conditions. Maurice could not, how
ever. quite escape grom the web Of the
past, and his struggle 10 combine the past
and the present entangied him, entansled
his mind, and entansie1 his followers.
When he clung as he did, to the ancient
intellectual formulas as laid down i'm the
Creeds and Services Of the church. and
tried TO weave them into harmony with
his main faith. he damaged his position.
and up 10 certain point his work.
Tennyson, as a poet did not fall into
this nl-fortuned position. What his per-
sonal views were concerning the creed or
ChristendOm is not the question here. IL
would be an fmpertinence to discuss
them. But his poetry is a pubic
possession, and in that poetry there Is
naturally no doctrinal confession, no in
tellectual propositions which define his
faith There is no formulated
creed In his work. This absence
OF definite doctrine. which Is the reason
many persons say that Tennyson was
not Christian {holding the amusing
theory that the Nlcene Greed, rather than
the teaching OF Jesus. is the test of
Christianity, Is. first OF all. necessitated
by his art; secondly, II IS in itself Def
mite dOctrinal statements are abhOrent TO
poetry. - Had Tennyson defined
his view OF Jesus he would never have
said: Ring in the Christ which Is 10
be-" In that idea of Christ and His Cos
pei In mankind Is given an infinite extern
cfo We NAV give the nhraS fiffY