The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1900-06-22
""JCN 4 WEEK, $3.50 A YEAR

century. postcrity sifts out; remem-
boring som" f"w, forgetting tho great
mn't'tndo. Little by little they pass
from notice, and shortly tho kindly
wnvo of oblivion swccps over them.
ll"rc is ono who will live; who in
after times will be known rs the au-
thor of the mastcr poem of the Nine
tr"nth century.
In M"morinm is an ology. 1t is
th" noblcst clcsiuc poem in any Ian
%unG". We have in English only
two other clegics with which it might
bo compared. They arc tho "Lyci-
das' Of Milton, and Gruy's "Elegy in
a Country Churchyard"
But neither ofthoscpocms Though
both written by mnstorH), and both
masterpieces in English literature,
can b" compared, strictly speaking,
with the In Mrmorium of Tcnnyson.
In lNcidns are fnutless lines.
But it is Il single note, and wo get
the whole of it in that ono beautiful
figure, i'll which, calling on tho shop
herds to weep no moro for his young
Irj"nd, Lycidas, who had beon
crowned, he says:
"Wcrp no more, woful shepherds, weep
no more,
for lyCidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
sank, though he br, beneath tho wa
terry ilOor:
so sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And Yet, anon, repairs his dropping
head.
AND tricks his beams, and with new
spanHlcd ore,
Flaucs in the forehead of the morning
sky:
Fnr"' tn" dear might Of Him that walked
tin" waves:
There entertain him all the saints
ahOVc,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
Nhai sing, aud, singing in their glory,
move,
And wipe the tears forever from his
eyes,"
Gray'a "ol"yy' Is the ono poem
associated with tho namo Of Thomas
Gray the ravon is with Poo He
WAS ten years in writing it; and we
can we'll believe it, since it contains
"Nany Il gem ofpurcst ray serene"
who1o brillinnco IS tho result of much
polishing and refining at the hands
oh;ho poct.
iiut, with all tho perfection in
phrase and rythm, with tho beauty
Of figure, and exalted sentiment,
Grnys IIlrSy is a monotono; consist
nG Of one long, though beautifully
sustained, suggestion, put in form
Of verso which serves to emphasize
til" mOhotony Of tho sentiment.
Hence thcro arc single phrases that
nr" often quoted like
"rno short and simple annals of the
poor"
"Full many II ilowcr is born to blush
unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert
air."
the noisclcSs tenor Of their way"
"lIvcn in our ashes live their wanted
fires"
But tho room can hardly be read
ns Il whole; certainly not aloud, with
out disclosing the samonoss Of sonti-
mcnt and monotony Of measure.
The In Memoriam of Tennyson
has passed into another class 1t is
delivered from monotony in the fact
that it consists of 13l short poems,
written at different times, under vary
ing moods Of tho poet.
In tho year 1897 Arthur Hallam,
son Of Henry tIallam, the historian,
died in Vienna, while on u tour of
pleasure and study in Italy.
Italian had boon Tcnnyson's clos
est col'ego friond. They had been
like brothers-even closer; for
"Morc than my brothers arc to me"
is ono Of his lines in tho poem. In
Mcmoriam appeared in the year 1850,
thirteen years after tho death of
lIallnm. This ology was therefore
much longer than Gray's in Course
Of preparation. Through all those
mournfll days the poet ponders the
old problems of love, death and im-
mortality. lie associates with his
grief the changing seasons; tho re-