The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-01-14
TENNYSON'S TWO SEA POEMS

Tennyson loved all nature. but especially
he loved the ses From bovhood be had
found delight ID the study Of its every mood
and change. and over ana over again its
echoes sound through his verse, In two
poems. however. his Interpretation Of tho
sea rises into food tide Of poetic FEELING
and beauty.
Tue nrst 0. these Is the fragment Break,
break. break" When he wrote Il the poet
was stiil Young man. With his fans watt
ins in the unfolding years: VITA the ear OF
the world as yet but Frudginxiy accordst
him; with his heart wrenched By one Of It's
nrst xirst sorrows In the death OF Arthur
Hallam. whose bride his sister was soon 10
have been. and the close-k,it friend OF his
despest heart
More than my brothers are to me-
--fcr whom HE love was to dover IN that
ncblcst OF eieries "in Memoriam"
~
II was while this sorrow In Its freshness
touched and Swallowed all the world for Ten
nyson that one snrnx day. as he walked tho
pleasant English lanes about his early homo
At sonsrsby. instead OF the green srass under
his foot and the blossom. starred hawthorn
hsdEep at his hand. 10 saw wide gray sea
ana srav old church. and. above the song
OF thrush ana sky lark, TO his inward ear
there sounded the rush OF incoming waves as
they broke white and foamlng AGAINST the
low clins not a hundred yards from Cieve-
don church. under whose aisle Arthur Hal
lam had found his last resting place, So.
In that solitary walk out Of his paddened
heart spranr the now familiar lines,
Break break. break
On thy cold Rrsv stones, o Seal
And would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise IN me"
~
| A noem that voices. Az hardly any other.
the hopeless yesrning the iotsine Of be-
rcavemcnt the sob OF all hearts that achs
and ewes that weep. II IL not as an EXPIRES
sion OF the sea- but because he has made the
sea 20 stand for the sorrow, the mystery
tho ineSorsblcncss OF death that the world
has made q part OF the literature OF grief
ana mutitudes OF hearts who never heard
the murmur OF wave or watched the foam
OF breaker have through u voiced a pas-
sion az nil their own
Tonnysor was an old man OF past four.
score when he wrote the other poem which
II to this the complement the antithcsis, the
gloria for tho thrcnody Crossing tho Bar Z"
In this the soR is no longer 10 the noet a
lament FOR the dead, but mss become the
pathway TO immortal life
when that which drew from out the bound
less deem
Turns asAtn home"
~
Not in the sprnstims wan this. but on a
ripc October day that Tennyson to whom
"ons clear call" had already come Tor al
most the laAt time vac making the easy
Journey from Aldworth TO his beloved Far.
ringtord and Its fair sea view, when in .
moment. hs no himself said there came "a
him those lines which the world will not
soon or willingly forgeti
"Eunsst and evening star
And one clear call for mel
And may there he no moaning OF the bar
When nut out to sea-
That same autumn evening he wrote on
the uoem and showed II to his son, VIII,
AT once said THAT Is the crown Of your
life work" IL was n well-rendercd verdict
4 ans fruitaRe worthy TO crown Tennyson'
ripensd wears; us simple ma the language q
child; a. noble as his own great genius
az devout "a the faith which had been ,h
. cornerstone Of his character. That he him
, self folt II TO be the httinE nnals OF all h
had written Is shown by the fact that but
few days before hls death he charged his son
Mind you nut Crossing the Bar az IN
end OF all editions OF my poems
~
. A little later. ard 10 the music OF IN
great organ Of Westminster Abbey white
robed choir sang tho beautiful words as the
2 laid tho poet in hts honorcd grave and agal
a and again It has been heard besides btl
I forms, where life has paSsed with that cut