be his lot. But, in the natural heat of youth, he had at the outset certainly mixed up some trivial with a greater number of worthier productions, and had shown an impatience of criticism by which, however excusable, he was sure to be himself the chief sufferer. His higher gifts, too, were of that quality which, by the changeless law of nature, cannot ripen fast; and there was, accordingly, some portion both of obscurity and of crudity in the results of his youthful labours. Men of slighter materials would have come more quickly to their maturity, and might have given less occasion not only for cavil but for warrantable animadversion. It was yet more creditable to him, than it could be even to the just among his critics, that he should, and while yet young, have applied himself with so resolute a hand to the work of castigation. He thus gave a remarkable proof alike of his reverence for his art, of his insight into his powers, of the superiority he had acquired to all the more commonplace illusions of self-love, and perhaps of his presaging consciousness that the great, if they mean to fulfil the measure of their greatness, should always be fastidious against themselves. 3. It would be superfluous to enter upon any general criticism of the collection of 1842, which was examined, when still recent, in this Review, and a large portion of which is established in the familiar recollection and favour of the public. We may, however, say that what may be termed at large the classical idea (though it is not that of Troas nor of the Homeric period) has, perhaps, never been grasped with greater force and justice than in 'Enone,' nor exhibited in a form of more consummate polish. Ulysses' is likewise a highly finished poem; but it is open to the remark that it exhibits (so to speak) a corner-view of a character which was in itself a cosmos. Never has political philosophy been wedded to the poetic form more happily than in the three short pieces on England and her institutions, unhappily without title, and only to be cited, like writs of law and papal bulls, by their first words. Even among the rejected pieces there are specimens of a deep metaphysical insight; and this power reappears, with an increasing growth of ethical and social wisdom, in 'Locksley Hall' and elsewhere. The Wordsworthian poem of 'Dora' is admirable in its kind. From the firmness of its drawing, and the depth and singular purity of its colour, 'Godiva' has from its birth, if we judge aright, stood as at once a great performance and a great pledge. But, above all, the fragmentary piece on the Death of Arthur was a fit prelude to that lordly music of the Idylls, which is now freshly sounding in our ears. If we pass onward from these volumes, it is only because space forbids a further enumeration. 4. The 'Princess' was published in 1847. The author has termed it "a medley": why, we know not. It approaches more nearly to the character of a regular drama, with the stage directions written into verse, than any other of his works, and it is composed, consecutively and throughout, on the basis of one idea. It exhibits an effort to amalgamate the place and function of woman with that of man, and the failure of that effort, which duly winds up with the surrender and marriage of the fairest and chief enthusiast. It may be doubted whether the idea is one well suited to exhibition in a quasi-dramatic form. Certainly the mode of embodying it, so far as it is dramatic, is not successful; for here again the persons are little better than mere persona. They are media, and weak media, for the conveyance of the ideas. The poem is, nevertheless, one of high interest, both on account of the force, purity, and nobleness of the main streams of thought, which are clothed in language full of all Mr. Tennyson's high and delicate excellences; and also because it marks the earliest effort of his mind in the direction of his latest and greatest achievements. 5. It will not be difficult to establish the first proposition by citations. Who can read the following speech of 'Lady Psyche' without a conversion for the moment, despite the slight interferences it involves with the fundamental laws of creation, to the whole scheme of feminine and social transformation? "At last She rose upon the wind of prophecy, Two plummets dropt, for one, to sound the abyss Musician, painter, sculptor, critic, more: And everywhere the broad and bounteous earth Should bear a double crop of those rare souls, Poets whose thoughts enrich the blood of the world.'"-P. 38. 6. After exhibiting the bane in a form so winning, we must at once present the antidote. Upon the catastrophe of the enterprise in the adjustment of which Mr. Tennyson does not go to work as an ingenious playwright would― then, forthwith, "Love in the sacred halls Held carnival at will, and flying struck (p. 161). And at last we are duly brought to the true philosophy of the case: "For woman is not undevelopt man, But diverse; could we make her as the man, Sweet Love were slain: his dearest bond is this, Yet in the long years liker must they grow; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto noble words; And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time, Distinct in individualities, But like each other ev'n as those who love, Then comes the statelier Eden back to men; Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm; May these things be!' Sighing she spoke, 'I fear They will not.' 'Dear, but let us type them now In our own lives, and this proud watchword rest Of equal; seeing either sex alone Is half itself, and in true marriage lies Nor equal nor unequal: each fulfils Defect in each: and always thought in thought, Purpose in purpose, will in will they grow, The two-celled heart, beating with one full stroke The word "animal" may jar a little at first hearing; but, without doubt, Mr. Tennyson uses it, as Dante does in "O animal grazioso e benigno," to convey simply the idea of life, and as capable of reaching upwards to the highest created life. 7. With passages like these still upon the mind and ear, and likewise having in view many others in the 'Princess' and elsewhere, we may confidently assert it as one of Mr. Tennyson's brightest distinctions that he is now what from the very first he strove to be, and what when he wrote 'Godiva' he gave ample promise of becoming-the poet of woman. We do not mean, nor do we know, that his hold over women as his readers is greater than his command or influence over men; but that he has studied, sounded, painted woman in form, in motion, in character, in office, in capability, with rare devotion, power, and skill; and the poet, who best achieves this end, does also most and best for man. 8. In 1850 Mr. Tennyson gave to the world, under the title of ' In Memoriam,' perhaps the richest oblation ever offered by the affection of friendship at the tomb of the departed. The memory of Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly in 1833, at the age of twenty-two, will doubtless live chiefly in connection with this volume. But he is well known to have been one who, if the term of his days had been prolonged, would have needed no aid from a friendly hand, would have built his own enduring monument, and would have bequeathed to his country a name in all likelihood greater than that of his very distinguished father. The writer of this paper was, more than half a century ago, in a condition to say "I marked him As a far Alp; and loved to watch the sunrise De Vere's Mary Tudor,' I, V. 1. [This sentence has now been added.-W. E. G., 1878.] |