The Poetry and Philosophy
of Tennyson
A HANDBOOK OF SIX LECTURES
BY
EDWARD HOWARD GRIQGS
Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Mrs. H. J. Cody
The Poetry and Philosophy
OF
TEPSIPSIVSOIV
A Handbook of Six Lectures by
Edward Howard Griggs
B. W. HUEBSCH
Publisher
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1906, by '
EDWARD HOWARD GRIGGS
THE OUTTNG PRESS
DEPOSIT, N. Y.
CROSSING THE BAR.
" Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
Wnen I have crost the bar."
— TENNYSON.
INDEX.
Note: Spirit of the Course .
I. The Life and Early Work of Tennyson .... 9
II. The Idylls of the King . 14
III. The Holy Grail and the Passing of Arthur . . . .20
IV. In Memoriam: The Period of Grief and Struggle . . . 26
V. In Memoriam: The Cantos of Faith and Love . . .30
VI. The Expression of Tennyson's Spiritual Philosophy in Briefer
Poems '. . . .35
Book List 40
SPIRIT OF THE COURSE.
THE interest of this course is divided almost equally between the
appreciation of Tennyson's matchless art and the study of his
philosophy and his message to the modern spirit. The work
centers upon the two masterpieces of Tennyson: The Idylls of the
King, in which his artistic power is most fully revealed, and In Memo-
riam, the most complete expression of his spiritual message. Certain
of the more remarkable of his shorter poems will also be studied as
culminating expressions at once of his art and his philosophy.
There are two widely different elements in Tennyson's contribution
to the modern spirit, corresponding to the motives of his two master-
pieces. His poetry fulfills for us something of the function of land-
scape painting, relieving us from the stress and hurry of present life.
The more sordid aspects of the struggle for existence shocked Tennyson.
The breaking-down of aristocratic forms, the bare, greedy character of
half-born democracy offended him. He felt that the solution of the
social problem lay rather in a return to the manners of an earlier period,
under the benignant leadership of the gentleman, than in the comple-
tion of the struggle toward democracy in which we find ourselves
involved. Thus it was with a feeling of relief that he turned from the
life about him to the world of the Arthurian story with its old chivalric
legends, full of dim, knightly figures and fair, unearthly ladies, weaving
with mystic paces and waving hands the golden and rainbow web of a
life of dreams. That Tennyson's meditation upon the material of the
Arthurian story covered a period of more than fifty years is evidence
of the place it occupied in his own thinking; and the poems clothing it
form one of Tennyson's great contributions to the modern spirit, not
only through the gift of calming and exalting beauty, but because,
clothed in the dim forms of the remote world of chivalry, the eternal
realities of the human spirit are revealed with an added beauty and
mystery through the golden radiance or the gray mist of the years
that lie between.
The other gift of Tennyson is in relation to the great problems of
faith. Uniting as he did the best results of the older philosophy with
a full, if sometimes reluctant, acceptance of the conclusions of physical
science, his poetry answers peculiarly certain needs of modern life.
7
No one else has voiced our doubt and questioning more completely,
yet Tennyson rises in In Memoriam, the poem that reveals the heart
of his own experience, to a calm, exultant faith, including not ignoring
doubt. His desire that Crossing the Bar should stand at the end of
every complete edition of his works reveals his thought of it as a kind
of last confession of his belief. It is as satisfyingly perfect in its limpid
music as it is serene and exalted in emotion. Like a benediction at the
end of a beautiful service it rounds the impression of Tennyson's mes-
sage and life, affirming the accepted basis of Christian faith, but freed
from hard dogmatism and stated in terms of the highest experience,
voicing the heroic attitude in the presence of the unknown that is
expressed in King Arthur or Ulysses, but softened by the intimate
tenderness that comes from the sweet and smart of personal living,
with an appreciation of the character of Christ. Tennyson's last word
it is and worthy of all that goes before. Without a great positive con-
tribution of original thought and new vision of life, Tennyson's tender
and delicate appreciation of certain phases of experience, his unerring
grasp of broad moral distinctions, his sense of the unity of law and the
fundamental sanity of the universe at the heart, his unfailing hold upon
the great thought of the past and the deeper basis of Christian faith,
render him a spiritual teacher of unique value in a time when the old
barriers and props have been shaken down, and all men who think
have been forced into the intellectual arena to meet and conquer the
sphinx-problems or die.
I. THE LIFE AND EARLIER WORK OF TENNYSON.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
Introduction. — To study the art and message of the poet who more
than any other dominated the literature of the English-speaking world
for more than half of the nineteenth century. As such a leader, pecul-
iar significance in our study of his work. Poetry always fulfilling
certain high spiritual functions — but these especially important in
relation to modern life, and nowhere a better example of them than
in Tennyson.
Poetry and life. — Art expressing the whole human spirit — intellect,
emotion and will. Contrast philosophy and science. The two motifs
in the progress of the human spirit: waves of science and waves of
religion; extension of the area of knowledge and then the return to
the spirit of man. Compare the Occident and the orient; scholasticism
and mysticism; Aristotle and Plato.
The life of appreciation as compared with the life of the understand-
ing. How much of our joy depending upon the former. Love, faith,
response to poetry, as in the life of appreciation. Expression of this
life in art; hence the spiritual functions of poetry.
Poetry and modern needs. — Special significance in the service of
poetry in our time. The tremendous advance in science, in the accu-
mulation of knowledge, during the nineteenth century. Thus vast
widening of the conception of the physical universe. Compare effects
of astronomy and biology. Hence God seeming vague and distant,
human life overshadowed and insignificant. All thinking men forced
into the arena to struggle with the great problems of life as only a rare
philosopher was compelled to meet them in past times.
Thus the significance of poetry as a revelation of the human spirit;
and of Tennyson as voicing the doubts and despair of modern men, as
rising to a great spiritual solution, and as creating a world of beauty
that in itself calms and exalts.
The life of Tennyson (1809-1892).— The family background of Ten-
nyson: character of his father; of his mother, as portrayed in Isabel.
Early love of nature. Effect of the five years (from 7 to 12) at board-
ing school. Home studies till 19.
9
First venture in poetry at 18. Character and promise of Tennyson's
work in the Poems of Two Brothers. Measure of justification in Ten-
nyson's view of much of his youthful work as "early rot."
To Cambridge at 19. Chief influence upon him that of the circle of
friends he slowly formed. The great men who as youths were his asso-
ciates. Value of such comradeship for the intellectual and artistic
life.
The volume of 1830. — At 21 Tennyson's first independent volume of
poems. Character of the work: chiefly brief songs expressing moods
or describing nature and women. Much of the poetry mainly experi-
ments in developing Tennyson's art. Many touches of youthful senti-
mentality especially in the moody melancholy. Yet remarkable work
of great promise. Compare with it Browning's Paracelsus written at
a similar age.
The volumes of 1833. — A long step in advance taken in Tennyson's
work published in 1833. Evidence of his permanent interests: fore-
casting of the Idylls of the King in The Lady of Shalott; of his idylls of
common life in the Miller's Daughter; of his classical studies in CEnone.
In all, luxuriant, sensuous imagery subordinated to varied wonderful
music, with the lyrical expression of moods.
Reception of the volume. Tennyson's sensitiveness to the criticism
invited by certain qualities in his work. Withdrawal from the public
for ten years, spent in developing his art.
The one tragedy. — Tennyson's withdrawal further caused by the
death of his dearest friend, Arthur Hallam, in 1833. Story of the friend-
ship. Hallam's character and mind. The composition during seven-
teen years of Tennyson's monument to his friend.
The volumes of 1842. — Tennyson's silence broken by a work lifting
him from being merely the center of a group of admiring friends to
recognized leadership of English poetry. Changes in the early work
republished. Range of the new work: poems of the Arthurian cycle;
English idylls; lyrical expression of moods; classical studies. Illus-
trations.
Ulysses. — Tennyson's study of Ulysses not subsequently changed.
His statement regarding the relation of the poem to his own life. Sig-
nificance of the poem not only as one of Tennyson's most masterly
achievements in art, but as laying down the program of his own conduct.
The fresh disaster. — Loss at 35 of Tennyson's small property. Special
bitterness, because crushing his already long postponed hope of mar-
riage. Story of the meetings with Emily Sellwood. Significance of
the twenty years' waiting. Compare Love and Duty.
Reception of a pension in 1845. Brightening fortunes.
Victory in 1850. — At 41 Tennyson's long period of waiting closed
10
In that year: (1) marriage; (2) appointment as poet-laureate; (3)
publication of In Memoriam. Consequences of the three events.
Subsequent life. — From 1850 to the end of Tennyson's career a story
of steady progress.
His homes; relation to nature; association with friends; studies in
science, philosophy, literature; travels; honors; financial prosperity.
The range of his work during this forty years. The masterpiece upon
which his effort centered. Significance of his attempts in the field of
drama.
Characteristics of Tennyson's life. — Tennyson's reticence and exclu-
siveness. His hatred of the crowd but close attachment to individuals.
His dwelling in an inner world of moods and reflections, stimulated by
nature, friends and books. Long waiting and renunciation in his life
rather than positive struggle and tragedy. Complete subordination of
his life to his art. Compare Dante, Goethe, Browning.
Significance of Tennyson's work. — The characteristics of Tennyson's
life as pointing the significance of his poetry. His work everywhere
lyrical, even when dramatic in form, playing about character with
atmosphere rather than creating from within. Contrast the two ways
of portraying life. Thus an expression of subjective moods, voicing
the need typical of the time and singing the answer Tennyson achieved.
Moreover, Tennyson turning away from the hurry and distress of mod-
ern life and bringing consolation from the mystic world of dreams.
Thus Tennyson's catholicity one of art rather than of life. Compare
other masters. His limitations as well as his excellencies explaining
his contribution in beauty and in thought.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Alfred is one of the few British and foreign figures (a not increasing
number I think) who are and remain beautiful to me, a true human
soul, or some authentic approximation thereto, to whom your own soul
can say, 'Brother!' However, I doubt he will not come [to see me];
he often skips me, in these brief visits to town; skips everybody,
indeed; being a man solitary and sad, as certain men are, dwelling in
an element of gloom, carrying a bit of Chaos about him, in short, which
he is manufacturing into Cosmos. . . . He had his breeding at Cam-
bridge, as if for the Law or Church; being a master of a small annuity
on his father's decease, he preferred clubbing with his mother and some
sisters, to live unpromoted and write Poems. In this way he lives
still, now here, now there; the family always within reach of London,
never hi it; he himself making rare and brief visits, lodging in some
11
old comrade's rooms. I think he must be under forty, not much under
it. One of the finest looking men in the world. A great shock of rough
dusky dark hair; bright, laughing, hazel eyes; massive aquiline face,
most massive yet most delicate; of sallow brown complexion, almost
Indian looking, clothes cynically loose, free-and-easy, smokes infinite
tobacco. His voice is musical, metallic, fit for loud laughter and
piercing wail, and all that may lie between; speech and speculation
free and plenteous; I do not meet in these late decades such company
over a pipe! we shall see what he will grow to." — Carlyle's description
of Tennyson for Emerson, Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, pp.
187, 188.
"There is a strange earnestness in his worship of beauty which
throws a charm over his impassioned song, more easily felt than
described, and not to be escaped by those who have once felt it. ...
We have remarked five distinctive excellencies of his own manner.
First, his luxuriance of imagination, and at the same time his control
over it. Secondly, his power of embodying himself in ideal characters,
or rather moods of character, with such accuracy of adjustment that
the circumstances of the narrative seem to have a natural correspond-
ence with the predominant feeling and, as it were, to be evolved from
it by assimilative force. Thirdly, his vivid, picturesque delineation of
objects, and the peculiar skill with which he holds all of them fused, to
borrow a metaphor from science, in a medium of strong emotion.
Fourthly, the variety of his lyrical measures and the exquisite modula-
tion of harmonious words and cadences to the swell and fall of the
feelings expressed. Fifthly, the elevated habits of thought, implied in
these compositions, and importing a mellow soberness of tone, more
impressive to our minds than if the author had drawn up a set of
opinions in verse, and sought to instruct the understanding rather than
to communicate the love of beauty to the heart." — From Arthur
Hallam's review in the Englishman's Magazine, of Tennyson's vol-
ume of 1830, Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, pp. 49, 50.
" Ulysses," my father said, "was written soon after Arthur Hallam's
death, and gave my feeling about the need of going forward, and brav-
ing the struggle of life perhaps more simply than anything in In Memo-
riam." — Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, p. 196.
12
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. The range of metrical forms in Tennyson's volume of 1830.
2. Tennyson's nature-imagery.
3. The relative importance of music and imagery in Tennyson's
early work.
4. Compare Browning's aim in Paracelsus with Tennyson's in the
poems of 1830.
5. Tennyson's method of portraying character.
6. The type of classical interest in Tennyson.
7. Compare in art and in thought Tennyson's poems of 1830 and
1833 with Browning's Paracelsus.
8. Compare Ulysses and Canto XXVI of Dante's Inferno.
9. The meaning of the mood of vague melancholy expressed in so
much of Tennyson's work.
10. The significance of Tennyson's long postponement of personal
happiness for the sake of his art.
11. The relative significance of Tennyson's great friendship and of
his marriage, for his life and development.
REFERENCES.
See the general book list, pp. 40-44. Books starred are of special value in connec-
tion with this course; those double-starred are texts for study or are otherwise of
foremost importance.
Tennyson, poems published in 1830, especially: **Claribel; * Noth-
ing will Die; *All Things will Die; **Isabel; **Mariana; *The Ballad
of Oriana; * Recollections of the Arabian Nights; poems published in
1833, especially: **The Lady of Shalott; **The Miller's Daughter;
**(Enone; *The Lotos-Eaters; *The Sisters; *The Palace of Art;
poems published in 1842, especially: **Morte d' Arthur; **The Gar-
dener's Daughter; *Love and Duty; ** Ulysses; **Sir Galahad; **Sir
Launcelot and Queen Guinevere; *Locksley Hall; see also **Early
Poems edited by Collins. Brooke, The Poetry of Browning, chapter I,
*Browning and Tennyson; * Tennyson, pp. 1-187. Chesterton and
Garnett, Tennyson. Corson, Primer of English Verse. Dawson, Makers
of Modern English. Horton, Tennyson. Luce, ^Handbook, chapters
I- VIII. Lyall, Tennyson. Ritchie, Records of Tennyson, Ruskin and
Browning, pp. 1-72. Van Dyke, * Poetry of Tennyson, pp. 1-128;
Tennyson. Waugh, Tennyson.
13
H. THE IDYLLS OF THE KING.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
Tennyson and the Arthurian story. — The question as to Tennyson's
masterpiece. Largely a matter of the critic's temperament and intel-
lectual interest whether The Idylls of the King or In Memoriam is
ranked highest.
Tennyson's early and long continued interest in the legends of King
Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. More than fifty years
between his earliest and latest poems dealing with this material: thus
a central interest throughout his artistic life. Compare Faust in rela-
tion to Goethe. The three distinct types and periods of Tennyson's
work dealing with this body of legends of chivalry: significance as
showing the development of Tennyson's mind and art.
The Idylls not an epic. Yet elements of unity binding the separate
poems into one larger work of art.
Subject of the Idylls. — The cycle of mediaeval legends growing up
about the figures in old and dim British history. Good and evil in the
society developed by mediaeval chivalry.
Chivalry as representing the adolescent awakening of human society;
thus appealing particularly to the similar period in the development of
the individual. Thus value of the surviving legends for education.
Further value of chivalry for modern life. Especial attractiveness
to Tennyson, because of his reaction from half-formed democracy and
the sordid aspects of modern industry. His love of aristocracy, romance
and the glamor of mystic dreams. Thus The Idylls of the King a center
of his thought and one of his two great contributions.
The Coming of Arthur. — The introductory book published after four
of the Idylls: this as indicating the gradual maturing of Tennyson's
plan and the growth of the conscious allegory in his mind.
Arthur's desire for Guinevere: symbol of the hunger of the soul for
the sensuous through which alone it may find expression. Mistake if
the allegorical interpretation be pushed too far.
Forming of the Order. The knightly vow; compare the fuller state-
ment in Guinevere. Tennyson's view of the ethical value for all time
of the elements of the vow.
14
The Coming of Arthur as expressing the promise, Guinevere and The
Passing of Arthur the fulfillment.
Gareth and Lynette. — The second Idyll published late but placed
here as showing the making of a knight. The test to which Gareth is
subjected. Tennyson's evident attitude toward humble work. Lyn-
ette's scorn and transformation.
Geraint and Enid. — The third Idyll presenting the womanhood of
chivalry at its best. The contrasting portrait of false womanhood in
Vivien coming from the same period.
Tennyson's method of beginning in the middle of a story. Geraint's
wild quest. Story of Geraint's marriage with Enid; its narration
hingeing on the incident of the faded dress.
Ideal of womanhood portrayed in Enid. Virtues emphasized. Value
of such a type.
Balin and Balan. — The fourth Idyll last in point of composition, but
inserted here to show the effect on other lives of evil in high places.
The sin of Lancelot and Guinevere as a dark fate that slowly beats its
way up to the surface of the legends and spreads its atmosphere of
gloom and disaster over all the bright romance and shining figures of
the story. Best illustration of this in Balin and Balan. Moving pathos
in its conclusion.
Merlin and Vivien. — Study of the way in which the intellect and skill
by which Arthur controls nature become the victims of sensual seduc-
tion; thus conquered by the charm "of woven places and of waving
hands." Vivien's hate of all good. Her victory. Tennyson's skill in
depicting a certain type of sensuous appeal.
Lancelot and Elaine. — This as the tenderest and best of the group of
Idylls presenting the pure romance of the Arthurian story.
Lancelot's courtesy: how it all seems wooing to Elaine. Her doom
in her own inner idealizing mood. How she reaches out to Lancelot's
melancholy. Elaine and the shield: how she lived in fantasy. Ten-
nyson's skill in portraying such an imaginative maiden type of woman-
hood.
Contrast Elaine with the earlier Lady of Shalott. Evidence of Ten-
nyson's development and of the growth of the Arthurian legend in his
mind.
Significance of Elaine's tragedy as the involving of the innocent with
the guilty. How all darkens to eclipse.
Pelleas and Ettarre. — Study of careless vice and the marring of
youthful innocence. Ettarre as fitting mate to Gawain. Contrast
her with Enid and Elaine.
The Last Tournament. — The Tournament of the Dead Innocence.
The victory of Sir Tristram as representing the return to mere lawless
15
nature, yet with echoes of the culture that must soon disappear. The
fate of Tristram. Arthur's return.
Guinevere. — Conclusion to the romance of the Idylls in Guinevere.
Significance in the discovery of the sin just at the moment of final
parting between Lancelot and Guinevere. Flight of the Queen.
Tennyson's portrayal of Arthur. Question whether his character is
convincing in spite of the way he is kept above and apart. Arthur's
preaching: is his virtue too self-conscious?
Similarity in Tennyson to mediaeval ethics in making woman the
cause of failure. Is he just to Guinevere? The value of Guinevere as
a presentation of human life; as a spiritual allegory.
Artistic qualities of the Idylls. — Tennyson's blank verse. His power
in melody and description. Characteristic imagery of the Idylls. Ten-
nyson's power in character-drawing: compare Shakespeare. Intan-
gible quality of the figures of the Idylls. Compare Enid and Desde-
mona; Modred and lago. Elements giving artistic unity to the
Idylls: the character of Arthur, the theme, the underlying fate.
• Impression of mystery in the Idylls. Its source: partly mystery in
the old legends, but deeper than this the mystery of life. Tennyson's
constant brooding over it.
Value of the Idylls for modern life. — Ethical impressiveness. Em-
phasis of courtesy, truth, personal loyalty, love and loyalty in love.
Value of Tennyson's message.
Beauty of the Idylls. Refreshment in turning away from the hurry
and noise of modern life to this world of golden and gray dreams.
Magic and mystery in the characters of the poems, like the dim figures
in some rich, half-effaced tapestry of olden tune. Compare Tennyson,
in the Idylls with the Pre-Raphaelite English painters.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right —
The leaves upon her falling light —
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
16
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name
The Lady of Shalott.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, 'She has a lovely face;
God in His mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.'"
—From The Lady of Shalott (published 1833), p. 29.*
"Then rose the dumb old servitor, and the dead,
Oar'd by the dumb, went upward with the flood —
In her right hand the lily, in her left
The letter — all her bright hair streaming down —
And all the coverlid was cloth of gold
Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white
All but her face, and that clear-featured face
Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead,
But fast asleep, and lay as tho' she smiled.
And the barge,
On to the palace-doorway sliding, paused.
There two stood arm'd, and kept the door; to whom,
All up the marble stair, tier over tier,
Were added mouths that gaped, and eyes that ask'd
'What is it?' but that oarsman's haggard face,
As hard and still as is the face that men
Shape to their fancy's eye from broken rocks
On some cliff-side, appall'd them, and they said,
'He is enchanted, cannot speak — and she,
Look how she sleeps — the Fairy Queen, so fair!
Yea, but how pale! what are they? flesh and blood?
Or come to take the King to Fairyland?
For some do hold our Arthur cannot die,
But that he passes into Fairyland.'
While thus they babbled of the King, the King
Came girt with knights: then turned the tongueless man
From the half-face to the full eye, and rose
And pointed to the damsel, and the doors.
So Arthur bad the meek Sir Percivale
And pure Sir Galahad to uplift the maid;
And reverently they bore her into hall.
Then came the fine Gawain and wonder'd at her,
* References to Tennyson are to the Globe Edition.
17
And Lancelot later came and mused at her,
And last the Queen herelf, and pitied her:
But Arthur spied the letter in her hand,
Stoopt, took, brake seal, and read it; this was all:
'Most noble lord, Sir Lancelot of the Lake,
I, sometime call'd the maid of Astolat,
Come, for you left me taking no farewell,
Hither, to take my last farewell of you.
I loved you, and my love had no return,
And therefore my true love has been my death.
And therefore to our Lady Guinevere,
And to all other ladies, I make moan:
Pray for my soul, and yield me burial.
Pray for my soul thou too, Sir Lancelot,
As thou art a knight peerless.'"
— From Lancelot and Elaine (published 1859), pp. 414-416.
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. What different stages can be discerned in Tennyson's treatment
of the Arthurian story?
2. In what respects are Tennyson's Idylls a true interpretation of
mediaeval chivalry? In what respects are they distinctively
modern?
3. The character and variety of the blank verse in the Idylls.
4. The type of imagery in the Idylls.
5. What elements unify the Idylls as a single work of art?
6. Compare The Lady of Shalott with Lancelot and Elaine.
7. Compare the earlier Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere with
Guinevere.
8. The types of womanhood in the Idylls.
9. The types of manhood in the Idylls.
10. The knightly vow: Tennyson's view of the value for modern
society of the virtues it emphasized.
11. Compare Elaine and Ophelia.
12. Compare Enid and Desdemona.
13. Compare Modred and lago.
14. The ethical and artistic value of the character of Arthur.
15. Compare in dramatic reality the characters in the Idylls and in
Shakespeare.
16. Compare the treatment of unlawful love in Guinevere and in
Dante's Francesca da Rimini.
17. Tennyson's grasp of human life in the Idylls as compared with
Goethe's in Faust.
18
REFERENCES.
Tennyson, ** The Lady of Shalott; *Sir Launcelot and Queen Guine-
vere; **Idylls of the King: **The Coming of Arthur; **Gareth and
Lynette; **Geraint and Enid; *Balin and Balan; * Merlin and Vivien;
** Lancelot and Elaine; *Pelleas and Ettarre; *The Last Tournament;
** Guinevere. Brooke, Tennyson, pp. 255-319 and 336-370. Collins,
* Illustrations of Tennyson, chapter IX. Dawson, Makers of Modern
English, chapters XX and XXIII. Luce, Handbook, chapter XI.
Maccallum, * Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Nicoll and Wise, Literary
Anecdotes of the Nineteenth Century, volume II, pp. 222-272. Van
Dyke, Poetry of Tennyson, pp. 155-217.
19
HI. THE HOLY GRAIL AND THE PASSING OF ARTHUR.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
The Holy Grail. — Throughout the Idylls a faint spiritual allegory
giving Tennyson's philosophy of human life regarded objectively.
This allegory rising to clear statement in only one of the Idylls — The
Holy Grail. This the poem giving unity to the whole series. Few
characters in the other Idylls; in The Holy Grail the entire order, with
a study of the different types of knighthood.
Legend of the Grail. — The whole body of chivalrous tradition center-
ing on the quest of the Grail. Meaning of the old legend. Tennyson's
use of the Grail as a mystic symbol of Christianity, thus as representing
the higher call of the spirit in opposition to the duties of daily life.
Reality of this conflict throughout Christian history; its place in Ten-
nyson's spiritual philosophy.
Percivale's sister. — Value of the conception of womanhood Tennyson
presents in Percivale's sister. Her monastic life. Type of purity she
represents. Her vision of the Grail. Vague notion that the Grail will
work the cure of all human ills; this notion inadequately worked out
in the poems.
Sir Galahad. — Galahad as the knight of the Grail peculiarly. His
quality purity. Contrast the portrayal of him here with the earlier
Sir Galahad: remarkable evidence of Tennyson's development.
The vows. — Vision of the knights and vowing the quest of the Grail
in the King's absence. Arthur's regret at the vows taken. His state-
ment of the conflict between the higher call and ordinary duty. That
conflict in every-day human life. Possibility of integrating the two
calls; compare Browning's philosophy. Tennyson's emphasis of the
opposition rather than the solution. Compare the conflict in his own
life. Does this phase of his experience and philosophy furnish one
explanation of his prevailing gloom? Sublimity and pathos in the
pursuit of the transcendent ideal.
The five quests. — The tournament before departing; Percivale's vic-
tory. His quality of character; its corresponding weakness — spiritual
pride. Hence the land of sand and thorns. Percivale's salvation
through his fall.
20
Galahad's quest. Mystic impressiveness of the allegory. Value and
limitations of Galahad as an ideal for common life.
How the vision was granted to Sir Bors. Peculiar impressiveness in
the ethical lesson here.
Gawain's easy vice and consequent cynicism. How much more
completely he fails of the truth than does any unpractical mystic or
eccentric dreamer.
Lancelot's story. Dramatic fault in representing his confession here
and a return to Guinevere afterward. Illustration of the imperfect
dramatic unity of the Idylls. Yet, in the separate poem, high artistic
and ethical impression in Lancelot's story.
Arthur's summing up: how following the higher call disturbs and
thwarts; yet how imperative is obedience when the higher call truly
comes.
The allegory of sense and soul. — Throughout The Holy Grail shad-
owed forth Tennyson's philosophy of an inevitable conflict between
the soul and the senses which reaches its conclusion in The Passing of
Arthur. Tennyson's own statement of this allegory in the epilogue
To the Queen.
Measure of truth to human life in this aspect of the philosophy of the
Idylls. How often the body, which should be servant, becomes master,
that which should be the means becomes the end, with resulting disas-
ter. Thus perfect harmony between the spiritual and the natural life
possible only for a time and under unusual conditions. Compare the
Greek world; the Italian renaissance; personal life.
No conception in Tennyson of growth through imperfections and
misadjustments. His view of statical perfection, any change from
which would mean decay. Thus realization of Arthur's dream only for
a brief time in the Order; then rapid degeneration. The only hope
substitution of one order of society for another. Compare the view of
the state in Plato's Republic. Contrast this aspect of Tennyson's
thought with the views of Browning and Goethe. Thus the explanation
for the prevailing gloom and melancholy in Tennyson's portrayal of
life in the Idylls.
The Passing of Arthur. — The gloom inherent in the view of life taken
in the Idylls as never having received more moving expression than in
The Passing of Arthur. At the same time in this poem Tennyson's
supreme portrayal of moral heroism in the presence of inevitable dis-
aster. This poem Tennyson's masterpiece in profound pathos.
Story of the battle. Slightly faulty connection in the insertion of
the earlier Morte d' Arthur; yet perfect harmony in mood and spirit
of the earlier with the later poem, thus showing how dominant that mood
was throughout Tennyson's life.
21
The last of Excalibur. Tennyson's emphasis of unquestioning
obedience. The barge and the Queen. The fate of Arthur as the fate
of the ideal of chivalry. Marvelous poetry in the closing portion of
the poem.
Philosophy of the poem. — Moral heroism of Arthur. How he fulfills
the teaching to live well even within the gloom. Type of heroism he
represents. Compare Ulysses. Compare the same spirit in Anglo-
Saxon Beowulf. Significance of such heroism at the beginning and the
end of the life of the race.
Tennyson's view of life as environed by mystery. Type of virtue
demanded here. Summation of this aspect of Tennyson's philosophy
in the weird line:
"From the great deep to the great deep he goes."
Universal value and application of this ethical philosophy.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splinter'd spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel:
They reel, they roll in clanging lists,
And when the tide of combat stands,
Perfume and flowers fall in showers,
That lightly rain from ladies' hands.
How sweet are looks that ladies bend
On whom their favours fall!
For them I battle till the end,
To save from shame and thrall:
But all my heart is drawn above,
My knees are bow'd in crypt and shrine:
I never felt the kiss of love,
Nor maiden's hand in mine.
More bounteous aspects on me beam,
Me mightier transports move and thrill;
So keep I fair thro' faith and prayer
A virgin heart in work and will.
A maiden knight — to me is given
Such hope, I know not fear;
I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven
That often meet me here.
22
I muse on joy that will not cease,
Pure spaces clothed in living beams,
Pure lilies of eternal peace,
Whose odours haunt my dreams;
And, stricken by an angel's hand,
This mortal armour that I wear,
This weight and size, this heart and eyes,
Are touch'd, are turn'd to finest air."
— From Sir Galahad (published 1842), p. 110.
"And one there was among us, ever moved
Among us in white armour, Galahad.
'God make thee good as thou art beautiful/
Said Arthur, when he dubb'd him knight; and none
In so young youth, was ever made a knight
Till Galahad; and this Galahad, when he heard
My sister's vision, filPd me with amaze;
His eyes became so like her own, they seem'd
Hers, and himself her brother more than I.
But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair
Which made a silken mat-work for her feet;
And out of this she plaited broad and long
A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread
And crimson in the belt a strange device,
A crimson grail within a silver beam;
And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him
Saying, ' My knight, my love, my knight of heaven,
O thou, my love, whose love is one with mine,
I, maiden, round thee, maiden, bind my belt.
Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen,
And break thro' all, till one will crown thee king
Far in the spiritual city:' and as she spake
She sent the deathless passion in her eyes
Thro' him, and made him hers, and laid her mind
On him, and he believed in her belief.
Then came a year of miracle: 0 brother,
In our great hafl there stood a vacant chair,
Fashion'd by Merlin ere he past away,
And carven with strange figures; and in and out
The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll
Of letters in a tongue no man could read.
And Merlin call'd it 'The Siege perilous,'
Perilous for good and ill; 'for there,' he said,
'No man could sit but he should lose himself:'
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat
In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin's doom,
Cried, 'If I lose myself, I save myself! ' "
—From The Holy Grail (published 1869), pp. 420-421.
23
" Of all the Idylls of the King, The Holy Grail seems to me to express
most my father's highest self. Perhaps this is because I saw him, in
the writing of this poem more than in the writing of any other, with
that far away rapt look on his face, which he had whenever he worked
at a story that touched him greatly, or because I vividly recall the
inspired way hi which he chanted to us the different parts of the poem
as they were composed." — Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. II, p. 92.
"Poetry is like shot-silk with many glancing colours. Every reader
must find his own interpretation according to his ability, and according
to his sympathy with the poet. The whole is the dream of man coming
into practical life and ruined by one sin. Birth is a mystery and death
is a mystery, and in the midst lies the tableland of life, and its struggles
and performances. It is not the history of one man or of one genera-
tion but of a whole cycle of generations." — Tennyson, in conversation
on the Idylls of the King, Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. II, p. 127.
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. Compare in music and imagery the earlier studies of the Arthurian
story with The Holy Grail and The Passing of Arthur.
2. Compare the study of Sir Galahad in the earlier poem of that
name and in The Holy Grail.
3. Compare the Morte d' Arthur and The Passing of Arthur.
4. What is the relative value of the ethical and artistic elements
in the Idylls?
5. What are the causes of the prevailing melancholy in Tennyson's
view of life?
6. Which of the Idytts has the highest artistic value, and why?
7. Which of the Idylls has the highest ethical value, and why?
8. Is Tennyson's teaching regarding the opposition between the
higher call and ordinary duties true to life?
9. How far are the lessons of The Holy Grail of universal application?
10. Compare The Holy Grail and Lowell's Sir Launfal's Vision.
11. Compare The Holy Grail and Wagner's Parsifal.
12. Compare The Passing of Arthur and the death of Beowulf in
Beowulf, chapter XI.
13. The ethical value of Tennyson's philosophy of sense and soul.
14. In what ways does Tennyson's ethical view resemble that of
Dante and the middle ages?
15. Compare Tennyson and Browning in the view of the senses in
relation to the soul.
24
REFERENCES.
Tennyson, **Sir Galahad; **Morte d' Arthur; **Idylls of the King:
* Dedication; **The Holy Grail; **The Passing of Arthur; **To the
Queen. Brooke, Tennyson, pp. 319-336 and 370-391. Garnett,
*Beowulf, chapter XI, pp. 71-86. Horton, Tennyson, chapter VI.
Luce, Handbook, chapter XI. Maccallum, * Tennyson's Idylls of the
King. Tainsh, Study of Tennyson, chapter XII.
25
IV. IN MEMORIAM: THE PERIOD OF GRIEF AND
STRUGGLE.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
Introduction. — To turn now to the most autobiographic of Tennyson's
poems, the one in which he gives his deepest spiritual thought in answer
to the needs at once of his own life and of modern times. In The
Idylls of the King Tennyson's objective ethical philosophy dealing with
problems of the family, the state, and the growth and decay of society;
in In Memoriam his subjective philosophy dealing with the problem
of faith as a basis of conduct and with what we may dare to believe
concerning God, freedom and immortality.
Occasion of In Memoriam. — History of the friendship between Ten-
nyson and Arthur Henry Hallam. Character and genius of Hallam;
his literary remains; opinions of his contemporaries regarding him.
Sudden death of Hallam hi 1833. Sincerity of Tennyson's grief.
The seventeen years of writing and thinking (ten of which Tennyson
spent in complete retirement) from the death of Hallam to the publi-
cation of In Memoriam. Thus the experience the heart of Tennyson's
own development, and the poem representing it a kind of Divine
Comedy of personal life. Compare Tennyson's own statement.
In Memoriam as a literary masterpiece. — Significance of the personal
subject of In Memoriam. Contrast other masterpieces: the poem of
Job, The Agamemnon Trilogy, Faust, The Divine Comedy, The Ring
and the Book. Expression of the spirit of modern times by Tennyson
and Browning in making personal life the subject of a great work of
art. Browning pre-eminently the poet of love, Tennyson of friend-
ship.
The literature of friendship. — Studies of friendship in the Greek
world: compare Homer, .ffischylus, Plato, Aristotle. Relation of Ten-
nyson to the classical spirit. Comparison of In Memoriam to other
works hi the literature of friendship: Shakespeare's Sonnets; Milton's
Lyddas; Shelley's Adonais.
Stanza form of In Memoriam. — Peculiar poetic value of the stanza
'• used in In Memoriam; significance that Tennyson believed he had
26
invented it. Adaptation of this stanza to the different moods of the
poem.
Composition of the poem. — In Memoriam not simply a direct expres-
sion of personal feeling. Lyrics written at different tunes and loosely
bound together. Relation of lyrical to dramatic elements. Tennyson
studying "the working out of a spiritual fact." Compare the direct
expression of personal feeling in such a lyric as Break, break, break.
- Imagery of the poem. — Tennyson's wonderful skill in using the same
symbol in different parts of the poem to give unity and at the same time
point the contrasting moods. Compare the house described in cantos
VII and CXIX. Compare the Yew; the repeated descriptions of
Christmas and other significant anniversaries. Extreme care with ;
which Tennyson works out every image. Unity of music and imagery.
The initial attitude of grief. — The blind clinging to sorrow as the only
remaining bond with love. Expression of the demand for permanence ,
that is one of the two fundamental hungers of the human soul (cantos
I-IV).
Grief in words (V). Question as to the personal sincerity of In
Memoriam. The false comfort of those who tell us grief is common
(VI).
The ship (IX-XIX). Calm and storm on the sea and in the moods
of the poet. Tennyson's use of nature to express human experience.
The first Christmas (XXVIII-XXX). — Pain in an anniversary return-
ing with the absence of those whose presence made it joyous. Yet
what Christmas suggests and symbolizes; thus serving to introduce
the first series of spiritual problems.
First cycle of spiritual reflections (XXXI-XXXVT). — Story of Lazarus.
The Christian tradition not abrogating the mystery of death. Value
of the attitude of unreasoning acceptance in Mary. Tennyson's view
of the blessedness of such faith and the need to leave it undisturbed.
The personal argument for immortality. The cycle closing with the
return of the mood of doubt. The series followed by an interlude of
poems expressing the more personal relation to the friend.
Second cycle of spiritual reflections (XLV-XLVII). — The mystery of
personality. Turning from the question what death is to what life is.
Again the hunger for permanence; a vague pantheism giving no satis-
factory answer.
Another interlude of more personal songs. How these lays are to be
taken (XL VIII). Need of the friend in the mood when faith is dry
(L). Effect of sin on the relation to the friend (LI, LII).
Third cycle of spiritual reflections (LHI-LVI). — Is growth possible
through sin? Tennyson's view of good and evil: compare Goethe.
Significance of what Tennyson emphasizes.
27
Tennyson's wonderful expression, in cantos LIV-LVI, of the cry of
despairing longing, typical of the modern spirit in the presence of the
mystery of the universe and temporarily overwhelmed by the discov-
eries and generalizations of physical science. The mood Tennyson
expresses as culminating during the middle of the nineteenth century.
Service of Tennyson in bringing the deeps of doubt and questioning,
characteristic of his epoch, to conscious expression in exquisite melody
and marvelous imagery.
Close of the first movement of In Memoriam. — Following Tennyson's
comparison of his poem to The Divine Comedy, its first portion the
" Inferno." Yet contrast with Dante. Range of problems Tennyson con-
siders; yet all immediately connected with his personal experience.
Mood with which the first movement of the poem closes: the recurring
question; no answer; impossible to wring faith from the spiritual
universe by struggle; so in half-benumbed condition we must wait in
the dark.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"It must be remembered that this is a poem, not an actual
biography. It is founded on our friendship, on the engagement of
Arthur Hallam to my sister, on his sudden death at Vienna, just before
the time fixed for their marriage, and on his burial at Clevedon Church.
The poem concludes with the marriage of my youngest sister Cecilia.
It was meant to be a kind of Divina Commedia, ending with happiness.
The sections were written at many different places, and as the phases
of our intercourse came to my memory and suggested them. I did not
write them with any view of weaving them into a whole, or for publica-
tion, until I found that I had written so many. The different moods
of sorrow as in a drama are dramatically given, and my conviction that
fear, doubts, and suffering will find answer and relief only through
Faith in a God of Love." — Note of Tennyson's concerning In Memo-
riam, Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, pp. 304, 305.
"I know not how to express what I have felt. My first sentiment
was surprise, for, though I now find that you had mentioned the inten-
tion to my daughter, Julia, she had never told me of the poems. I do
not speak as another would to praise and admire: few of them indeed
I have as yet been capable of reading, the grief they express is too much
akin to that they revive. It is better than any monument which could
be raised to the memory of my beloved son, it is a more lively and
enduring testimony to his great virtues and talents that the world
should know the friendship which existed between you, that posterity
28
should associate his name with that of Alfred Tennyson." — From a
letter of Henry Hallam to Tennyson in 1850, concerning In Memoriam,
Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, p. 327.
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. Compare the stanza Tennyson uses in In Memoriam with the
ordinary quatrain; with the stanza used in Fitzgerald's Omar
Khayyam.
2. Characteristics of the imagery in the first third of In Memoriam.
3. What methods does Tennyson employ to give unity to In Memo-
riaml
4. Compare the descriptions of the house in cantos VII and CXIX.
5. Compare the treatment of friendship in In Memoriam and hi
Greek literature and philosophy.
6. Compare the treatment of friendship in In Memoriam and in the
Sonnets of Shakespeare.
7. The life and literary remains of Arthur Henry Hallam.
8. The relation of lyrical to dramatic elements in In Memoriam.
9. The personal sincerity of the grief expressed in In Memoriam.
10. Compare the lyric "Break, break, break," with the opening cantos
of In Memoriam.
11. The moral significance of the clinging to sorrow expressed in the
early cantos of In Memoriam.
12. Compare In Memoriam and Milton's Lycidas.
13. Compare In Memoriam and Shelley's Adonais.
14. What is the value in the artistic expression of moods of doubt
and questioning?
15. Compare Tennyson, Goethe and Dante in their view of good
and evil.
REFERENCES.
Tennyson, **" Break, break, break, on thy cold gray stones 0 sea.',"
**In Memoriam, cantos I-LVI, inclusive. Azarias, Brother, * Phases
of Thought and Criticism, pp. 183-215. Bradley, ^Commentary on In
Memoriam. Brooke, Tennyson, pp. 188-228. Chapman, Companion
to In Memoriam. Corson, Primer of English Verse, pp. 69-77. David-
son, * Prolegomena to In Memoriam, chapters I-IX. Dawson, Makers
of Modern English, chapter XXV. Genung, * Tennyson's In Memoriam.
Luce, Handbook, chapter IX. Masterman, Tennyson as a Religious
Teacher. Van Dyke, Poetry of Tennyson, pp. 131-151.
29
V. IN MEMORIAM: THE CANTOS OF FAITH AND LOVE.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
Second movement of the poem. — The " Purgatorio " beginning with the
song "Peace, come away!" (LVII). The sense of the uselessness of
crying out, so dumb acceptance. Sorrow now an abiding companion
instead of being the cause of a spiritual crisis.
The new series dealing with the poet's relation to the friend. His
love compared to that of a girl loving above her rank (LX) . Yet love
absolute (LXI). Love is perfect enough to give up even its own desire
for an answer if that would hold the friend back (LXII). Love will
look back upon the one left behind as a great man upon his childhood's
comrade (LXIV). The reflections now all dealing with life rather than
death.
The blossoming of the crown of thorns. — Canto LXIX expressing
perfectly the spirit of the second division of the poem. Contrast the
crown of thorns blossoming, with reaching "a hand through time to
catch the far-off interest of tears." How sorrow does refine and edu-
cate in compensation for the -death it may bring to other aspects of
life. Nature of the good coming through the ministry of suffering.
The good coming not because anticipated, but because of the spirit in
which the sorrow was accepted.
The second Christmas. — Contrast the mood in cantos LXXVIII and
LXXXIII with that in cantos XXVIII-XXX. Clearer acceptance of
immortality: compare canto LXXXII. The tender personal dream of
what might have been (LXXXIV).
The second friendship (LXXXV). — Close of the second division of the
poem with the acceptance of the new friendship. Relation of the new
to the old. Spirit in which this "primrose of the later year" is offered
and accepted.
Third movement of the poem. — Beginning of the "Paradise" with
the exultant song of joy and peace in canto LXXXVI. Significance
that the whole song is a single sentence. This canto an admirable
example of Tennyson's power to make the stanza-form of In Memoriam
respond to his more positive and exultant emotions as well as to voice
the minor music of the sad moods.
30
Possible now to brood tenderly, with a sad joy, over the memories
of the past.
The new relation to the past. — Reflections over the measure of union
with the friend possible now. Heart-hunger for the lost human touch
(XCI). Desire that the friend's spirit might come (XCIII). Ten-
nyson rising in canto XCV to the dream of spiritual union. This as
representing the taking of the past up into his own soul. Acceptance
not by forgetting but by remembering. Compare this experience with
Dante's Lethe and Eunoe.
Solution of the problem of doubt. — Canto XCVI complementary to
canto XXXIII. Need to leave simple faith undisturbed; yet once it
is broken, need to press on through doubt to the larger faith that in-
cludes it. Mistake in pulling the chrysalis off from a half-formed
butterfly; yet once the chrysalis is broken, the only hope to go on and
grow wings.
The third Christmas. — Preparation for leaving the home with its
loved associations (CI). The dream of reunion that comforts in break-
nig the associations of youth and friendship (CHI). The new Christ-
mas in strange surroundings (CIV, CV). Compare in mood in cantos
XXX and LXXVIII.
The New Year and the new ideals (CVI). Ability to look forward
instead of backward, to take the past up into the soul and face the
future.
Hallam's character (CIX-CXIII). — Tennyson's pleasure in portraying
the character of his friend. Influence of Hallam's spirit upon others
(CX). Ideal of the gentleman exemplified in Hallam (CXI). The
career the friend might have had (CXIII) .
Knowledge versus wisdom. — Tennyson's view of the life of apprecia-
tion in relation to the life of the understanding. Thus conception of
religion in relation to science. Value of this aspect of Tennyson's
philosophy in connection with his whole spiritual contribution.
Closing cycle of spiritual reflections (CXVU-CXXXI). — Absolute
acceptance of personal immortality and belief that Time is the sphere
for the evolution of the soul. This changed attitude due less to intel-
lectual reasoning than to change in mood and development of inner
experience: significance. View of science and the hypothesis of physical
evolution (CXX). Tennyson's acceptance of the results of modern
science, though with some measure of reluctance. Value of his inte-
gration of the results of science with the best teachings of religion and
of the older philosophy.
Recognition of ceaseless change in the material universe with a reality
in the spirit to which he can trust. Statement of his highest thought
of the Divine (CXXIV). Compare canto LIV.
31
Tennyson's social philosophy (CXXVII). — Conservatism of Tennyson
in his view of society as in his attitude toward science. Yet in both
acceptance of the new. Recognition of the promise of peace and har-
mony issuing from the storms of social revolution.
Concluding song. — The long canto celebrating the marriage of Ten-
nyson's sister a fitting conclusion to the whole poem. Perfect spirit-
ual faith and glad acceptance of life that breathes through it. Joy in
the present with full memory of the past. The ideal and dream of
nobler life that is to be, and connection of this with the broken promise
of the life that was.
Closing stanza as "gathering up Aristotle's four causes," and affirm-
ing Tennyson's faith in answer to the great problems of philosophy.
The Prelude. — The Prelude presenting a more complete summary of
Tennyson's spiritual philosophy than even the closing song. Remark-
able inclusiveness of the Prelude in reference to the theses and prob-
lems of philosophy. The faith Tennyson affirms in answer to these:
its source; its significance in relation to modern life.
Conclusion. — Value of the poem: (1) As a beautiful creation; (2)
As a revelation of personal experience; (3) As a study of education
through suffering; (4) As a study of the deeper problems of philosophy
and religion.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
" If a man is merely to be a bundle of sensations, he had better not
exist at all. He should embark on his career in the spirit of selfless and
adventurous heroism; should develop his true self by not shirking
responsibility, by casting aside all maudlin and introspective morbid-
ities, and by using his powers cheerfully in accordance with the obvious
dictates of his moral consciousness, and so, as far as possible, in har-
mony with what he feels to be the Absolute Right. ....
It is motive, it is the great purpose which consecrates life. The real
test of a man is not what he knows, but what he is in himself and in his
relation to others. For instance, can he battle against his own bad
inherited instincts, or brave public opinion in the cause of truth? The
love of God is the true basis of duty, truth, reverence, loyalty, love,
virtue and work. I believe in these although I feel the emptiness and
hollowness of much of life. 'Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven
is perfect.' But don't be a prig. Most young men with anything in
them make fools of themselves at some time or other." — Tennyson, in
conversation with a young man about to enter the University, Hallam
Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, pp. 317, 318.
32
"Yet God is love, transcendent, all-pervading! We do not get this
faith from Nature or the world. If we look at Nature alone, full of
perfection and imperfection, she tells us that God is disease, murder
and rapine. We get this faith from ourselves, from what is highest
within us, which recognizes that there is not one fruitless pang, just as
there is not one lost good." — Tennyson, in conversation with Hallam
Tennyson in 1892, Memoir, vol. I, p. 314.
"He had no kind of sympathy with the theory which would divorce
art from morals, and I have known no literary man who had a more
uniformly high sense of duty in connection with his work. It was a
sense of duty not only to the living and the unborn, but also, and in a
very marked degree, to the dead. In speaking of the character of
Becket, I remember his expressing the dread he always felt, lest he
should do some injustice to the actions or motives of those who are in
their graves. He hated with an intense hatred all literary quarrels,
and rivalries, and jealousies, and his literary judgment seemed to me
not only singularly sane and unexaggerated, but also singularly unbi-
assed by his personal likings. .....
Your father thought much about religious matters and often dwelt
with great force on his intuitive conviction of immortality, with its
corollaries of Theism and Providence. These beliefs he held very
strongly, but they were, I think, wholly detached in his mind from the
dogmas of particular creeds. ... As all attentive readers of his
poetry will have perceived, he was much occupied with, and disturbed
by, the subversive theories that were abroad, but chiefly I think on
account of their bearing on the great primal beliefs which I have men-
tioned, which he believed to be the main pillars on which the goodness,
happiness and dignity of man must ultimately rest." — From recollec-
tions of Tennyson by W. E. H. Lecky, written for Hallam Tennyson,
Memoir, vol. II, pp 203, 206.
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. How far may In Memoriam be regarded as a direct expression of
Tennyson's personal feelings and experience?
2. Compare Tennyson and Browning in their expression and inter-
pretation of personal life.
3. Compare Tennyson and Browning in their treatment of the reli-
gious problem in modern times.
4. The range of Tennyson's studies as revealed in In Memoriam.
5. Tennyson's attitude toward modern science.
6. Tennyson's relation to ancient philosophy.
33
7. The relation of Tennyson to Christianity as revealed in In
Memoriam.
8. What grounds are given in the poem for the change in Tenny-
son's attitude toward the problem of immortality?
9. Tennyson's view of the relation of knowledge to wisdom.
10. Tennyson's social philosophy as given in In Memoriam.
11. Sources of the faith Tennyson affirms in the closing portion of
In Memoriam.
12. The range of problems included in the Prelude to In Memoriam.
13. Compare In Memoriam and The Ring and the Book as literary
masterpieces.
14. Compare In Memoriam, Faust and The Divine Comedy as literary
masterpieces.
REFERENCES.
Tennyson, **In Memoriam, Prelude, and from canto LVTI to the
end. Azarias, Brother, * Phases of Thought and Criticism, pp. 215-264.
Bradley, * Commentary on In Memoriam. Brooke, Tennyson, pp.
188-228. Carpenter, The Religious Spirit in the Poets, chapter IX.
Chapman, Companion to In Memoriam. Davidson, * Prolegomena to
In Memoriam, Introduction and chapters X-XVI. Dawson, Makers
of Modern English, chapters XXIV, XXV. Genung, * Tennyson's In
Memoriam. Kingsley, Literary and General Lectures, pp. 101-124.
Lindsay, Essays, pp. 79-119. Luce, Handbook, chapter IX. Master-
man, * Tennyson as a Religious Teacher. Sneath, The Mind of Ten-
nyson.
34
VI. THE EXPRESSION OF TENNYSON'S SPIRITUAL
PHILOSOPHY IN BRIEFER POEMS.
LECTURE OUTLINE.
Tennyson's highest self-expression. — The Idylls of the King and In
Memoriam distinctly Tennyson's masterpieces. Yet both composed of
exquisite separate poems only loosely bound together in the whole work
of art. Tennyson distinctively the lyric poet, at his best in the brief
poems expressing a single mood or phase of thought. Thus any study
of Tennyson incomplete without a consideration of the wonderful brief
poems in which his philosophy and his artistic power receive culminat-
ing expression.
The Wreck (published 1885). — The Wreck one of the best illustrations
of the dramatic type among Tennyson's shorter poems. Metrical
power and pathetic impressiveness of the poem. Tennyson as the poet
of law. Thus here emphasis of the usual view of life, giving the hell
of expiation as in Dante, but with no suggestion of the power of recov-
ery of the human spirit as in Goethe and Browning. Significance of the
view of life presented.
Romney's Remorse (published 1889). — A further illustration of Ten-
nyson's brief dramatic poems and of his philosophy of personal life in
Romney's Remorse. This poem presenting the complementary prob-
lem to Andrea del Sarto, and reading as if written in conscious answer to
Browning's poem. One of the best examples of Tennyson's use of the
dramatic monologue. Moving pathos of the poem. Beauty of the
inserted lyric. In this study again a strong affirmation of the conven-
tional view of life with its essential rightness.
Tennyson's view of society. — Tennyson's social philosophy similar in
spirit to his view of personal life. Compare the Beautiful City; the
cantos of In Memoriam speaking of the "Red fool fury of the Seine"
and the "School boy heat and blind hysterics of the Celt." Tenny-
son's view thoroughly English, never cosmopolitan. Contrast Goethe.
The strength of Tennyson the strength of what is best in conservative
English aristocracy. His view of the common people always that of
the artist who looks on sympathetically from the outside, never that of
one warmly identified with the life of the people themselves.
35
By an Evolutionist (published 1889). — The same spirit in Tennyson's
cosmic as in his social philosophy. His acceptance of the results of
physical science, yet combining these with conservatism in religion and
ethics. Compare the view of old age hi By an Evolutionist with that
in Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra. Remarkable metrical structure hi
By an Evolutionist.
The general view of human progress Tennyson takes in The Dawn.
Significance that most of these brief expressions of Tennyson's phil-
osophy come so late in his life.
The Ancient Sage (published 1885). — The Ancient Sage as summing
up most consciously and completely Tennyson's attitude toward the
mystery of life and his philosophy of faith in relation to conduct. Sig-
nificance in the introductory poem to Fitzgerald. The Ancient Sage
as in conscious answer to Fitzgerald's translation of Omar Khayyam.
No recognition in Tennyson's poem of the grave dignity of Omar, but
answer to the picturesque pessimism of youth that takes sentimental
delight in its own melancholy. Significant that Tennyson had some-
thing of the same spirit in his own youth; thus the poem showing how
completely his later thought rises above such sentimental pessimism.
Tennyson's emphasis of "the will to believe." Cleaving to the
"sunnier side of doubt." His teaching regarding what we may dare to
believe, and act on as if it were true. Value of the lesson not to
"Take thy dial for thy deity,"
but
"Make the passing shadow serve thy will."
Compare the emphasis of this lesson in the early Ulysses, in In Memo-
riam, in The Passing of Arthur. Thus central import of Tennyson's
teaching regarding moral heroism.
Further summing up of the mystery and unity of life in " Flower in
the Crannied Wall" and The Higher Pantheism. Relation of this
thought to Christianity.
Merlin and the Gleam (published 1889). One poem in which Ten-
nyson has given a brief spiritual autobiography. Significance of the
unusual metrical form in Merlin and the Gleam. The motive principle
of Tennyson's life as revealed in this poem. Range of his artistic
experience. His own view of his life and work.
Wages (published 1869). — Another summing up of the fundamental
attitude of Tennyson's life in the wonderful two-stanza poem Wages.
Sonorous sweep of the verse. Perfect union of thought and form. An
excellent example of his artistic power at its best.
Crossing the Bar (published 1889). — The poem Tennyson desired to
have placed at the end of every complete edition of his works. Limpid
music, perfect imagery, marvelous art in the utter simplicity of this
36
poem. Illustrating the highest point of Tennyson's art as well as
giving the most direct statement of his religious faith. Compare in
form and content Browning's Epilogue to Asolando.
Conclusion. — Summary of Tennyson's art: in music, imagery,
lyrical beauty. Exquisite simplicity with careful adornment. Ex-
pression always adequate and harmonious to thought and mood and
almost monotonously melodious.
Summary of Tennyson's philosophy: in reference to personal life,
social progress, science and cosmic law, the problems of religion. Ten-
nyson's acceptance of evolution; his belief in the unity of life and law;
his faith in God, freedom, immortality and duty; his emphasis of
heroism in the presence of the mystery of life.
Sources of Tennyson's message: in experience, in the common con-
sciousness and religious tradition, in science harmonized with the great
spiritual thinking of the past.
Special value of Tennyson's poetry and philosophy for the age to
which he sang. Permanent worth in his art and message for all time.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"I have just been reading your Poems; I have read certain of them
over again, and mean to read them over and over till they become my
poems: this fact, with the inferences that lie in it, is of such emphasis
in me, I cannot keep it to myself, but must needs acquaint you too with
it. If you knew what my relation has been to the thing call'd English
'Poetry' for many years back, you would think such fact almost sur-
prising! Truly it is long since in any English Book, Poetry or Prose, I
have felt the pulse of a real man's heart as I do in this same. A right
valiant, true fighting, victorious heart; strong as a lion's, yet gentle,
loving and full of music: what I call a genuine singer's heart! there
are tones as of the nightingale; low murmurs as of wood-doves at sum-
mer noon; everywhere a noble sound as of the free winds and leafy
woods. The sunniest glow of Life dwells in that soul, chequered duly
with dark streaks from night and Hades: everywhere one feels as if all
were fill'd with yellow glowing sunlight, some glorious golden Vapour;
from which form after form bodies itself; naturally, golden forms. In
one word, there seems to be a note of 'The Eternal Melodies' in this
man; for which let all other men be thankful and joyful!" — From a
letter of Thomas Carlyle to Tennyson, dated 7th Dec., 1842, Hallum
Tennyson, Memoir, vol. I, p. 213.
"Everyone will have seen men, distinguished in some line of work,
whose conversation (to take the old figure) either 'smelt too strongly
37
of the lamp,' or lay quite apart from their art or craft. What, through
all these years, struck me about Tennyson, was that whilst he never
deviated into poetical language as such, whether in rhetoric or highly
coloured phrase, yet throughout the substance of his talk the same
mode of thought, the same imaginative grasp of nature, the same fine-
ness and gentleness in his view of character, the same forbearance and
toleration, the aurea mediocritas despised by fools and fanatics, which
are stamped on his poetry, were constantly perceptible: whilst hi the
easy and as it were unsought choiceness, the conscientious and truth-
loving precision of his words, the same personal identity revealed itself.
What a strange charm lay here; how deeply illuminating the whole
character, as in prolonged intercourse it gradually revealed itself!
Artist and man, Tennyson was invariably true to himself, or rather, in
Wordsworth's phrase, he 'moved altogether'; his nature and his
poetry being harmonious aspects of the same soul." — From recollections
of Tennyson by F. T. Palgrave, Hallam Tennyson, Memoir, vol. II,
p. 492.
" Crossing the Bar was written in my father's eighty-first year, on a
day in October when we came from Aldworth to Farringford. Before
reaching Farringford he had the Moaning of the Bar in his mind, and
after dinner he showed me this poem written out.
I said, 'That is the crown of your life's work.' He answered, 'It
came in a moment.' He explained the 'Pilot' as 'That Divine and
Unseen Who is always guiding us.'
A few days before my father's death he said to me: 'Mind you put
Crossing the Bar at the end of all editions of my poems.'" — Hallam
Tennyson, Memoir, vol. II, pp. 366, 367.
TOPICS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION.
1. Compare carefully in metrical structure the brief poems studied.
2. Merlin and the Gleam as a brief personal autobiography of Ten-
nyson.
3. Compare The Wreck and the cathedral scene in the first part of
Goethe's Faust.
4. Compare Romney's Remorse and Browning's Andrea del Sarto.
5. Why is there so much more consideration of the problems of the
development and readjustment of society in Tennyson than in
Browning?
6. Compare the view of old age in By an Evolutionist and in Brown-
ing's Rabbi Ben Ezra.
38
7. The ethical lesson emphasized in The Ancient Sage.
8. The relative value of the study of Epicureanism and its failure
as given in The Ancient Sage and in Browning's Cleon.
9. The relation of Tennyson's art to his life.
10. Compare Crossing the Bar and Browning's Epilogue to Asolando.
11. In what respects is Tennyson the poet of law and order?
12. Compare Tennyson and Goethe in cosmopolitanism of view.
13. The different relations of Tennyson and Browning to Christianity.
14. Tennyson's gospel of moral heroism.
15. The relative value of ethical and artistic elements in Tennyson's
poetry.
16. The permanent value of Tennyson's spiritual philosophy as com-
pared with its helpfulness for the nineteenth century.
REFERENCES.
Tennyson, *The Wreck; **Romney's Remorse; **By an Evolutionist;
*Beautiful City; *Dawn; **The Ancient Sage; **Flower in the Cran-
nied WaU; *The Higher Pantheism; *De Profundis; *The Human Cry;
** Merlin and The Gleam; **Wages; ** Crossing the Bar. Brooke,
* Tennyson, pp. 392-509. Dawson, Makers of Modern English, chap-
ters XXI and XXII. Dowden, *Studies in Literature, pp. 191-239.
Dowden, Transcripts and Studies, pp. 153-236. Luce, Handbook,
chapters XII-XVI. Masterman, * Tennyson as a Religious Teacher.
Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism, volume VIII, pp. 64-111. Peck,
What is Good English, pp. 167-194, The Human Side of Tennyson.
Royce, Studies of Good and Evil, chapter III, Tennyson and Pessimism.
Sneath, * The Mind of Tennyson. Stedman, Victorian Poets, chapters
V and VI. Stephen, Studies of a Biographer, volume II, pp. 196-240.
Van Dyke, Poetry of Tennyson, pp. 221-347.
BOOK LIST.
Books starred are of special value in connection with this course; those double-
starred are texts for study and discussion, or are otherwise of first importance.
Tennyson, **Works, Globe Edition, complete in one volume. Pp. viii +
896. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1893.
The Cambridge Edition, by W. J. Rolfe, pp. xvii + 887,
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1898, is also a good edition in
one volume, but does not contain some of the latest poems.
Tennyson, *Early Poems, edited by John Churton Collins. Pp. xlvi 4-
317. Methuen & Co., London, 1900.
Tennyson, **In Memoriam, with Arthur Henry Hallam's Poetical
Remains. Pp. 202. Temple Classics, The Macmillan Co., New
York, 1899.
Tennyson, **In Memoriam, annotated by the author. Pp. 265.
Golden Treasury Series, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1906.
Azarias, Brother, Phases of Thought and Criticism, pp. 183-264, Spirit-
ual Sense of In Memoriam. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1892.
Bayne, Peter, Lessons from my Masters, Carlyle, Tennyson and Ruskin,
pp. 201-364, Alfred Tennyson. Harper & Brothers, New York,
1879.
Benson, Arthur Christopher (Christopher Carr, pseudonym), Alfred
Tennyson. Pp. x + 243. Little Biographies, E. P. Dutton & Co.,
New York, 1904.
Bolton, Sarah K., Famous English Authors of the Nineteenth Century,
pp. 256-310, Tennyson. T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York, c!890.
Bradley, A. C., A Commentary on Tennyson's In Memoriam. Pp. xii +
223. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1901.
Brightwell, D. Barren, A Concordance to the Entire Works of Alfred
Tennyson. Pp. xiv + 477. E. Moxon, Son, & Co., London, 1869.
Brooke, Stopford A., The Poetry of Robert Browning, chapter I, pp. 1-56,
*Browning and Tennyson. T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York, 1902.
Brooke, Stopford A., * Tennyson, His Art and Relation to Modern Life.
Pp. iv + 516. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1894.
40
Carpenter, W. Boyd, The Religious Spirit in the Poets, chapter IX,
Tennyson, chapter X, Tennyson — In Memoriam, pp. 162-201. T.
Y. Crowell & Co., New York, 1901.
Cary, Elisabeth L., Tennyson, His Homes, His Friends and His Work.
Pp. viii + 312. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1898.
Chapman, Elizabeth Rachel, A Companion to In Memoriam. Pp. 72.
The Macmillan Co., New York, 1888.
Chesterton, G. K., and Garaett, Richard, Tennyson. Pp. iv + 40.
Bookman Biographies. James Pott & Co., New York, 1904.
Clark, J. Scott, A Study of English and American Poets, pp. 755-
804, Alfred Tennyson. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,
1900.
Collins, John Churton, Illustrations of Tennyson. Pp. ix + 186. Chatto
& Windus, London, 1891.
Cooke, George Willis, Poets and Problems, pp. 55-169, Tennyson.
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1893.
Corson, Hiram, A Primer of English Verse. Pp. iv + 232. Ginn & Co.,
Boston, 1892.
Davidson, Thomas, Prolegomena to In Memoriam. Pp. vi + 177. D.
C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1897.
Dawson, W. J., Literary Leaders of Modern England, pp. 61-142,
Tennyson. Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, N. Y., 1902.
Dawson, W. J., The Makers of Modern English: A Popular Handbook
to the Greater Poets of the Century, pp. 169-269, Tennyson.
Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1890.
Devey, Joseph, A Comparative Estimate of Modern English Poets, pp.
275-336, Tennyson. E. Moxon, Son, & Co., London, 1873.
Dizon, William Macneile, A Primer of Tennyson with a Critical Essay.
Pp. 189. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1896.
Dowden, Edward, Studies in Literature, 1789-1877, pp. 191-239, Mr.
Tennyson and Mr. Browning. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner &
Co., London, 1887.
Dowden, Edward, Transcripts and Studies, pp. 153-236, Victorian
Literature. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., London, 1888.
Farrar, Frederick W., Men I Have Known, pp. 1—41, Lord Tennyson.
T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York, c!897.
Garnett, James M., translator, Beowulf. Pp. lii + 110. Ginn & Co.,
Boston, 1892.
Gates, Lewis E., Studies and Appreciations, pp. 60-91, Tennyson. The
Macmillan Co., New York, 1900.
Genung, John F., Tennyson's In Memoriam, Its Purpose and Its Struct-
ure. A Study. Pp. vi + 199. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1896.
41
Griggs, Edward Howard, The Poetry and Philosophy of Tennyson. In
Primary Education, vol. VII, nos. 7-10; vol. VIII, nos. 1-6.
September 1899— June 1900.
Gwynn, Stephen, Tennyson : A Critical Study. Pp. viii + 234. Blackie
& Son, London, 1899.
Hallam, Arthur Henry, * Remains in Verse and Prose. Pp. 441.
Ticknor & Fields, Boston, 1863.
Harrison, Frederic, Tennyson, Ruskin, Mitt, and Other Literary Esti-
mates, chapter I, pp. 1—47, Tennyson. The Macmillan Co., New
York, 1900.
Horton, Robert F., Alfred Tennyson. A Saintly Life. Pp. xi + 323.
E. P. Button & Co., New York, 1900.
Hubbard, Elbert, Little Journeys, vol. VI, pp. 51-72, Tennyson. The
Roycrofters, East Aurora, N. Y., 1900.
Button, Richard Holt, Literary Essays, pp. 361-436, Tennyson. The
Macmillan Co., New York, 1888.
Innes, A. D., Seers and Singers; A Study of Five English Poets. Pp.
223. A. D. Innes & Co., London, 1893.
Kingsley, Charles, Literary and General Lectures and Essays, pp. 101-
124, Tennyson. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1890.
Lang, Andrew, * Alfred Tennyson. Pp. viii + 233. Modern English
Writers, William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1901.
Lindsay, James, Essays, Literary and Philosophical, pp. 79-119, Phil-
osophy of Tennyson. William Blackwood & Sons, London, 1896.
Luce, Morton, A Handbook to the Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Pp.
vi + 454. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1895.
Lyall, Alfred, * Tennyson. Pp. 200. English Men of Letters, The Mac-
millan Co., New York, 1902.
Maccallum, M. W., * Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Arthurian Story
from the XVIth Century. Pp. xiv + 435. The Macmillan Co.,
New York, 1894.
Masterman, Charles F. G., *Tennyson as a Religious Teacher. Pp.
xi + 253. Methuen & Co., London, 1900.
Moulton, Charles Wells, editor, *The Library of Literary Criticism
of English and American Authors, vol. VIII, pp. 64-111, Alfred
Lord Tennyson. The Moulton Publishing Co., Buffalo, 1904.
Ificoll, W. Robertson, and Wise, Thomas J., editors, Literary Anecdotes
of the Nineteenth Century: Contributions towards a Literary History
of the Period, vol. I, pp. 21-27, Arthur Henry Hallam as Advocate
of Alfred and Charles Tennyson; vol. I, pp. 35-41, An Opinion on
Tennyson by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; vol. II, pp. 222-272,
The Building of the Idylls: A Study in Tennyson; vol. II, pp.
421-441, Tennysoniana. Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1895.
42
Oliphant, Mrs. M. 0. W., and Oliphant, F. R., The Victorian Age of
Literature, vol. I, pp. 212-226, Tennyson. Percival & Co., Lon-
don, 1892.
Fallen, Conde" Benoist, Meaning of the Idylls of the King: An Essay
in Interpretation. Pp. 115. The American Book Co., New York,
1904.
Peck, Harry Thurston, What is Good English? and Other Essays, pp.
167-194, The Human Side of Tennyson. Dodd, Mead & Co., New
York, 1899.
Ritchie, Anne Isabella Thackeray, Records of Tennyson, Ruskin and
Browning, pp. 1-72, Tennyson. The Macmillan Co., New York,
1893.
Robertson, John M., Essays towards a Critical Method, pp. 233-282, The
Art of Tennyson. T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1889.
Royce, Josiah, Studies of Good and Evil, chapter III, pp. 76-88, Tenny-
son and Pessimism. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1898.
Saintsbury, George, Corrected Impressions. Essays on Victorian
Writers, pp. 21-40, Tennyson. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1899.
Scudder, Vida D., The Life of The Spirit in the Modern English Poets.
Pp. v+349. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1895.
Sharp, Amy, Victorian Poets, pp. 1-39, Alfred Tennyson. Methuen &
Co., London, 1891.
Sneath, E. Hershey, The Mind of Tennyson. His Thoughts on God,
Freedom, and Immortality. Pp. viii+193. Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York, 1900.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence, Victorian Poets, chapters V, VI, pp.
150-233, Tennyson. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1893.
Stephen, Leslie, Studies of a Biographer, vol. II, pp. 196-240, The Life
of Tennyson. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1898.
Strong, Augustus Hopkins, The Great Poets and Their Theology, pp.
449-524, Tennyson. The American Baptist Publication Society,
Philadelphia, 1897.
Swinburne, Algernon Charles, Miscellanies, pp. 219-259, Tennyson
and Musset. Chatto & Windus, London, 1886.
Symonds, John Addington, Essays Speculative and Suggestive, vol. II,
pp. 225-277, A Comparison of Elizabethan with Victorian Poetry.
Chapman & Hall, London, 1890.
Taine, H. A., History of English Literature, translated by H. Van Laun,
chapter VI, pp. 518-541, Tennyson. Henry Holt & Co., New
York, 1886.
Tainsh, Edward Campbell, A Study of the Works of Alfred Lord Tenny-
son, Poet Laureate. Pp. xi + 312. The Macmillan Co., New York,
189a
43
Tennyson, Hallam, ** Alfred Lord Tennyson. A Memoir by His Son.
2 vols. Pp. xxii-t-516 and vii + 551. The Macmillan Co., New
York, 1897. Also in new edition, 2 vols. in one, The Macmillan
Co., 1905.
VanDyke, Henry, Alfred Tennyson. In Warner's Ijibrary of the World's
Best Literature, vol. 25, pp. 14581-14587. R. S. Peale & J. A.
Hill, New York, c!897. Reprinted in Studies of Great Authors:
Poets (Warner Classics), pp. 113-130. Doubleday, McClure Co.,
New York, 1899.
VanDyke, Henry, *The Poetry of Tennyson. Pp. xvi+437. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1898.
Wace, Walter E., Alfred Tennyson, His Life and Works. Pp. vii+203.
Macniven & Wallace, Edinburgh, 1881.
Walker, Hugh, The Age of Tennyson. Pp. x+309. Handbooks of
English Literature, edited by Professor Hales, George Bell & Sons,
London, 1900.
Walker, Hugh, The Greater Victorian Poets. Pp. 332. The Macmillan
Co., New York, 1895.
Walters, J. Cuming, Tennyson: Poet, Philosopher, Idealist. Studies
of the Life, Work, and Teaching of the Poet Laureate. Pp. viii+
370. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., London, 1893.
Ward, William G., Tennyson's Debt to Environment. A Study of Ten-
nyson's England as an Introduction to His Poems. Pp. 100.
Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1898.
Waugh, Arthur, Alfred Lord Tennyson, A Study of His Life and WorK.
Pp. x+332. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1893.
44
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY