Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson by William Wordsworth and Alfred Lord Tennyson

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It is Milton's merit that he rescued the sonnet from the snare of verbal
wit in which the Elizabethans had involved it, and made it respond to
other passions than that of love. His sonnets, as imitations of the
Italian form, are more successful than the scattered efforts in that
direction of Wyatt and Surrey. They are indeed regular in all respects,
save that he is not always careful to observe the pause in the thought,
and the subtle change which should divide the octave from the sestet.

After Milton there is a pause in sonnet-writing for a hundred years.
William Lisles Bowles (1762-1850), memorable for his influence upon
Coleridge, was among the first again to cultivate the form. Coleridge
and Shelley gave the sonnet scant attention, and were careless as to its
structural qualities. Keats, apart from Wordsworth, was the only poet of
the early years of the century who realized its capabilities. He has
written a few of our memorable sonnets, but he was not entirely satisfied
with the accepted form, and experimented upon variations that cannot be
regarded as successful.

There is no doubt that the stimulus to sonnet-writing in the nineteenth
century came from Wordsworth, and he, as all his recent biographers
admit, received his inspiration from Milton. Wordsworth's sonnets, less
remarkable certainly than a supreme few of Shakespeare's, have still
imposed themselves as models upon all later writers, while the
Shakespearean form has fallen into disuse. A word here, therefore, as to
their form.

The strict rime movement of the octave a b b a a b b a is observed in
seven only of the present collection of twelve, namely, in the first
sonnet, the second, the third, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, and the
eighth. The rime formula of the octave with which Wordsworth's name is
chiefly associated is a b b a a c c a. The sonnets in which this
additional rime is introduced are the fourth, the ninth, the tenth, the
eleventh and the twelfth.

As regards the transition from octave to sestet the following sonnets
observe the prescribed law, namely, the second, third, sixth, seventh,
and ninth. The seven remaining sonnets all show some irregularity in
this respect. The first sonnet (_Fair Star_) with its abrupt
_enjambement_ at the close of the octave, and the thought pause in the
body of the first line of the sestet, is a form much employed by Mrs.
Browning, but rigorously avoided by Dante Gabriel Rossetti with his more
scrupulous ideal of sonnet construction. This imperfect transition is
seen again in the fourth, fifth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
sonnets. Its boldness certainly amounts to a technical fault in the two
sonnets on _King's College Chapel_.

In the sestet we naturally expect and find much variety in the
disposition of the rimes. The conclusion of the last sonnet by a couplet
is most unusual in Wordsworth.

"IT IS NOT TO BE THOUGHT OF"

This sonnet was composed in September, 1802, first published in the
Morning Post in 1803, and subsequently in 1807.

WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802:

PUBLISHED 1807

"This was written immediately after my return from France to London, when
I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade
of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted
with the quiet, I may say the desolation, that the Revolution had
produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the Reader may
think that in this and the succeeding Sonnets I have exaggerated the
mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth."

LONDON, 1802

This sonnet was written in 1803 and published in 1807.

"DARK AND MORE DARK THE SHADES OF EVENING FELL"

This sonnet was written after a journey across the Hambleton Hills,
Yorkshire. Wordsworth says: "It was composed October 4th, 1802, after a
journey on a day memorable to me--the day of my marriage. The horizon
commanded by those hills is most magnificent." Dorothy Wordsworth,
describing the sky-prospect, says: "Far off from us in the western sky we
saw the shapes of castles, ruins among groves, a great spreading wood,
rocks and single trees, a minster with its tower unusually distinct,
minarets in another quarter, and a round Grecian temple also; the colours
of the shy of a bright gray, and the forms of a sober gray, with dome."

"SURPRISED BY JOY--IMPATIENT AS THE WIND"

This sonnet was suggested by the poet's daughter Catherine long after her
death. She died in her fourth year, on June 4, 1812. Wordsworth was
absent from home at the time of her death. The sonnet was published in
1815.

"HAIL, TWILIGHT SOVEREIGN OF A PEACEFUL HOUR"

This sonnet was published in 1815.

"I THOUGHT OF THEE, MY PARTNER AND MY GUIDE"

This sonnet, which concludes "The River Duddon" series, is usually
entitled "After-Thought". The series was written at intervals, and was
finally published in 1820. "The Duddon rises on Wrynose Fell, near to
'Three Shire Stone,' where Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire meet."

"SUCH AGE, HOW BEAUTIFUL!"

This sonnet, published in 1827, was inscribed to Lady Fitzgerald at the
time in her seventieth year.

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby, a small hamlet among the
Lincolnshire wolds, on August 6th, 1809. His father, the Rev. George
Clayton Tennyson, the vicar of Somersby, was a man of large and
cultivated intellect, interested in poetry, mathematics, painting, music,
and architecture, but somewhat harsh and austere in manner, and subject
to fits of gloomy depression, during which his presence was avoided by
his family; he was sincerely devoted to them, however, and himself
supervised their education. His mother, Elizabeth Fytche, the daughter
of the Rev Stephen Fytche of Louth, was a kind-hearted, gentle, refined
woman, beloved by her family and friends. Her influence over her sons
and daughters was unbounded, and over none more so than Alfred, who in
after life recognized to the full what he owed to his mother.

The family was large, consisting of twelve sons and daughters, of whom
the eldest died in infancy. Alfred was the fourth child, his brothers
Frederick and Charles being older than he. The home life was a very
happy one. The boys and girls were all fond of books, and their games
partook of the nature of the books they had been reading. They were
given to writing, and in this they were encouraged by their father, who
proved himself a wise and discriminating critic. Alfred early showed
signs of his poetic bent; at the age of twelve he had written an epic of
four thousand lines, and even before this a tragedy and innumerable poems
in blank verse. He was not encouraged, however, to preserve these
specimens of his early powers, and they are now lost.

Alfred attended for a time a small school near his home, but at the age
of seven he was sent to the Grammar School at Louth. While at Louth he
lived with his grandmother, but his days at school were not happy, and he
afterwards looked back over them with almost a shudder. Before he was
twelve he returned home, and began his preparation for the university
under his father's care. His time was not all devoted to serious study,
but was spent in roaming through his father's library, devouring the
great classics of ancient and modern times, and in writing his own poems.
The family each summer removed to Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast.
Here Alfred learned to love the sea in all its moods, a love which lasted
through his life.

In 1827, after Frederick had entered Cambridge, the two brothers, Charles
and Alfred, being in want of pocket money, resolved to publish a volume
of poems. They made a selection from their numerous poems, and offered
the book to a bookseller in Louth, For some unknown reason he accepted
the book, and soon after, it was published under the title, _Poems by Two
Brothers_. There were in reality three brothers, as some of Frederick's
poems were included in the volume. The brothers were promised 20 pounds,
but more than one half of this sum they had to take out in books. With
the balance they went on a triumphal expedition to the sea, rejoicing in
the successful launching of their first literary effort.

In 1828 Charles and Alfred Tennyson matriculated at Trinity College,
Cambridge, where their elder brother Frederick had already been for some
time. Alfred was a somewhat shy lad, and did not at once take kindly to
the life of his college. He soon, however, found himself one of a famous
society known as "The Apostles," to which belonged some of the best men
in the University. Not one member of the "Apostles" at this time, but
afterwards made a name for himself, and made his influence felt in the
world of politics or letters. The society met at regular intervals, but
Alfred did not take much part in the debates, preferring to sit silent
and listen to what was said. All his friends had unbounded admiration
for his poetry and unlimited faith in his poetic powers. This faith was
strengthened by the award of the University Prize for English Verse to
Alfred in June, 1829. He did not wish to compete, but on being pressed,
polished up an old poem that he had written some years before, and
presented it for competition, the subject being _Timbuctoo_. The poem
was in blank verse and really showed considerable power; in fact it was a
remarkable poem for one so young.

Perhaps the most powerful influence on the life of Tennyson was the
friendship he formed while at Cambridge with Arthur Henry Hallam, the son
of the historian, Henry Hallam. The two became inseparable friends, a
friendship strengthened by the engagement of Hallam to the poet's sister.
The two friends agreed to publish a volume of poems as a
joint-production, but Henry Hallam, the elder, did not encourage the
project, and it was dropped. The result was that in 1830, _Poems,
Chiefly Lyrical_, was published with the name of Alfred Tennyson alone on
the title page. The volume was reviewed enthusiastically by Hallam, but
was more or less slated by Christopher North in the columns of
_Blackwoods' Magazine_. Tennyson was very angry about the latter review
and replied to the reviewer in some caustic, but entirely unnecessary,
verses.

In the same year Hallam and Tennyson made an expedition into Spain to
carry aid to the rebel leader against the king of Spain. The expedition
was not by any means a success. In 1831 Tennyson left Cambridge, without
taking his degree, and shortly after his return home his father died.
The family, however, did not remove from Somersby, but remained there
until 1837. Late in 1832 appeared another volume entitled _Poems by
Alfred Tennyson_. This drew upon the unfortunate author a bitterly
sarcastic article in the _Quarterly_, written probably by its brilliant
editor, John Gibson Lockhart. The result of this article was that
Tennyson was silent for almost ten years, a period spent in ridding
himself of the weaknesses so brutally pointed out by the reviewer.

In 1833, Arthur Henry Hallam died, and for a time the light of life
seemed to have gone out for Alfred Tennyson. The effect of the death of
Hallam upon the poet was extraordinary. It seemed to have changed the
whole current of his life; indeed he is said, under the strain of the
awful suddeness and unexpectedness of the event, to have contemplated
suicide. But saner thoughts intervened, and he again took up the burden
of life, with the determination to do what he could in helping others.
From this time of storm and stress came _In Memoriam_.

From 1832 to 1842 Tennyson spent a roving life. Now at home, now in
London, now with his friends in various parts of England. He was
spending his time in finishing his poems, so that when he again came
before the world with a volume, he would be a master. The circle of his
friends was widening, and now included the greater number of the
master-minds of England. He was poor, so poor in fact that he was
reduced to the necessity of borrowing the books he wished to read from
his friends. But during all this time he never wavered in his allegiance
to poetry; he had determined to be a poet, and to devote his life to
poetry. At last in 1842 he published his _Poems_ in two volumes, and the
world was conquered. From this time onwards he was recognized as the
leading poet of his century.

In 1845, Tennyson, poor still, was granted a pension of 200 pounds,
chiefly through the influence of his friend Richard Monckton Milnes, and
Thomas Carlyle. There was a great deal of criticism regarding this
pension from sources that should have been favorable, but the general
verdict approved the grant. In 1847 appeared _The Princess_, a poem,
which, at that time, did not materially add to his fame; but the poet was
now hailed as one of the great ones of his time, and much was expected of
him.

In 1850 three most important events in the life of Tennyson happened. He
published _In Memoriam_, in memory of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam; he
was appointed Poet Laureate, in succession to Wordsworth; and he married
Emily Selwood, a lady to whom he had been engaged for seventeen years,
but whom his poverty had prevented him from leading to the altar. From
this time onwards the life of the poet flowed smoothly. He was happily
married, his fame was established, his books brought him sufficient
income on which to live comfortable and well. From this point there is
little to relate in his career, except the publication of his various
volumes.

After his marriage Tennyson lived for some time at Twickenham, where in
1852 Hallam Tennyson was born. In 1851 he and his wife visited Italy, a
visit commemorated in _The Daisy_. In 1853 they removed to Farringford
at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, a residence subsequently purchased
with the proceeds of _Maud_, published in 1855. The poem had a somewhat
mixed reception, being received in some quarters with unstinted abuse and
in others with the warmest praise. In the year that _Maud_ was published
Tennyson received the honorary degree of D.C.L., from Oxford. In 1859
was published the first four of the _Idylls of the King_, followed in
1864 by _Enoch Arden and Other Poems_. In 1865 his mother died. In 1869
he occupied Aldworth, an almost inaccessible residence in Surrey, near
London, in order to escape the annoyance of summer visitors to the Isle
of Wight, who insisted on invading his privacy, which, perhaps, more than
any other he especially valued.

From 1870 to 1880 Tennyson was engaged principally on his dramas--_Queen
Mary_, _Harold_, and _Becket_,--but, with the exception of the last,
these did not prove particularly successful on the stage. In 1880
_Ballads and Poems_ was published, an astonishing volume from one so
advanced in years. In 1882 the _Promise of May_ was produced in public,
but was soon withdrawn. In 1884 Tennyson was raised to the peerage as
Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Farringford, after having on two previous
occasions refused a baronetcy. In 1885 _Tiresias and Other Poems_ was
published. In this volume was published _Balin and Balan_, thus
completing the _Idylls of the King_, which now assumed their permanent
order and form. _Demeter and Other Poems_ followed in 1889, including
_Crossing the Bar_. In 1892, on October 6th, the poet died at Aldworth,
"with the moonlight upon his bed and an open Shakespeare by his side." A
few days later he was buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of Robert
Browning, his friend and contemporary, who had preceded him by only a few
years.

Carlyle has left us a graphic description of Tennyson as he was in middle
life: "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 musically 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." To this may be added a
paragraph from Caroline Fox: "Tennyson is a grand specimen of a man, with
a magnificent head set on his shoulders like the capital of a mighty
pillar. His hair is long and wavy and covers a massive head. He wears a
beard and mustache, which one begrudges as hiding so much of that firm,
powerful, but finely-chiselled mouth. His eyes are large and gray, and
open wide when a subject interests him; they are well shaded by the noble
brow, with its strong lines of thought and suffering. I can quite
understand Samuel Lawrence calling it the best balance of head he had
ever seen."

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Born, August 6, 1809, at Somersby, Lincolnshire.

Goes to Louth Grammar School, 1816.

Publishes, along with his brother Charles, _Poems by Two Brothers_, 1827.

Goes to Trinity College, Cambridge, 1828.

Forms friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam, 1828.

Wins Vice-Chancellor's Gold Medal for his poem _Timbuctoo_, 1829.

Publishes _Poems, Chiefly Lyrical_, 1830.

Makes an expedition to the Pyrenees with Arthur Henry Hallam, 1830.

Leaves Cambridge, owing to the illness of his father, 1831.

Visits the Rhine with Arthur Henry Hallam, 1832.

Publishes _Poems by Alfred Tennyson_, 1832.

Arthur Henry Hallam dies, 1833.

Removes from Somersby to High Beech in Epping Forest, 1837.

Publishes _Poems_ in two volumes, 1842.

Granted a pension of 200 pounds from the Civil List, 1845.

Publishes _The Princess_, 1847.

Publishes _In Memoriam_, 1850.

Appointed Poet Laureate, 1850.

Marries Miss Emily Selwood, 1850.

Tours southern Europe with his wife, 1851.

Hallam Tennyson born, 1852.

Writes _Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington_, 1852.

Takes up his residence at Farringford in the Isle of Wight, 1853.

Lionel Tennyson born, 1854.

Writes _The Charge of the Light Brigade_, 1855.

The University of Oxford confers on him the degree of D.C.L., 1855.

Publishes _Maud and Other Poems_, 1855.

Purchases Farringford, 1856.

Publishes _Idylls of the King_, 1859.

Writes his _Welcome to Alexandra_, 1863.

Publishes _Enoch Arden_, 1864; _The Holy Grail_, 1869.

His mother dies, 1865.

Purchases land at Haslemere, Surrey, 1868, and begins erection of
Aldworth.

Publishes _Queen Mary_, 1875; the drama successfully performed by Henry
Irving, 1876.

Publishes _Harold_, 1876.

His drama _The Falcon_ produced, 1869.

Seeks better health by a tour on the Continent with his son Hallam, 1880.

Publishes _Ballads and Other Poems_, 1880.

His drama _The Cup_ successfully performed, 1881.

His drama _The Promise of May_ proves a failure, 1882.

Raised to the peerage as Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Farringford, 1884.

Publishes _Becket_, 1884.

His son Lionel dies, 1885.

Publishes _Tiresias and Other Poems_, 1885. This volume contains _Balin
and Balan_, thus completing his _Idylls of the King_.

Publishes _Demeter and Other Poems_, 1889.

Dies at Aldworth, October 6, 1892, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

The _Death of Oenone_ is published, 1892.

APPRECIATIONS

"Since the days when Dryden held office no Laureate has been appointed so
distinctly pre-eminent above all his contemporaries, so truly the king of
the poets, as he upon whose brows now rests the Laureate crown. Dryden's
grandeur was sullied, his muse was venal, and his life was vicious; still
in his keeping the office acquired a certain dignity; after his death it
declined into the depths of depredation, and each succeeding dullard
dimmed its failing lustre. The first ray of hope for its revival sprang
into life with the appointment of Southey, to whom succeeded Wordsworth,
a poet of worth and genius, whose name certainly assisted in
resuscitating the ancient dignity of the appointment. Alfred Tennyson
derives less honor from the title than he confers upon it; to him we owe
a debt of gratitude that he has redeemed the laurels with his poetry,
noble, pure, and undefiled as ever poet sung."--_Walter Hamilton_.

"Tennyson is many sided; he has a great variety of subjects. He has
treated of the classical and the romantic life of the world; he has been
keenly alive to the beauties of nature; and he has tried to sympathize
with the social problems that confront mankind. In this respect he is a
representative poet of the age, for this very diversity of natural gifts
has made him popular with all classes. Perhaps he has not been perfectly
cosmopolitan, and sometimes the theme in his poetry has received a slight
treatment compared to what might have been given it by deeper thinking
and more philosophical poets, but he has caught the spirit of the age and
has expressed its thought, if not always forcibly, at least more
beautifully than any other poet,"--_Charles Read Nutter_.

"In technical elegance, as an artist in verse, Tennyson is the greatest
of modern poets. Other masters, old and new, have surpassed him in
special instances; but he is the only one who rarely nods, and who always
finishes his verse to the extreme. Here is the absolute sway of metre,
compelling every rhyme and measure needful to the thought; here are
sinuous alliterations, unique and varying breaks and pauses, winged
flights and falls, the glory of sound and color everywhere present, or,
if missing, absent of the poet's free will. The fullness of his art
evades the charm of spontaneity. His original and fastidious art is of
itself a theme for an essay. The poet who studies it may well despair,
he can never excel it; its strength is that of perfection; its weakness,
the ever-perfection which marks a still-life painter."--_Edmund Clarence
Stedman_.

"A striking quality of Tennyson's poetry is its simplicity, both in
thought and expression. This trait was characteristic of his life, and
so we naturally expect to find it in his verse. Tennyson was too sincere
by nature, and too strongly averse to experimenting in new fields of
poetry, to attempt the affected or unique. He purposely avoided all
subjects which he feared he could not treat with simplicity and
clearness. So, in his shorter poems, there are few obscure or ambiguous
passages, little that is not easy of comprehension. His subjects
themselves tend to prevent ambiguity or obscurity. For he wrote of men
and women as he saw them about him, of their joys and sorrows, their
trials, their ideals,--and in this was nothing complex. Thus there is a
homely quality to his poems, but they are kept from the commonplace by
the great tenderness of his feeling. Had Tennyson been primarily of a
metaphysical or philosophical mind all this might have been different.
True, he was somewhat of a student of philosophy and religion, and some
of his poems are of these subjects, but his thought even here is always
simple and plain, and he never attempted the deep study that was not
characteristic of his nature. No less successful is he in avoiding
obscurity in expression. There are few passages that need much
explanation. In this he offers a striking contrast to Browning, who
often painfully hid his meaning under complex phraseology. His
vocabulary is remarkably large, and when we study his use of words, we
find that in many cases they are from the two-syllabled class. This
matter of choice of clear, simple words and phrases is very important.
For, just so much as our attention is drawn from what a poet says to the
medium, the language in which he says it, so much is its clearness
injured. Vividly to see pictures in our imagination or to be affected by
our emotions, we must not, as we read, experience any jar. In Tennyson
we never have to think of his expressions--except to admire their simple
beauty. Simplicity and beauty, then, are two noticeable qualities of his
poetry."--_Charles Read Nutter_.

"An idyllic or picturesque mode of conveying his sentiments is the one
natural to Tennyson, if not the only one permitted by his limitations.
He is a born observer of physical nature, and, whenever he applies an
adjective to some object or passingly alludes to some phenomenon which
others have but noted, is almost infallibly correct. He has the unerring
first touch which in a single line proves the artist; and it justly has
been remarked that there is more true English landscape in many an
isolated stanza of _In Memoriam_ than in the whole of _The Seasons_, that
vaunted descriptive poem of a former century."--_Edmund Clarence Stedman_.

"In describing scenery, his microscopic eye and marvellously delicate ear
are exercised to the utmost in detecting the minutest relations and most
evanescent melodies of the objects before him, in order that his
representation shall include everything which is important to their full
perfection. His pictures of rural English scenery give the inner spirit
as well as the outward form of the objects, and represent them, also, in
their relation to the mind which is gazing on them. The picture in his
mind is spread out before his detecting and dissecting intellect, to be
transformed to words only when it can be done with the most refined
exactness, both as regards color and form and melody."--_E.P. Whipple_.

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