422 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. 



side, and distributed to the soldiers before Sebastopol. In 1855 

 " Maud " was published. In 1859 the first collection of " Idylls 

 of the King " was brought out, — "Enid," " Vivien," "Elaine," 

 and "Guinevere." They had been preceded, many years earlier, 

 by the "Morte d' Arthur," and were followed after an interval of 

 ten years by "The Corning of Arthur," "The Holy Grail," and 

 "Pelleas and Ettare"; then by "The Last Tournament"; and 

 finally, in 1885, by "Balin and Balan." All the Idylls have 

 been arranged to form a sequence. 



It was not until 1876, when the poet was in his sixty-seventh 

 year, that his first tragedy, "Queen Mary," was presented. It 

 was followed at intervals by other dramas. In 1880, a volume 

 of "Ballads" appeared, including "The Defence of Lucknow," 

 "The Voyage of Maeldune," and many other poems. 



In 1884 Tennyson was made a peer, with the title of Baron 

 Aldworth and Farringford. The honor was well bestowed. 

 There have been British poets as great as this one whose eleva- 

 tion to the peerage would have been incongruous: imagine a 

 Lord Wordsworth, or a Lord Burns. But Tennyson, through- 

 out his writings, moves with a stately dignity and grace. His 

 verse is sonorous and refined. In spite of a curious fondness for 

 expressing despair, he never tears a passion to tatters. His 

 robes shine with a score of colors ; they are set with a hundred 

 jewels; they flow in liquid lines, and never get out of order. 

 He seldom attempts to wear homespun, and when he does try it 

 on, it does not fit him. Such a poet is well suited to take his 

 recognized place in a great aristocracy. 



The work of Tennyson divides itself naturally into periods and 

 into forms. The style and substance, nearly uniform throughout, 

 run readily into various moulds. That style, as I have said, 

 is dignified, lofty, and sonorous. From these qualities it seldom 

 departs and never to its advantage. Like many essentially dig- 

 nified men, Alfred Tennyson liked to be playful; but his play- 

 fulness seldom raises a smile to the lips of his readers. When 

 he -is pathetic, we sorrow with him; when he is inclined to jest, 

 we generally wish he would refrain. An exception may perhaps 

 be made in favor of some of the pieces in dialect, where the 

 humor is of the very quietest description. Occasionally, and 

 most in the earlier poems, there are great lapses from good 

 taste; but in his better pieces this is very rare, and, after all, it 

 is only good taste, and not morals or feelings, that suffer. Yet 



