426 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. 



emotion. There are not a dozen of them of the best class in 

 all his works, in spite of the attempts of the poet to add to their 

 number; and, with perhaps two exceptions, they belong to the 

 period of his greatest poetic power. On them his fame as a 

 great lyric poet will chiefly rest. These poems are " Love that 

 hath us in the net," and perhaps, "It is the miller's daughter," 

 written long before the others, "Break, break, break," first pub- 

 lished in 1842, and five or six songs in "The Princess." Let us, 

 for the sake of comparison, recall a lyric poem of either cate- 

 gory, and, first, one deriving a part of its interest from narration 

 and description. We may choose "Sir Launcelot and Queen 

 Guinevere," which is perhaps less familiar than some others, 

 although full of beautiful poetry : 



" Like souls that balance joy and pain, 

 With tears and smiles from heaven again 

 The maiden Spring upon the plain 

 Came in a sun-lit fall of rain. 



In crystal vapor everywhere 

 Blue isles of heaven laughed between, 

 And far, in forest deeps unseen, 

 The topmost elm-tree gathered green 



From draughts of balmy air. 



" Sometimes the linnet piped his song : 

 Sometimes the throstle whistled strong : 

 Sometimes the sparhawk, wheeled along, 

 Kushed all the groves from fear of wrong : 



By grassy capes with fuller sound 

 In curves the yellowing river ran, 

 And drooping chestnut-buds began 

 To spread into the perfect fan, 

 Above the teeming ground. 



" Then, in the boyhood of the year, 

 Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere 

 Rode thro' the coverts of the deer, 

 With blissful treble ringing clear. 



She seemed a part of joyous Spring: 

 A gown of grass-green silk she wore, 

 Buckled with golden clasps before ; 

 A light-green tuft of plumes she bore 

 Closed in a golden ring. 



" Now on some twisted ivy-net, 

 Now by some tinkling rivulet, 



