EDITOR'S TABLE. 



265 



TENNYSON. 



Much as has been written about the 

 great poet who was laid to rest in West- 

 minster Abbey on the 12th of October 

 Jast, a few words may properly be de- 

 voted to him in this place on account of 

 the marked influence which his writings 

 have had upon the intellectual move- 

 ment of our time. In him there was an 

 admirable balance and harmony of the 

 logical and emotional powers. Through 

 the former he was in sympathy with the 

 mo9t progressive thought of the age ; 

 through the latter, coupled with a noble 

 imagination, he was enabled to enrich 

 the English language with lyrics of price- 

 less value and to infuse into the great 

 body of his poetry the warmth and glow 

 of a high moral inspiration. In many 

 respects Tennyson was an ideal poet. 

 While alive to the controversies of the 

 time, he held a place apart, and never 

 did or suffered aught of a nature to im- 

 pair the great and ever-increasing con- 

 sideration in which his name was held. 

 He confined himself strictly to his own 

 region of poetry, not seeking to shine as 

 a prose writer, a critic, a theologian, or 

 a man of society. At the same time his 

 poetical throne was well within view 

 of the people. His style was free from 

 the all but hopeless obscurity of Brown- 

 ing, and yet it was marked by a certain 

 distinction and refinement of thought 

 which placed it just beyond the reach 

 of the intellectually vulgar. Though a 

 " gentleman " by birth, he had sincere 

 popular sympathies; and though an up- 

 holder of church and state, his theology 

 was of a very broad and liberal pattern. 

 All things considered, he was in an ad- 

 mirable position for interpreting this 

 age to itself; in other words, for making 

 his contemporaries conscious of the spirit 

 and tendencies of the time. His thought 

 was fresh and forward-glancing in the 

 early years of the century, and in the 

 latest it was still in sympathy with all 

 true progress. 



No one can read any considerable 



portion of the poetry of Tennyson with- 

 out perceiving his interest in scientific 

 thought. He tells us himself, in Locks- 

 ley Hall, in a touch which may be re- 

 garded as autobiographical : 



" Here about the beach I wandered, nourish- 

 ing a youth sublime 

 With the fairy tales of science and the long 

 results of time." 



In certain well-known stanzas of In 

 Memoriam he has given us a vigorous 

 sketch of the evolution theory, even an- 

 ticipating the views of Darwin on the 

 descent of man. That he studied the 

 stars is evident from many allusions. 

 Take the beautiful verses from Locksley 

 Hall : 



" Many a night from yonder ivied casement 



ere I went to rest, 

 Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to 



the west ; 

 Many a night I saw the Pleiads rising through 



the mellow shade, 

 Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies 'tangled in 



a silver braid." 



In The Palace of Art he tells how — 



..." while Saturn whirls, his steadfast 



shade 

 Sleeps on his luminous ring " ; 



and in The Princess how 



. . . " the fiery Sirius alters hue, 

 And bickers into red and emerald." 



That he did not sympathize with the 

 attacks of theologians on scientific specu- 

 lations may perhaps be gathered from 

 the following lines in the Prologue to 

 his Morte d'Arthur : 



" Half awake I heard 

 The parson taking wide and wider sweeps, 

 Now harping on the church commissioners, 

 Now hawing at Geology and schism ; 

 Until I woke and found him settled down 

 Upon the general decay of faith 

 Eight through the world — ' at home was little 



left 

 And none abroad: there was no anchor, none, 

 To hold by.' " 



That he placed but limited faith in 

 ecclesiastical authority is more than 

 hinted where he says to the Kev. F. D. 

 Maurice : 



