TENNYSON AS A NATURALIST 253 



Later in the day I rambled through Bolton 

 Woods. I passed the glowing embers of a fire of 

 weeds, and stopped to look at the quivering haze. 

 Again it was Tennyson who had seen the poetical 

 side of a spectacle so common : 



" All the rich to come 



Reels, as the golden Autumn woodland reels 

 Athwart the smoke of burning weeds." 



(The Princess.'] 



In the evening I took down my Tennyson, and 

 amused myself with noting some of the many passages 

 which show his knowledge of Nature. 



Tennyson is our English Theocritus. It would be 

 bold to claim that he has excelled the Sicilian idyllist 

 in charm or knowledge of his art, but it is not ex- 

 travagant to say that he has given to the grave thoughts 

 of our reflective age that poetic touch with which 

 Theocritus was able to brighten the trivial details of a 

 simple country life. Sometimes Theocritus has been 

 consciously in the mind of the English poet, as in that 

 " small, sweet Idyll " of The Princess. Perhaps no 

 English poet since Milton had read to such purpose 

 in the books of ancient verse, as Tennyson. That 

 curiosity which led him to glean among old poets has 

 also made him observant of Nature. It is hard to find 

 in any other English poet so many of the graphic 

 touches which show knowledge of Nature and 

 sympathy with her. Very familiar are the examples 

 which follow : 



" Those eyes 



Darker than darkest pansies, and that hair 

 More black than ashbuds in the front of March." 

 (Gardeners Daughter.} 



