PAGE NO. 40 haunted by supernatural terror that those who entered it were said never to have smiled again. 33 Alfred Tennyson rated the Scholar Gipsy as Arnold's finest poem. His explanatory note follows: 'There was very lately a lad in the University of Oxford, who was by his poverty forced to leave his studies there; and at last to join himself to a company of vagabond gipsies. Among these extravagant people, by the insinuating subtility of his carriage, he quickly got so much of their love and esteem as that they discovered to him their mystery. After he had been a pretty while exercised in the trade, there chanced to ride by a couple of scholars, who had formerly been of his acquaintance. They quickly spied out their old friend among the gipsies; and he gave them an account of the necessity which drove him to that kind of life, and told them that the people he went with were not such impostors as they were taken for, but that they had a traditional kind of learning among them, and could do wonders by the power of imagination, their fancy binding that of others: that himself had learned much of their art, and when he had compassed the whole secret, he intended, he said, to leave their company, and give the world an account of what he had learned.'Glanvil's Vanity of Dogmatizing, 1661. 48 36 Amaturus, with Nos. 124, 126, is reprinted from Ionica, by permission of the publisher, Mr. G. Allen. 49 37 This lovely song is a kind of counterpart to Hood's Fair Inez, but in a more impassioned key. 54 43 In its simple brightness and airy music Barnes here touches the Elizabethan lyrical chord; but goes beyond it in depth of feeling. L. 4 athirt, athwart. PAGE NO. 56 48 58 50 1. 5 vu'st, first. Theocritus has no correspondent passage. The allusion may be to the fragmentary Idyll iii, ascribed to Bion of Smyrna. 65 60 This simple love-song, which even Tennyson never surpassed in beauty, is at the same time curiously dramatic. The lover's little wood borders on the high trees and Hall of Maud's father, who is expecting there the 'new-made' lord, his intended son-in-law. Maud meanwhile has ventured to cross the boundary, and the birds form a kind of chorus to the meeting: those in our wood' rejoicing that she is here,' the rooks on the other hand inviting her to the Hall and the rival suitor. It is a wonder of art how Tennyson has set forth the whole situation, and the romance of first-love, in so few words. But not one of them is wasted. St. 2 Many poets have thought it a beautiful touch to speak of a girl's footsteps as too light to bend the flowers. Tennyson has here given a finer image through plain truth to the structure of the daisy, the crimson florets which encircle the underside of the blossom. Poetry of beauty so pure and unalloyed as this must surely have poured itself forth from 'The Mind's internal Heaven.' 69 65 Ashe's tender little ditty, without a trace of imitation, recalls Wordsworth's best early simple sentiment. It is reproduced by permission of Messrs. G. Bell & Sons. 66 71 69 With this noble sonnet compare Shakespeare's Tired with all these, for restful death I cry. 81 73 1.5 the poet sings: Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria. - Dante, Inferno, C. v. PAGE NO. 87 73 1.6 a cycle: any number of years of what is popularly described as Chinese immobility. 92 77 The poet's last lines, dictated on his deathbed. If a friendship of near half a century may allow me to say it, those solemn words, As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, give the true key to Alfred Tennyson's inmost nature, his life and his poetry. 98 80 In this and the next poem Tennyson's own notes have been retained. The additional glossary following was written at his suggestion or dictation. 99 100 ΙΟΙ 102 103 St. I 'asta beän, hast thou been: thoort, yows, ewes. St. 11 ta-year, this year: haäte St. 12 thutty, thirty. St. 13 a moost, He must: cauve, calve: hoälms, small mounds. St. 14 quoloty, gentry: thessen, themselves: sewerloy, surely. St. 15 howd, hold. St. 16 kittle, boiler: huzzin' an' maäzin', worrying with hiss and amazing. St. 17 'toättler, teetotaller: a's hallus i the owd taäle, is always telling the same old story: floy, fly. 81 St. 2 craw to pluck, affair to dispute: woä, go slower, lad. - St. 6 as 'ant nowt, as has nothing. St. 7 weänt, wont: ligs, lies. St. 8 shut on, clear of: i' the grip, in the PAGE NO. 104 81 little draining ditch. St. 10, burn, born. St. II esh, ash. St. 13 ammost, almost: 'id, hidden away: tued an' moil'd, put himself in a stew and toiled. St. 14 run oop, his land ran up: brig, bridge. 107 85 11. 1-4. The allusion is to stellar photography; the light rays from stars invisible to us through their immense distance chemically affect the sensitive plate. This is a beautiful instance of scientific fact trans formed into poetry. A. Tennyson affords many analogous examples. 116 92 Alfred Domett left England for New Zealand (of which colony he became Prime Minister) in 1842: His departure was apparently somewhat sudden. Robert Browning, his intimate companion and friend,' celebrated it in the lively verses What's become of Waring, Since he gave us all the slip? The fine specimen of his poetry here given was published in 1837. 117 93 This text exhibits the author's final revision. The Birkenhead, steam troop-ship, struck near Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, Feb. 25, 1852. Four hundred and thirtyeight officers, soldiers, and seamen were lost: including the military commander, Colonel Seton of the 74th. 119 94 Some Seiks, and a private of the Buffs [the East Kent regiment], having remained behind with the grog-carts, fell into the hands of the Chinese. On the next morning, they were brought before the authorities, and commanded to perform the Kotou. The Seiks obeyed; but Moyse, the English soldier, declaring that he would not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive, was immediately knocked upon the head, and PAGE NO. his body thrown on a dunghill.'-- China Correspondent of the Times.' This incident took place during the English campaign of 1860. Lord Elgin was then our ambassador to China. 121 96 lane, alone: bienly, cheerfully: sclid, slippery: the nicht, to-night: gin, if.―The event dates not long before 1874; the woman was a poor Highlander. Schihallion is a stern and lofty mountain in central Perthshire. 128 100 Tennyson in this poem has had in view the animated description of the sea-fight (1591) left us by Grenville's kinsman, Sir Walter Ralegh. 133 101 The Charge at Balaclava (25 Oct. 1854) lasted twenty-five minutes, and left more than two-thirds of our men dead or wounded. 139 103 The worst spirit of the Renaissance, in Italy and in France (and not without contemporary followers among us), breathes through this terribly powerful poem. 141 104 This incident was 'told to the author by the late Sir Charles Napier.' The British attack, like that at Balaclava, was made under an order misunderstood: see These were ... As without... p. 142-3. The fortress, Truckee, was considered impregnable. The temper of Mehrab Khan is admirably rendered by the lines placed in his mouth by Sir F. H. Doyle in a brief ode to his honour they recall Lovelace's Althea: The noble heart, as from a tower, Looks down on life that wears a stain; He lives too long, who lives an hour Beneath the clanking of a chain. 144 105 This nobly, if roughly, energetic ballad raises a regret that the writer should have so largely given away his genius to the attempt to vivify the ancient Irish legends, |