WHAT time I wasted youthful hours, As towards the gracious light I bow'd, They seem'd high palaces and proud, Hid now and then with sliding cloud. He said, 'The labor is not small; BRITONS, GUARD YOUR OWN Contributed to 'The Examiner,' January 31, 1852. RISE, Britons, rise, if manhood be not dead; His ruthless host is bought with plunder'd gold, He triumphs; maybe we shall stand alone. Peace-lovers we-sweet Peace we all desire Of shameless traitors, We hate not France, but this man's heart of ADDITIONAL VERSES To 'God Save the Queen!' written for the marriage of the Princess Royal of England with the Crown Prince of Prussia, January 25, 1858. GOD bless our Prince and Bride! God keep their lands allied, God save the Queen! God save the Queen! Fair fall this hallow'd hour, God save the Queen! THE WAR Printed in the 'London Times,' May 9, 1859; reprinted in the Death of Enone' volume, 1892, with the title, 'Riflemen, Form.' THERE is a sound of thunder afar, Storm in the South that darkens the day! Form form! Riflemen, form! Be not deaf to the sound that warns! Ready, be ready to meet the storm! Riflemen, Riflemen, Riflemen, form! Let your reforms for a moment go! Than a rotten fleet or a city in flames! Ready, be ready to meet the storm! Form, be ready to do or die! Form in Freedom's name and the Queen's! True that we have a faithful ally, But only the devil can tell what he means. 'My ringlet, my ringlet, That art so golden-gay, Now never chilling touch of Time And a lad may wink, and a girl may hint, For my doubts and fears were all amiss, 1865-1866 Contributed to Good Words,' March, 1868. I STOOD on a tower in the wet, And New Year and Old Year met, But anght that is worth the knowing?' STANZA Contributed to the 'Shakespearean ShowBook,' printed in March, 1884, for a fair got up for the Chelsea Hospital for Women. NOT he that breaks the dams, but he COMPROMISE Addressed to Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, in November, 1884, when the Fran The night with sudden odor reel'd, The following prefatory stanza was contributed in 1891 to Pearl,' an English poem of the 14th century, edited by Mr. Israel Gollancz: We lost you for how long a time, [Other poems by Tennyson mentioned by Shepherd and Luce in their Bibliographies (neither of which is invariably accurate) as printed, but omitted in the collected editions, are the following: a stanza in the volume of his poems presented to the Princess Louise of Schleswig-Holstein by representatives of the nurses of England; lines on the christening of the daughter of the Duchess of Fife; and lines to the memory of J. R. Lowell. These are not referred to in the Memoir,' and I have not been able to find copies of them.] VI. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Page 1. TO THE QUEEN. The following is the stanza referring to the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, which originally followed the 6th: She brought a vast design to pass, For an early version of the poem (from a MS. in the Library of the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia), see Jones's 'The Growth of the Idylls of the King,' p. 152. Nine of the thirteen stanzas are entirely unlike the poem as finally published. Page 2. And statesmen at her councils met, etc. This stanza was once quoted by Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons with remarkable effect. Lord John Manners, in an argument against political change, had quoted the poet's description of England as A land of old and wide renown Where Freedom slowly broadens down. The retort was none the less effective because the passage was taken from a different poem. Page 4. LEONINE ELEGIACS. The title in 1830 was simply 'Elegiacs.' In line 6' wood-dove' was 'turtle,' and in 15 or was 'and.' For the allusion in The ancient poetess singeth,' etc., compare Locksley Hall Sixty Years After': Hesper, whom the poet call'd the Bringer home of all good things.' The refer ence is to the fragment of Sappho: Εσπερε, πάντα φέρεις· Φέρεις οἶνον, φέρεις αἶγα, Φέρεις ματέρι παῖδα. Byron paraphrases it in 'Don Juan' (iii. 107):- of a Second-rate Sensitive Mind not in Unity The original title was 'Supposed Confessions with Itself. In the poem as restored the following lines, after line 39, were omitted: A grief not uninformed, and dull, More glorious than the noon of day. And all the Norland whirlwind showers The only other changes are rosy fingers' for waxen fingers' in 42, and 'man' for men' in 169. The Westminster Review' (January, 1831) recognized in this poem an extraordinary combination of deep reflection, metaphysical analysis, picturesque description, dramatic transition, and strong emotion." Arthur Hallam, in the Englishman's Magazine' (August, 1831), said of it: The Confessions of a Second-rate Sensitive Mind" are full of deep insight into human nature, and into those particular trials which are sure to beset men who think and feel for themselves at this epoch of social development. The title is perhaps ill chosen; not only has it an appearance of quaintness, which has no sufficient reason, but it seems to us incorrect. The mood portrayed in this poem, unless the admirable skill of delineation has deceived us, is rather the clouded season of a strong mind than the habitual condition of one feeble and second-rate.' Page 8. MARIANA. In the 4th line the first reading was the peach to the garden-wall.' Bayard Taylor, writing in 1877 (in International Review,' vol. iv.), quotes the poet as saying: There is my "Mariana," for example. A line in it is wrong, and I cannot possibly change it, because it has been so long published; yet it always annoys me. I wrote "That held the peach to the garden-wall." Now this is not a characteristic of the scenery I had in mind. The line should be "That held the pear to the gable-wall." Whether this conversation occurred during Taylor's visit to Tennyson in 1857 I cannot say; but the line was changed in the printed poem in 1860, or seventeen years before the review was written. In line 43, the original reading was 'did dark;' retained in 1842, but changed in 1845. In line 50, up and away' was at first up an' away' (changed in 1842). In line 63, the original 'sung the pane' was retained down to 1850. Line 80 was originally, Downsloped 1 was westering in his bower' (changed in 1842). Page 9. To The 1830 reading in the 3d and 4th lines was The knotted lies of human creeds, The wounding cords which bind and strain. MADELINE. Printed in 1830 without the division into stanzas, which was made in 1842. The only other change (except the spelling airy' for aery ") is amorously' for three times three' in the last stanza (in the errata of the 1830 volume). Page 10. RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. In line 29 the 1830 volume has Of breaded blosms'; in 78 Blackgreen' for 'Black'; in 1 In the volumes of 1830 and 1833, compound words are, with rare exceptions, printed without the hyphen ; as 'silverchiming,' gardenbowers,' 'mountainstreams,' etc. The 9th had 'a' for 'one'; and the 14th 'hurl'd' for whirl'd.' In the 1st stanza, the hate of hate,' etc., clearly means the hatred of hate, etc. Rev. F. W. Robertson explains it thus: That is, the Prophet of Truth receives for his dower the scorn of men in whom scorn dwells, hatred from men who hate, while his reward is the gratitude and affection of men who seek the truth which they love, more eagerly than the faults which their acuteness can blame.' A very intelligent lady once told me that she had always understood hate of hate' to mean the utmost intensity of hate, etc., the poet's passions and sensibilities being to those of ordinary men 'as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine.' Shake hands, my friend, across the brink So far far down, but I shall know The only changes in the next three stanzas were 'scritches of the jay' for laughters of the jay,' and 'darnel' for darnels.' The following stanzas, with which the poem originally ended (connected closely with the preceding, there being only a comma after the woodbines blow '), have not been restored: VI If thou art blest, my mother's smile Undimmed, if bees are on the wing: Then cease, my friend, a little while, That I may hear the throstle sing His bridal song, the boast of spring. I. The original version has a confused dream' in the 3d line; Altho' I knew not' in the 12th; and for the 14th And each had lived in the other's mind and speech.' In the 8th 'hath' is italicized. III. In the 1st line 'full' was originally 'fierce'; and in the 12th warm was great.' VI. The 10th line was originally 'How long shall the icy-hearted Muscovite.' 6 VII. The 1st line had originally 'dainty' for slender.' VIII. The 5th line had 'waltzing-circle' for whirling dances.' X. The first line originally began 'But were I loved, etc. XI. The bridesmaid' was Emily Sellwood, who afterwards became the poet's wife; and the marriage was that of his brother Charles to Louisa Sellwood, May 24, 1836. See the Memoir,' vol. i. p. 148. Page 27. THE LADY OF SHALOTT. The last four lines of the 1st stanza were originally as follows: The yellowleaved waterlily, The next stanza began thus: Willows whiten, aspens shiver. The sunbeam-showers break and quiver The first reading of the 3d and 4th stanzas was: Underneath the bearded barley, The reaper, reaping late and early, Hears her ever chanting cheerly, Like an angel, singing clearly, O'er the stream of Camelot. Piling the sheaves in furrows airy, Beneath the moon, the reaper weary Listening whispers, 't is the fairy, Lady of Shalott.' The little isle is all inrailed |