And all so
variously
wrought (with semi-colon instead
of full stop at the end of the preceding line).
of full stop at the end of the preceding line).
Tennyson
]
[Footnote 11: The best commentary on this will be found in Herbert
Spencer's 'Psychology'. ]
[Footnote 12: Compare with this Tennyson's first sonnet ('Works', Globe
Edition, 25), and the lines in the 'Ancient Sage' in the 'Passion of the
Past' ('Id'. , 551). 'Cf'. too the lines in Wordsworth's ode on
'Intimations of Immortality':--
But there's a tree, of many one,
A single field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone;
The pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat.
For other remarkable illustrations of this see the present writer's
'Illustrations of Tennyson', p. 38. ]
[Footnote 13: 'Cf'. Coleridge, 'Ancient Mariner, iv'. :--
"O happy living things . . . I blessed them
The self-same moment I could pray. "
There is a close parallel between the former and the latter state
described here and in Coleridge's mystic allegory; in both cases the
sufferers "wake to love," the curse falling off them when they can
"bless". ]
[Footnote 14: 1884.
And all so variously wrought (with semi-colon instead
of full stop at the end of the preceding line). ]
THE DAY-DREAM
First published in 1842, but written in 1835. In it is incorporated,
though with several alterations, 'The Sleeping Beauty', published among
the poems of 1830, but excised in subsequent editions. Half extravaganza
and half apologue, like the 'Midsummer Night's Dream', this delightful
poem may be safely left to deliver its own message and convey its own
meaning. It is an excellent illustration of the truth of Tennyson's own
remark: "Poetry is like shot silk with many glancing colours. Every
reader must find his own interpretation according to his ability, and
according to his sympathy with the poet. "
PROLOGUE
(No alteration has been made in the Prologue since 1842. )
O, Lady Flora, let me speak:
A pleasant hour has past away
While, dreaming on your damask cheek,
The dewy sister-eyelids lay.
As by the lattice you reclined,
I went thro' many wayward moods
To see you dreaming--and, behind,
A summer crisp with shining woods.
And I too dream'd, until at last
Across my fancy, brooding warm,
The reflex of a legend past,
And loosely settled into form.
And would you have the thought I had,
And see the vision that I saw,
Then take the broidery-frame, and add
A crimson to the quaint Macaw,
And I will tell it. Turn your face,
Nor look with that too-earnest eye--
The rhymes are dazzled from their place,
And order'd words asunder fly.
THE SLEEPING PALACE
(No alteration since 1851. )
1
The varying year with blade and sheaf
Clothes and reclothes the happy plains;
Here rests the sap within the leaf,
Here stays the blood along the veins.
Faint shadows, vapours lightly curl'd,
Faint murmurs from the meadows come,
Like hints and echoes of the world
To spirits folded in the womb.
2
Soft lustre bathes the range of urns
On every slanting terrace-lawn.
[Footnote 11: The best commentary on this will be found in Herbert
Spencer's 'Psychology'. ]
[Footnote 12: Compare with this Tennyson's first sonnet ('Works', Globe
Edition, 25), and the lines in the 'Ancient Sage' in the 'Passion of the
Past' ('Id'. , 551). 'Cf'. too the lines in Wordsworth's ode on
'Intimations of Immortality':--
But there's a tree, of many one,
A single field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone;
The pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat.
For other remarkable illustrations of this see the present writer's
'Illustrations of Tennyson', p. 38. ]
[Footnote 13: 'Cf'. Coleridge, 'Ancient Mariner, iv'. :--
"O happy living things . . . I blessed them
The self-same moment I could pray. "
There is a close parallel between the former and the latter state
described here and in Coleridge's mystic allegory; in both cases the
sufferers "wake to love," the curse falling off them when they can
"bless". ]
[Footnote 14: 1884.
And all so variously wrought (with semi-colon instead
of full stop at the end of the preceding line). ]
THE DAY-DREAM
First published in 1842, but written in 1835. In it is incorporated,
though with several alterations, 'The Sleeping Beauty', published among
the poems of 1830, but excised in subsequent editions. Half extravaganza
and half apologue, like the 'Midsummer Night's Dream', this delightful
poem may be safely left to deliver its own message and convey its own
meaning. It is an excellent illustration of the truth of Tennyson's own
remark: "Poetry is like shot silk with many glancing colours. Every
reader must find his own interpretation according to his ability, and
according to his sympathy with the poet. "
PROLOGUE
(No alteration has been made in the Prologue since 1842. )
O, Lady Flora, let me speak:
A pleasant hour has past away
While, dreaming on your damask cheek,
The dewy sister-eyelids lay.
As by the lattice you reclined,
I went thro' many wayward moods
To see you dreaming--and, behind,
A summer crisp with shining woods.
And I too dream'd, until at last
Across my fancy, brooding warm,
The reflex of a legend past,
And loosely settled into form.
And would you have the thought I had,
And see the vision that I saw,
Then take the broidery-frame, and add
A crimson to the quaint Macaw,
And I will tell it. Turn your face,
Nor look with that too-earnest eye--
The rhymes are dazzled from their place,
And order'd words asunder fly.
THE SLEEPING PALACE
(No alteration since 1851. )
1
The varying year with blade and sheaf
Clothes and reclothes the happy plains;
Here rests the sap within the leaf,
Here stays the blood along the veins.
Faint shadows, vapours lightly curl'd,
Faint murmurs from the meadows come,
Like hints and echoes of the world
To spirits folded in the womb.
2
Soft lustre bathes the range of urns
On every slanting terrace-lawn.
