In the 'Gardener's Daughter' we have the first of that delightful series
of poems dealing with scenes and characters from ordinary English life,
and named appropriately 'English Idylls'.
of poems dealing with scenes and characters from ordinary English life,
and named appropriately 'English Idylls'.
Tennyson
Shakespeare, 'Coriolanus', ii.
, iii.
:--
What custom wills in all things should we do it,
The dust on antique Time would be unswept,
And mountainous error too highly heaped
For Truth to overpeer. ]
[Footnote 15: 'Cf. ' Archdeacon Hare's "Sermon on the Law of
Self-Sacrifice".
"This is the golden chain of love whereby the whole creation is bound
to the throne of the Creator. "
For further illustrations see 'Illust. of Tennyson', p. 158. ]
[Footnote 16: Paraphrased from 'Odyssey', vi. , 42-5, or 'Lucretius',
iii. , 18-22. ]
[Footnote 17: The expression "'crowned' with summer 'sea'" from
'Odyssey', x. , 195: [Greek: naeson taen peri pontos apeiritos
estaphan_otai. ]]
THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER; OR, THE PICTURES
First published in 1842.
In the 'Gardener's Daughter' we have the first of that delightful series
of poems dealing with scenes and characters from ordinary English life,
and named appropriately 'English Idylls'. The originator of this species
of poetry in England was Southey, in his 'English Eclogues', written
before 1799. In the preface to these eclogues, which are in blank verse,
Southey says: "The following eclogues, I believe, bear no resemblance to
any poems in our language. This species of composition has become
popular in Germany, and I was induced to attempt it by an account of the
German idylls given me in conversation. " Southey's eclogues are eight in
number: 'The Old Mansion House', 'The Grandmother's Tale', 'Hannah',
'The Sailor's Mother', 'The Witch', 'The Ruined Cottage', 'The Last of
the Family' and 'The Alderman's Funeral'. Southey was followed by
Wordsworth in 'The Brothers' and 'Michael'. Southey has nothing of the
charm, grace and classical finish of his disciple, but how nearly
Tennyson follows him, as copy and model, may be seen by anyone who
compares Tennyson's studies with 'The Ruined Cottage'. But Tennyson's
real master was Theocritus, whose influence pervades these poems not so
much directly in definite imitation as indirectly in colour and tone.
'The Gardener's Daughter' was written as early as 1835, as it was read
to Fitzgerald in that year ('Life of Tennyson', i. , 182). Tennyson
originally intended to insert a prologue to be entitled 'The
Antechamber', which contained an elaborate picture of himself, but he
afterwards suppressed it. It is given in the 'Life', i. , 233-4. This
poem stands alone among the Idylls in being somewhat overloaded with
ornament. The text of 1842 remained unaltered through all the subsequent
editions except in line 235. After 1851 the form "tho'" is substituted
for "though".
What custom wills in all things should we do it,
The dust on antique Time would be unswept,
And mountainous error too highly heaped
For Truth to overpeer. ]
[Footnote 15: 'Cf. ' Archdeacon Hare's "Sermon on the Law of
Self-Sacrifice".
"This is the golden chain of love whereby the whole creation is bound
to the throne of the Creator. "
For further illustrations see 'Illust. of Tennyson', p. 158. ]
[Footnote 16: Paraphrased from 'Odyssey', vi. , 42-5, or 'Lucretius',
iii. , 18-22. ]
[Footnote 17: The expression "'crowned' with summer 'sea'" from
'Odyssey', x. , 195: [Greek: naeson taen peri pontos apeiritos
estaphan_otai. ]]
THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER; OR, THE PICTURES
First published in 1842.
In the 'Gardener's Daughter' we have the first of that delightful series
of poems dealing with scenes and characters from ordinary English life,
and named appropriately 'English Idylls'. The originator of this species
of poetry in England was Southey, in his 'English Eclogues', written
before 1799. In the preface to these eclogues, which are in blank verse,
Southey says: "The following eclogues, I believe, bear no resemblance to
any poems in our language. This species of composition has become
popular in Germany, and I was induced to attempt it by an account of the
German idylls given me in conversation. " Southey's eclogues are eight in
number: 'The Old Mansion House', 'The Grandmother's Tale', 'Hannah',
'The Sailor's Mother', 'The Witch', 'The Ruined Cottage', 'The Last of
the Family' and 'The Alderman's Funeral'. Southey was followed by
Wordsworth in 'The Brothers' and 'Michael'. Southey has nothing of the
charm, grace and classical finish of his disciple, but how nearly
Tennyson follows him, as copy and model, may be seen by anyone who
compares Tennyson's studies with 'The Ruined Cottage'. But Tennyson's
real master was Theocritus, whose influence pervades these poems not so
much directly in definite imitation as indirectly in colour and tone.
'The Gardener's Daughter' was written as early as 1835, as it was read
to Fitzgerald in that year ('Life of Tennyson', i. , 182). Tennyson
originally intended to insert a prologue to be entitled 'The
Antechamber', which contained an elaborate picture of himself, but he
afterwards suppressed it. It is given in the 'Life', i. , 233-4. This
poem stands alone among the Idylls in being somewhat overloaded with
ornament. The text of 1842 remained unaltered through all the subsequent
editions except in line 235. After 1851 the form "tho'" is substituted
for "though".
