]
[Footnote 17: Tennyson tells us that when he travelled by the first train
from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 it was night and he thought that
the wheels ran in a groove, hence this line.
[Footnote 17: Tennyson tells us that when he travelled by the first train
from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 it was night and he thought that
the wheels ran in a groove, hence this line.
Tennyson
"]
[Footnote 12: With this 'cf'. Leopardi, 'Aspasia', 53-60:--
Non cape in quelle
Anguste fronti ugual concetto. E male
Al vivo sfolgora di quegli sguardi
Spera l'uomo ingannato, e mal chiede
Sensi profondi, sconosciuti, e molto
Piu che virili, in chi dell' uomo al tutto
Da natura e minor. Che se piu molli
E piu tenui le membra, essa la mente
Men capace e men forte anco riceve. ]
[Footnote 13: One wonders Tennyson could have had the heart to excise the
beautiful couplet which in his MS. followed this stanza.
All about a summer ocean, leagues on leagues of golden calm,
And within melodious waters rolling round the knolls of palm. ]
[Footnote 14: 1842 and all up to and inclusive of 1850. Droops the
trailer. This is one of Tennyson's many felicitous corrections. In the
monotonous, motionless splendour of a tropical landscape the smallest
movement catches the eye, the flight of a bird, the gentle waving of the
trailer stirred by the breeze from the sea. ]
[Footnote 15: 'Cf'. Shakespeare, "foreheads villainously low". ]
[Footnote 16: 1842. Peoples spin.
]
[Footnote 17: Tennyson tells us that when he travelled by the first train
from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 it was night and he thought that
the wheels ran in a groove, hence this line. ]
[Footnote 18: 1842. The world. ]
[Footnote 19: Cathay, the old name for China. ]
[Footnote 20: 'Cf'. Tasso, 'Gems', ix. , st. 91:--
Nuova nube di polve ecco vicina
Che fulgori in grembo tiene.
(Lo! a fresh cloud of dust is near which
Carries in its breast thunderbolts. )]
GODIVA
First published in 1842. No alteration was made in any subsequent
edition.
The poem was written in 1840 when Tennyson was returning from Coventry
to London, after his visit to Warwickshire in that year. The Godiva
pageant takes place in that town at the great fair on Friday in Trinity
week. Earl Leofric was the Lord of Coventry in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, and he and his wife Godiva founded a magnificent Benedictine
monastery at Coventry. The first writer who mentions this legend is
Matthew of Westminster, who wrote in 1307, that is some 250 years after
Leofric's time, and what authority he had for it is not known.
[Footnote 12: With this 'cf'. Leopardi, 'Aspasia', 53-60:--
Non cape in quelle
Anguste fronti ugual concetto. E male
Al vivo sfolgora di quegli sguardi
Spera l'uomo ingannato, e mal chiede
Sensi profondi, sconosciuti, e molto
Piu che virili, in chi dell' uomo al tutto
Da natura e minor. Che se piu molli
E piu tenui le membra, essa la mente
Men capace e men forte anco riceve. ]
[Footnote 13: One wonders Tennyson could have had the heart to excise the
beautiful couplet which in his MS. followed this stanza.
All about a summer ocean, leagues on leagues of golden calm,
And within melodious waters rolling round the knolls of palm. ]
[Footnote 14: 1842 and all up to and inclusive of 1850. Droops the
trailer. This is one of Tennyson's many felicitous corrections. In the
monotonous, motionless splendour of a tropical landscape the smallest
movement catches the eye, the flight of a bird, the gentle waving of the
trailer stirred by the breeze from the sea. ]
[Footnote 15: 'Cf'. Shakespeare, "foreheads villainously low". ]
[Footnote 16: 1842. Peoples spin.
]
[Footnote 17: Tennyson tells us that when he travelled by the first train
from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 it was night and he thought that
the wheels ran in a groove, hence this line. ]
[Footnote 18: 1842. The world. ]
[Footnote 19: Cathay, the old name for China. ]
[Footnote 20: 'Cf'. Tasso, 'Gems', ix. , st. 91:--
Nuova nube di polve ecco vicina
Che fulgori in grembo tiene.
(Lo! a fresh cloud of dust is near which
Carries in its breast thunderbolts. )]
GODIVA
First published in 1842. No alteration was made in any subsequent
edition.
The poem was written in 1840 when Tennyson was returning from Coventry
to London, after his visit to Warwickshire in that year. The Godiva
pageant takes place in that town at the great fair on Friday in Trinity
week. Earl Leofric was the Lord of Coventry in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, and he and his wife Godiva founded a magnificent Benedictine
monastery at Coventry. The first writer who mentions this legend is
Matthew of Westminster, who wrote in 1307, that is some 250 years after
Leofric's time, and what authority he had for it is not known.
