, I:
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin.
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin.
Tennyson
[2]
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Were shiver'd in my narrow frame
O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss, my whole soul thro'
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew. [4]
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly: from below
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow
Before him, striking on my brow.
In my dry brain my spirit soon,
Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,
Faints like a dazzled morning moon.
The wind sounds like a silver wire,
And from beyond the noon a fire
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher
The skies stoop down in their desire;
And, isled in sudden seas of light,
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,
Bursts into blossom in his sight.
My whole soul waiting silently,
All naked in a sultry sky,
Droops blinded with his shining eye:
I 'will' possess him or will die.
I will grow round him in his place,
Grow, live, die looking on his face,
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.
[Footnote 1: 1833. At. ]
[Footnote 2: This stanza was added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 3: 'Cf. ' Byron, 'Occasional Pieces':--
They name thee before me A knell to mine ear, A shudder comes o'er me,
Why wert thou so dear? ]
[Footnote 4: 'Cf,' Achilles Tatius, 'Clitophon and Leucippe', bk. i.
, I:
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin. ']
(Her soul, distracted by the kiss, throbs, and had it not been close
bound by the flesh would have followed, drawn upward by the kisses. )]
? NONE
First published in 1833, On being republished in 1842 this poem was
practically rewritten, the alterations and additions so transforming the
poem as to make it almost a new work. I have therefore printed a
complete transcript of the edition of 1833, which the reader can
compare. The final text is, with the exception of one alteration which
will be noticed, precisely that of 1842, so there is no trouble with
variants. '? none' is the first of Tennyson's fine classical studies. The
poem is modelled partly on the Alexandrian Idyll, such an Idyll for
instance as the second Idyll of Theocritus or the 'Megara' or 'Europa'
of Moschus, and partly perhaps on the narratives in the 'Metamorphoses'
of Ovid, to which the opening bears a typical resemblance. It is
possible that the poem may have been suggested by Beattie's 'Judgment of
Paris' which tells the same story, and tells it on the same lines on
which it is told here, though it is not placed in the mouth of ? none.
Beattie's poem opens with an elaborate description of Ida and of Troy in
the distance. Paris, the husband of ? none, is one afternoon confronted
with the three goddesses who are, as in Tennyson's Idyll, elaborately
delineated as symbolising what they here symbolise. Each makes her
speech and each offers what she has to offer, worldly dominion, wisdom,
sensual pleasure. There is, of course, no comparison in point of merit
between the two poems, Beattie's being in truth perfectly commonplace.
Last night, when some one spoke his name, [3]
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame.
Were shiver'd in my narrow frame
O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss, my whole soul thro'
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew. [4]
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly: from below
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow
Before him, striking on my brow.
In my dry brain my spirit soon,
Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,
Faints like a dazzled morning moon.
The wind sounds like a silver wire,
And from beyond the noon a fire
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher
The skies stoop down in their desire;
And, isled in sudden seas of light,
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,
Bursts into blossom in his sight.
My whole soul waiting silently,
All naked in a sultry sky,
Droops blinded with his shining eye:
I 'will' possess him or will die.
I will grow round him in his place,
Grow, live, die looking on his face,
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.
[Footnote 1: 1833. At. ]
[Footnote 2: This stanza was added in 1842. ]
[Footnote 3: 'Cf. ' Byron, 'Occasional Pieces':--
They name thee before me A knell to mine ear, A shudder comes o'er me,
Why wert thou so dear? ]
[Footnote 4: 'Cf,' Achilles Tatius, 'Clitophon and Leucippe', bk. i.
, I:
[Greek: 'AEde (psyche) tarachtheisa tps philaemati palletai, ei de
mae tois splagchnois in dedemenae aekolouthaesen an elkaetheisa ano tois
philaemasin. ']
(Her soul, distracted by the kiss, throbs, and had it not been close
bound by the flesh would have followed, drawn upward by the kisses. )]
? NONE
First published in 1833, On being republished in 1842 this poem was
practically rewritten, the alterations and additions so transforming the
poem as to make it almost a new work. I have therefore printed a
complete transcript of the edition of 1833, which the reader can
compare. The final text is, with the exception of one alteration which
will be noticed, precisely that of 1842, so there is no trouble with
variants. '? none' is the first of Tennyson's fine classical studies. The
poem is modelled partly on the Alexandrian Idyll, such an Idyll for
instance as the second Idyll of Theocritus or the 'Megara' or 'Europa'
of Moschus, and partly perhaps on the narratives in the 'Metamorphoses'
of Ovid, to which the opening bears a typical resemblance. It is
possible that the poem may have been suggested by Beattie's 'Judgment of
Paris' which tells the same story, and tells it on the same lines on
which it is told here, though it is not placed in the mouth of ? none.
Beattie's poem opens with an elaborate description of Ida and of Troy in
the distance. Paris, the husband of ? none, is one afternoon confronted
with the three goddesses who are, as in Tennyson's Idyll, elaborately
delineated as symbolising what they here symbolise. Each makes her
speech and each offers what she has to offer, worldly dominion, wisdom,
sensual pleasure. There is, of course, no comparison in point of merit
between the two poems, Beattie's being in truth perfectly commonplace.
