=

I-21. Ida. A mountain-range near Troy. Clough writes in a letter from the Pyrenees, Sept. 1, 1861: Enone, he [Tennyson] said was written on the inspiration of the Pyrenees, which stood for Ida.' topmost Gargarus: a Latinism, on the model of summus mons= the top of the mountain. See Allen and Greenough, Latin Grammar, § 193. Gargarus was the highest peak of Ida. forlorn of Paris: another Latinism; a kind of genitive of specification, like integer vitæ upright in life. A. and G., § 218 (c). 22-32. many-fountained Ida. 'So fared he [Zeus] to manyfountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, even unto Gargaros, where is his demesne and fragrant altar.' — Iliad, viii, 47–48. noon-day quiet held the hill. hill.' - Callimachus, Lavacrum Palladis, 72.1 his shadow on the stone. 'When, indeed, the very lizard is sleeping on the loose stones of the wall' - Theocritus, vii. 22. Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of love. 'Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.'. - 2 Henry VI. ii. 3. 17.

the

'The noon-day quiet held the The lizard, with

33-51. a River-God: Cebren. as yonder walls Rose slowly to a music slowly breathed. According to a legend in Ovid (Epistulæ, xv. 179-180) the walls of Troy rose to the music of Apollo's lyre. Simois : a river of the Troad.

52-74. Hesperian gold. The Hesperides (Daughters of the West) guarded the golden apples which Ge (the Earth) gave to Heré on her wedding. To obtain possession of these apples was the eleventh labor of Hercules. See Tennyson's poem, The Hesperides. Mountain-nymphs.

Oread

=

75-88. For the details of this story, see Cl. Myths, § 167.

89-100. The original of this lovely passage is to be found in Iliad, xiv. 347-351: 'And beneath them the divine earth sent forth fresh new grass, and dewy lotus, and crocus, and hyacinth, thick and soft, that raised them aloft from the ground. Therein they lay, and were clad o'er with a fair golden cloud, whence fell drops of glittering dew.'

101-130. champaign. See note on this word in Macaulay's

Horatius, line 100.

131-167. The character of Pallas, as portrayed here, is in admirable keeping with Homer's conception of her, in the Odyssey, as the friend of Odysseus.

168-190. Idalian Aphrodité. Idalium or Idalia was a mountain (also a city) in Cyprus, sacred to Venus. Paphian. Paphos was

another city in Cyprus sacred to Venus.

1 For this and for the illustration from Theocritus, I am indebted to Mr. Churton Collins' book.

The

191-225. plume (205); trembling. Notice the picture in this first word, and the accuracy of observation in the second. Abominable: the goddess Eris (Discord).

226-264. Cassandra : one of the daughters of Priam. Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy, but with it the penalty that her prophecies should never be believed.

In his old age Tennyson continued this subject in his Death of Enone. The sequel is not worthy of the original: Enone is depicted as embittered and revengeful; she loses that sweet womanliness and despairing tenderness that make her so pathetic a figure in the first poem.

Tennyson is remarkable for the curious felicity with which he reproduces the characteristics of other poets, at the same time adding something hard to define, yet unmistakably his own. In Enone we have the sensuousness and the coloring of Keats; in The Miller's Daughter, the thoroughly English tone and the deep joy in domestic affection that appear so often in Wordsworth, - combined with a lilt and melody that Wordsworth seldom attained to.

The lyric 'It is the miller's daughter' ing octette of Ronsard's Odes, iv. 25.

Je voudrois estre le riban Qui serre ta belle poitrine; Je voudrois estre le carquan Qui orne ta gorge yvorine;

Je voudrois estre tout autour Le coral qui tes lèvres touche, Afin de baiser, nuict et jour, Tes belles lèvres et ta bouche.

(169), is closely imitated from the clos

[Literal Translation.]

I would be the ribbon

That presses thy beautiful breast;

I would be the necklace

That graces thy ivory throat;

I would be indeed

The coral [coralline rouge] that touches thy lips

That I might kiss, night and day,

Thy beautiful lips and thy mouth.

Ronsard, in his turn, took the thought from a fragment in the Pseudo-Anacreon, thus rendered by Mr. Collins: 'Would I were a mirror, that thou mightest be ever gazing at me; would that I were a tunic, that thou mightest always wear me; and thy breast band; and would I were a sandal; only trample me with thy feet.' See note on Burns' To a Mountain Daisy, 39–54. The third stanza of Tennyson's song also contains suggestion of the sextet in Keats' Last Sonnet.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR.

The greater part of this poem (lines 170-440) was published in 1842, under the title of Morte D'Arthur. Lines 1-169 and 441-469 were added many years later to connect this Idyll with Guinevere and to frame into one picture the scattered mosaics which the author had cut from various materials. When read in the following order- -The Coming of Arthur, Gareth and Lynette, The Marriage of Geraint, Geraint and Enid, Balin and Balan, Merlin and Vivien, Lancelot and Elaine, The Holy Grail, Pelleas and Ettarre, The Last Tournament, Guinevere, The Passing of Arthur-the Idylls are seen to constitute a

kind of Epic in twelve books, -an Epic deficient, certainly, in Unity of Action, but not deficient in Spiritual Unity. In his Epilogue to the Idylls Tennyson calls his work

this old imperfect tale

New-old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul
Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost

Streams like a Cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak,

And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still;

Acting on the hint in these lines, some commentators have constructed elaborate interpretations of the Idylls as Allegories. While allegorical passages undoubtedly occur in the Idylls, any attempt to interpret them throughout as an allegory breaks down at vital points. Nor is such an interpretation either necessary or desirable: it weakens the pathetic and purifying effect which the Idylls convey when viewed in their proper light as a work of Art.

1-8. their march to westward. Throughout this poem Tennyson varies the incidents only slightly from those in Malory's Morte D'Arthur, Book xxi. Cap. 3-5.

9-28. These lines are a late addition of the poet's. Do they, in this place, add anything to the effect of the poem?

29-49. Gawain: according to Malory (xxi. 2) the nephew of King Arthur and, after Launcelot, his favorite knight. Tennyson characterizes him differently in Launcelot and Elaine, 542-548:

a Prince

In the mid-night and flourish of his May

Gawain, surnamed the courteous, fair and strong

And after Launcelot, Tristram and Geraint

And Lamorack a good knight, but therewithal

Sir Modred's brother, of a crafty house

Nor often loyal to his word.

like wild birds that change Their season in the night. From Dante's Inferno, v. 40-49.

And as the wings of starlings bear them on

In the cold season in large band and full,
So doth that blast the spirits maledict;
It hither, thither, downward, upward drives them;
No hope doth comfort them for evermore,
Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.
And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,
Making in air a long line of Themselves,
So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,
Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.

(Longfellow.)

50-64. Modred. Malory represents him as the King's son. For his character in the Idylls, see The Coming of Arthur, 200-202; Gareth and Lynette, 28-31, 409; Pelleas and Ettarre, last line; The Last Tournament, 166; Guinevere, passim.

Almes

65-78. The legendary wars here referred to are related in Malory, Books i. and v. See The Coming of Arthur, last 16 lines. bury; in Wiltshire. The reference is, of course, to Guinevere.

79-117. Lyonesse. A mythical country, west of Cornwall. The Scilly Islands are doubtless the origin of this myth. Malory says the battle took place upon a down beside Salisbury and not far from the sea-side,' and declares, 'Never was there seen a more dolefuller battle in no Christian land.'

118-169. Excalibur (168). For the description of this famous weapon, see The Coming of Arthur, 238–264.

170-205. Camelot: probably Queen-Camel in Somersetshire, but the Arthurian geography is as uncertain as the Odyssean. For a description of the Hall at Camelot, see The Holy Grail, 225–257. Merlin. See the Coming of Arthur and Merlin and Vivien.

206-432. In this pathetic episode, Tennyson follows Malory closely, yet adds little touches of his own that light up the dim narrative of the old knight as the jewels lit up the haft of Excalibur. What these touches are, will best be seen by letting Malory speak for himself he is no mean story-teller, in his own quaint way.

But my time hieth fast, said the king. Therefore, said Arthur, take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there, I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again, and tell me what thou there seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, and lightly bring you word again. So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and haft were all of precious stones, and then he said to himself, If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never come good, but harm and loss. And then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And as soon as he might he came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and had thrown the sword into the water. What sawest thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but waves and winds. That is untruly said of thee, said the king; therefore go thou lightly again, and do my command as thou art to me lief and dear, spare not, but throw it in. Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword; and so eft he hid the sword, and returned again, and told to the king that he had been at the water, and done his commandment. What saw thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but the waters wap and the waves wan. Ah traitor, untrue, said king Arthur, now hast thou betrayed me twice. Who would have wend that thou that hast been to me so lief and dear, and thou art named a noble knight, and would betray me for the riches of the sword. But now go again lightly, for thy long tarrying putteth me

in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall slay thee with mine own hands, for thou wouldst for my rich sword see me dead. Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it up, and went to the water side, and there he bound the girdle about the hilts, and then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might, and there came an arm and an hand above the water, and met it, and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away the hand with the sword in the water. So Sir Bedivere came again to the king, and told him what he saw. Alas, said the king, help me hence, for I dread me I have tarried over long. Then Sir Bedivere took the king upon his back, and so went with him to the water side. And when they were at the water side, even fast by the bank hoved a little barge, with many fair ladies in it, and among them all was a queen, and all they had black hoods, and all they wept and shrieked when they saw king Arthur. Now put me into the barge, said the king and so he did softly. And there received him three queens with great mourning, and so they set him down, and in one of their laps king Arthur laid his head, and then that queen said, Ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long from me? Alas, this wound on your head hath caught over much cold. And so then they rowed from the land; and Sir Bedivere beheld all those ladies go from him. Then Sir Bedivere cried, Ah, my lord Arthur, what shall become of me now ye go from me, and leave me here alone among mine enemies. Comfort thyself, said the king, and do as well as thou mayest, for in me is no trust for to trust in. For I will into the vale of Avilion, to heal me of my grievous wound. And if thou hear never more of me, pray for my soul.

This way and that dividing the swift mind (228). This is line 285 of Aeneid iv.:

Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.

Notice the onomatopoetic effect in 238-239 and in 354-358. Three Queens (366): Faith, Hope and Charity (?). But see lines 452-456. The holy Elders (401). See Matthew ii. 1-12. Bound by gold chains about the feet of God (423). See note on Dryden's Character of a Good Parson, 14-24.

433-469. the weird rime. See The Coming of Arthur, 352–366. yon dark Queens. See The Coming of Arthur, 327-337.

The line of hope, with which Tennyson closes his poem, is worthy the noble character he has depicted. What matter if King Arthur is an anachronism? So is Odysseus, so is Satan in Paradise Lost, so is Vergil in the Divine Comedy. - King Arthur interests us because he is a man, tried at all points like unto ourselves, struggling with Sense at war with Soul, beaten apparently in the conflict but leaving behind an imperishable Ideal around which future ages shall build a purer and a better Reality.

So to live is heaven:

To make undying music in the world,
Breathing as beauteous order that controls

With growing sway the growing life of man.