TENNYSON'S FORCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 621, 25 September 1909, Page 6

TENNYSON'S FORCE.

An. interesting , address -was delivered ™ '*&&*s*:?}!&£&■ harSt l£t i . 0r ,i?" d tbat Justice, had force Tw™ do ?° 'intellectual force. Because he.was so much- of an artist i because ho fulfilled so amply in Ms SJS Milton's'canon that poetrylhould lM$7 S»; "«1 because .his X: tions were so strong, because ho.was soVobriouslythe "yatcssacer," the "inspired seer" because ho clung to the old and respected SSfc an7h*™ JT Wb '? Waisol f -Starand,beyond them,- his powers as a critical scholar and a scientific thinker and a metaphy sical ph.losophcr had been underrated. M a i' thew Arnold V, nde F rated him'because;he was not a. bookish ("higher critic,", and ho had been compared unfavourably with drowning because he was no difficult-in the way that Browning was difficult. But there was as much, "fundamental bramwork.'Vas it (.was, called, "underneath his poetry, as underneath that of Browning or of any poet of the ccntury.'Ho was hot. indeed, .an "esprit ■ fol-f'-nnd-' tho' "esprits forts were too fond of claiming tho.'monopoly of intelloct-but ho cortaiuly "saw' lifo steadilr, it whole." ; ' •' . : -

Thackeray, it might: bo remembered,' calleil, .him the -wisest' man ho : knew. ,\if he did.not soo,it moro.wliblo.thaH' Matthew.Arnold, at : anv rate his poetry reflected a far uioro various and complete'view. It was indeed this breadth 01 view, this sanity, and this Variety which constituted; to some minds Tennyson's'weakness, but in reality he thought it his strength. Swinburne, not-indeed that be thought littlo of ■Tennyson, for ho was an avowed'and attached admirer, was carried off his feet, rapt into his most, suporlativo rhapsodies, by "Kispah." George Meredith, after/tolling Mm (tUo Vice Chancollor) that he ranked. Tennyson-'in tho second order of poots, wont on to Bay .that he • 'thought thero was no poet with whose writings ;ho. was acquainted who had painted so many .inimitablo; vignettes."-.' Professor Oliver Elton spoko of tho handful of,unassailable songs which placed, Tennyson for several instants near Shakespearo; and FitzGorald; who, thought poorly of tho later.pbems of Tennyson, coming suddenly on the ''Northern 'Farmer,"' found himsolf;" to his surpriso, crying bvor'ithe "old brute" (as ho called Mm)," touched by tho, "truth and tragedy". of - tho, description. ■?'..■';■:■ .' Thoro aro' many legends current about the:' poet's, "roughness and- grnffness," as it. was called. There always were such'legends about, tho personal'peculiarities of genius. •., All, he. could say was that he found Tennyson. consistently, most kind, and, >vhen ho (Dr.-War-ren) got over tho first shyness/most genial and cordial. Bis playfulness, 'his-humour,were as roniarkablo :as his -', profundity.! and; his ;'. sublimity. But, perhaps, what struck him most was his profundity and cande-iir. "A terrible sagacity, as poor Cowpcr Baid, /'informs tho poet's heart." It was so.with Tennyson. Ho saw: through tho shams, the. conceit, the personal motivoa'of bo many who came to'him with some axe or some/penknifo to grind, and ho could not help showing that ho saw through them, and sometimes (old them; so.' The gorioral popularity which Tennyson attained in England was, indeed immense.' It .-would probably bo conceded that ho was the ideal Poet Laureate,' but ho re-created,' if he did not create, the honour of that office.',■•'■. .' ".