TENNYSON CENTENARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14132, 6 August 1909, Page 7

TENNYSON CENTENARY.

THE POET'S EARLY LIFE. ." ■• : SKETCH OF HIS CAREER. BY E.M.D. Alfbed Tennyson, English poet, was born on August 6, 1809, at the country rectory of Somersby, in Lincolnshire, where his father was established. Tennyson was one of a family of twelve, in which there were seven sons, v so that he enjoyed no special privilege*, but grew up among a number of brothers older and younger than himself. His father was a man of strong character, of taste and culture, as well as learning, of fine physique and commanding personality. His mother, who was the daughter of a country clergyman, was a gentle, refined, and sensitive woman, exercising great influence over the growing minds of her sons. The surroundings of the rectory were delightful, and there was much that would naturally please the imagination of a budding poet. There was a large, oldfashioned garden, with spaces of green lawns; noble elms cast long (shadows on the grass; roses and lilies grew in rich profusion; the lilac swung purple tassels to the breeze, the sunflower, turned her golden rays to the sunrise; the rosemary and lavender shed perfume on the warm evening air; the drooping yellow of the laburnum hung from the boskage. We cannot doubt that the boy drew inspiration from the many charms of hie surroundings. It was indeed

An English Home; all things in order stored haunt of ancient peace!" Afred Tennyson describes the garden of the rectory in more than one of his mo6fc delightful poems. In "The Ode to Memory" he pictures

The woods that belt the gray hillside, The seven elms; the poplars four. That stand beside my father's door. The crowned lilies standing near. Purple spiked lavender. *

A little brook rippled and sparkled in the meadows, a source of endless delight to the children, and which afterwards suggested the poem,

'• ?low down, cold rivulet, to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver.

Even in his early childhood the boy Alfred showed the mind of the poet. There is a pretty story about his being, when quite a toddler, blown along the windy garden paths, crying out, " I hear a voice that's speaking in the wind!" The Tennysons being people of cultivated thought,, evidently discussed literature in the iamily circle, and the children were encouraged:, to make little original efforts. The boy evidently heard much talk of Byron, for on the news arriving of the poet's death it seemed to the childish mind as though the world had almost come to an end, and he wandered away by himself, murmuring, " Byron is dead!" " Byron is dead!" and even carved the news in letters on banks and chalky cliffs as' he went along.

Alfred -was greatly encouraged in his poetic fancies by an elder brother, Charles, who set him little themes for verse, giving him paper :and pencil, and bidding him write poems about the flowers in the gardon, the summer skies, and other natural beauty. The boys were so fond of making up rhymes about what they noticed and experienced that the groom said to them one day, " Why don't you chaps try printing all that stuff of yours? Lots of people would giro money for it!" ■-. Encouraged by this advice, they sought the local bookseller, who agreed* to help them, and actually gave them £20 for the right* of a booklet which he published for them. ■ Half the price was to taken out in books from the shop. Hie brother Charles took part in this transaction,'and the book was entitled, ■■-." Poems bv Two Brothers. V His grandfather had also encouraged the young poet, and once gave hinJ'haif-fi-sovereign for a poem, remarking, however, "There, my boy, that's the first money you have earned by poetry, and, mark my words, it will be the last." A very large proportion of Tennyson's best work bears the impress of his early life, running about the Lincolnshire fields. His friend, Arthur Hallam, once exclaimed, standing in the garden of Somersby Rectory, The time will come when people will make pilgrimages to this place." The two young men, Charles and Alfred Tennyson, went together to Cambridge in 1828, and entered at Trinity College, where they soon became members of a, circle of friends, many of whom left their mark upon their century. The friendship between Alfred Tennyson and Arthur Hallam has been enshrined and crystallised in the "In Memoriam," ' a chain of gems of poetic thoughts and feelings, which has brought consolation and delight to hundreds of thousands of souls, and was inspired by the early death of Hallam when he was abroad with his father, where

In Vienna's fatal walls God's finger touched him and he slept! While at college Tennyson gained the Chancellor's medal for English verse, by a poem on the subject of Timbuctoo. lb was of daring originality, and not In accordance -with accepted models of poetry the discrimination of the judges was shown by its success. Thus encouraged, Tennyson soon published a volume of "Poems Chiefly Lyrical," which contained many of those pieces which have ever since been popular. Some critics warralv. praised, while others condemned. Following up .this measure of success, he published a volume in the next year. It must ever remain a matter of surprise that this publication provoked adverse criticism, for it contained many of those poems which have since been recognised as the finest in the language. "The Palace of Art," "The Dream of Fair Women," and "The Lotus Eaters" were included in this cruellytreated volume. The public taste was evidently not yet ripe for the appreciation of the grandeur of our poet's thoughts and expressions. Greatly disheartened, for 10 years he rested upon the merits of his earlier work, and published nothing further.

We may suppose that during this period public thought was growing, for when in 1842 Tennyson again published a volume it was hailed with delight. His work became so nopular and recognised that he very soon received a Government grant of £200 per annum, in recognition of his talents. Thereafter every fresh publication occasioned a furore, and he acquired an' influence over current thought exceeding that of any other writer. His expression was beautiful, and his themes interesting as well as noble. Dickens exclaimed on reading his poems, " Thank heaven, here is a writer whose work is worth reading! I thought nothing could be finer than the first poem till I read the second, «nd when I had read the last it seemed to be absolutely unapproachable." On his passing from this life a place in Westminster Abbey was accorded Tennyeon by universal acclaim. His success, according to the world's standard, was complete. ■ He had founded a baronetcy, and secured a fortune, and a name among the greatest; but far more than all he had gained a permanent place in the hearts of the people, and-had exercised an unmeasured' influence for good upon his day and generation, in the building up of lofty ideals and the encouragement of noble aspirations.