Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/77

 Tennyson of his life Farringford, 'close to the ridge of a noble down,' remained Tennyson's home for the greater part of each year.

In March 1854 another son was born to the Tennysons, and christened Lionel. This was the year of the Crimean war, the causes and progress of which deeply interested Tennyson. In May of this year he was in London arranging with Moxon about the illustrated edition of his poems, in which Millais, Holman Hunt, and Rossetti, the young preRaffaellite party, took so distinguished a part. Later he was visiting Glastonbury and other places associated with the Arthurian legend, which already he was preparing to treat in a consecutive form. But in the meantime he was busy with a different theme. He was engaged upon 'Maud.' His friend and neighbour in the Isle of Wight, Sir John Simeon, had suggested to him that the verses printed in Lord Northampton's 'Tribute' of 1837 were, in that isolated shape, unintelligible, and might with advantage be preceded and followed by other verses so as to tell a story in something like dramatic shape. The hint was taken, and the work made progress through this year and was completed early in 1855. In December 1854 he read in the 'Times' of the disastrous charge of the light brigade at Balaclava, and he wrote at a sitting his memorable verses, based upon the newspaper description of the 'Times' correspondent, in which had occurred the expression 'some one had blundered.' The poem was published in the 'Examiner' of 9 Dec. In June 1855 the university of Oxford conferred on Tennyson the degree of D. C. L. He met with an enthusiastic reception from the undergraduates. 'Maud' appeared in the autumn of 1855.

The poem, a dramatic monologue in consecutive lyrics, was received for the most part both by the critics and the general public, even among those hitherto his ardent admirers, with violent antagonism and even derision. There were many reasons for this. It was the first time Tennyson had told a story dramatically; and the matter spoken being delivered throughout in the first person, a large number of readers attributed to the poet himself the sentiments of the speaker— a person thrown off his mental balance (like Hamlet) by private wrong and a bitter sense of the festering evils of society, in this case (it being the time of the Crimean war) 'the cankers of a calm world and a long peace.' The rebuff thus experienced by the poet was keenly felt; for he well knew, as did all the finer critics of the hour, that parts at least of the poem reached the highest water-mark of lyrical beauty to which he had yet attained. Although it may be doubted whether the general reader has ever yet quite recovered from the shock, this remains still the opinion of the best judges. The little volume contained, besides the 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' 'The Daisy,' the stanzas addressed to the Rev. F. D. Maurice, 'The Brook, an Idyll,' and the 'Charge of the Light Brigade.' This last-named poem was in a second edition restored to its original and far superior shape, containing the line 'Some one had blundered,' which had been unwisely omitted by request of timid or fastidious friends.

Not discouraged by adverse criticism, Tennyson continued to work at those Arthurian poems, the idea of which had never been allowed to sleep during the progress of other work. 'Enid' was ready in the autumn of 1856, and 'Guinevere' was completed early in 1858. In this year, moreover, he wrote the first of those single dramatic lyrics in monologue by which his popularity was to be greatly widened. 'The Grandmother' appeared in 'Once a Week,' with a fine illustration by Millais, in July 1859; and the mingled narrative and dramatic story, 'Sea Dreams,' the villain in which reflected certain disastrous experiences of the poet himself, was published in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for 1800. The 'Idylls of the King' appeared in the autumn of 1859, and received a welcome so instantaneous as at once to restore its author to his lost place in the affections of the many. The public were fully prepared for, and full of curiosity as to, further treatment by Tennyson of the Arthurian legends. The fine fragment, first given to the world in 1842, had whetted appetite for further blankverse epic versions of the story; and such lyrics as 'Sir Galahad' and the 'Lady of Shalott' had shown how deeply the poet had read and pondered on the subject. The Duke of Argyll had predicted that the 'Idylls' would be 'understood and admired by many who were incapable of understanding and appreciating many of his other works,' and the prediction has been verified. At the same time such poems as 'Elaine' and 'Guinevere' became at once the delight of the most fastidious, and the least. Men so different as Jowett, Macaulay, Dickens, Ruskin, and Walter of the 'Times' swelled the chorus of enthusiastic praise. Meantime Tennyson's heart and thoughts were, as ever, with his country's interests and honour, and the verses 'Riflemen, form!' published in the 'Times, May 1859, had their origin in the latest action of Louis Napoleon, and the fresh dangers and complications in Europe arising out of it.