Page:Tennyson - Walter Irving (1873).djvu/20

 Task, or the ethical disquisitions of the Course of Time. And by Milton its capability has been tried to the uttermost. For in Paradise Lost we have the loftiest conceptions and utmost vigour of mind harmoniously blended together, as if it were meant to shew the full powers of a god-like man. The periods of Milton are like the angry billows of the sea as they break in succession upon the shore. As we watch the waves, we see them form, rise and curve upwards until they reach their highest, when they roll over and break one upon the other. In Milton's verse we hear again the full resonance of the everlasting waves, as one after another they tell of the power of the sea. But in Mr Tennyson's verse there is but the gurgle of a little brook, as it splutters over the stones which stop its unequal flow. The result of Mr Tennyson's attempt confirms our opinion, that the octo-syllabic form adopted by Sir Walter Scott is admirably suited for metrical romance, The merry jingle of the lines is quite in keeping with the fashion and purpose of the tale. Such a tale should be full of life and jollity, not prosaic, solemn, pompous, and awfully mysterious. Marmion is all stir and tumult from beginning to end; it resounds with the clash of arms and the clatter of the horses' hoof; it glitters with the spear head, polished helmet, and hauberk; it is full of striking adventures, and the foolish and vain purposes of life and love. No doubt this is not poetry in its highest forms; but Sir Walter Scott made no pretensions to be a great poet. He had an element of his own in which he revelled; but out of it he was easily over-reached. He knew it, and was both honest and wise enough to say it. Jeffrey took Sir Walter roughly to task for the fulness of detail in Marmion, as being inconsistent with the dignity of poetry. With certain forms and subjects richness of detail may lower