Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/300

 294 Northup Tennyson which will not quickly be superseded. He considers the poet with reference to his native endowment and his environ- ment both of time and of place. He maintains his critical poise throughout. We shall not venture to differ from him on the major points he lays down, but shall comment on two or three minor matters. Of Tennyson's character the author says: "His only fault, one might say, was a rather exaggerated desire to be let alone; or, to put it negatively, an unwillingness to mingle, except through his writings, with the stream of contemporary life." Without desiring to call undue attention to Tennyson's faults, one may perhaps be permitted to view his extreme sensitiveness to criticism as a minor fault; possibly, also, he exaggerated the importance of the poet's contribution to the discussion of life. He saw thro' life and death, thro' good and ill, He saw thro' his own soul. The marvel of the everlasting will, An open scroll, Before him lay. All this is a comfortable doctrine for the poets themselves ; and would it were true! But as a matter of fact, how many poets are there to whom we turn for guidance in matters of life and death and the soul? Probably there are some poets whom we ought to study more than we do; but it is for the beauty of their work rather than because of any divinely inspired message they have for us. Still it was well that Tennyson had a lofty conception of the worth of poetry. No man ever more consistently cultivated the Muse throughout so long a lifetime. There have been more voluminous poets, perhaps; but scarcely one has left so large a body of highly excellent work. Tennyson's predecessor in the laureateship naturally recurs to our minds. It is customary to rank Wordsworth as the greatest British poet of the nine- teenth century, and we shall not presume to insist that this opinion is wrong. Still, something might be said by a champion of the claims of Tennyson. As a philosopher he probably did not contribute as much to the world's thought as did Words- worth; but as an artist in metre, he was, we think, far more accomplished and resourceful. If he perpetrated some inanities like "O Darling Room!" "The Skipping Rope," "The Ring- inserted for good grammar. P. 9, 1. 4 f.b., for "harm" read "arm"; in the next line, "his" should be italicized. P. 40, 1. 9, the meaning is not clear: does Alden mean " an element which any who would know him must understand "? P. 102, 1. 1 f.b., for "Their" read "The." P. 157, 11. 12, 18, 26, p. 184, 1. 14, p. 374, 1. 12 f.b., read "Ettarre." P. 210, 1. 13, read "snoring." P. 299, 1. 4, these are not three consecutive years, as Alden is well aware (cf. p. 320, 1. 12); the statement, therefore, needs to be explained or modified.