of it," says Hallam. The same year saw the publication of Tennyson's first independent volumePoems, chiefly Lyrical. It was subjected to some severe criticism in the magazines-criticism which the poet resented bitterly, but by which he profited nevertheless. And in truth the book merited little more than the qualified admiration of Wordsworth. "We have . . . a respectable show of blossom in poetry-two brothers by the name of Tennyson; one in particular not a little promising."

Tennyson's college course was never completed; he left Cambridge upon his father's death in 1831. His second volume-Poems-came out in 1832. Then followed ten years of absolute silence and absolute seclusion, and a very brave determination to succeed in the face of difficulties. He undertook no work to eke out his scanty resources, confining his energies to the developing and perfecting of his poetic gift. Incidentally, he formed a warm friendship with Carlyle. The sturdy Scotchman describes him thus: "Massive aquiline face, clothes cynically loose, free and easy; smokes infinite tobacco. I do not meet in these late decades such company over a pipe."

Then came the reward. In 1842 he published another volume of Poems. This was received with very wide appreciation, and from it dates Tennyson's supremacy. The Princess, his first long poem, appeared in 1847, and was subsequently much improved. In Memoriam, which some regard as his

finest work, followed in 1850. The same year occurred his marriage and his acceptance of the Laureateship. And from then to the day of his death his career was one of unbroken happiness. His popularity was general as well as critical--an unusual combination. The patriotic poems which appeared during the exciting times of the Crimean War, proved that, for all his seclusion, he had the country's welfare at heart. Never hurrying, and writing steadily, he added volume after volume to the temple of his poetry. In 1859 he visited Portugal, and two years later the Pyrenees. Some time afterwards a barony was offered and accepted, so that in 1884 he became Lord Tennyson, Baron Tennyson, Baron Aldworth and Farringford.

In later years he essayed the drama with--in some instances--very marked success. Through the whole of his long life a development was noticeable, so that he never declined from a very high level of excellence. Thus it is that in his last volumes he has his most vital message to deliver the ripe wisdom of the sage expressed in verse perfected by the constant endeavor of over sixty years. Especially true is this of the volume called Tiresias (1885), where The Ancient Sage might well be the summary of Tennyson's own wise life. In 1892 he crowned that life with a fair death, passing away peacefully with the bright October moonlight flooding the room and the silver sea shining far off. He was buried in Westminster Abbey beside his friend

Robert Browning. Seldom has there been so fine a life as that revealed to us in the biography of his son. It would seem as if together with his great poetic temperament he had gained the “self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control" which lead to sovereign power, for he numbered among his friends all the leaders of his time.

A beautiful life, and its close was for him as he had wished in his last poem:—

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound or foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark;

For tho' from out the bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.

For present purposes his poetical career may be separated into two parts-before and after 1850, which was in a manner a culminating year for the poet. The first division falls within the limits of the present chapter; the second will come in the scope of the next.

The Poems by Two Brothers have already been noticed-they are interesting rather in the light of after achievement than through any great merit of their own. The Poems of 1830 showed marked development, chiefly in the direction of form. Tennyson gained perfection of style before he attained to a corresponding height of thought. Hence the 1830 volume possessed a music and cadence which won instant homage from the poetically inclined of that time. In fact the melody of the verse was a revelation. Even in Shelley there was very little quite equal to the best as regards pure beauty of sound-this always with the caveat of somewhat slim intellectual value. A good example is afforded by Claribel:

At eve the beetle boometh
Athwart the thicket lone :
At noon the wild bee hummeth
About the mossed headstone;
At midnight the moon cometh,
And looketh down alone.
Her song the lintwhite swelleth,
The clear-voiced mavis dwelleth,
The callow throstle lispeth,
The slumberous wave outwelleth,
The babbling runnel crispeth,
The hollow grot replieth,
Where Claribel low lieth.

Swinburne, Tennyson himself, have accustomed our ears to such music. But picture the effect upon those who had never heard the like. The book contained fifty-three poems, and the poet's unerring

critical taste afterwards led him to suppress about half, though a few were incorporated in later volumes. This self-criticism enables him in each consecutive book of poetry to show some improvement either in the style or in the quality of thought. The Poems of 1832 form a case in point. They contained, among other things, The Lady of Shalott, The Dream of Fair Women, and The Lotos-Eaters, which for onomatopoetic beauty has perhaps never been surpassed. Also may be mentioned The Palace of Art, which tells of the soul that tried to satisfy itself within a glorious palace apart from all the world, and how at the last mere beauty could not suffice for true happiness.

The Poems of 1842 appeared in two volumes; the first consisting principally of work already published and now revised with infinite care, the second of poems absolutely new. Both mark an advance in power and scope which was sufficient to place him at once among the leading English poets. One has only to read some of the best poems of the second volume-Morte D'Arthur, The Two Voices, Ulysses-to appreciate the gain in ethical significance conferred by those ten silent years. In these volumes the thought reaches the excellence of its form, and beautiful diction becomes the cloak of a strong sane philosophy.

In The Princess, published 1847, Tennyson issued a poem which has given rise to much discussion and which has been the subject of much misunderstand