TENNYSON, ALFRED, was born in the year 1809 at Somersby, in Lincolnshire, of which parish his father was rector. He was the third of a large family, several other members of which shared with him in some measure the genius which has won for him undisputed rank as the first English poet of his time. Very early the bent of nature became obvious; and in 1827 Tennyson, along with his brother Charles, issued a small volume, entitled Poems, by Two Brothers, of which almost nothing has been preserved. Having gone to complete his education at Trinity college, Cambridge, he gained in 1829 the chancellor's medal by a poem in blank verse, entitled Timbycloo, in which there is plainly to be traced some impress of his peculiar genius. His literary career, however, may properly be said to date from 1830, in which year a volume appeared of Poems, chiefly Lyrical, by Alfred Tennyson. It was not received with great favor by the pub lic; but amid much that was weak and immature, it contained pieces which in no in distinct manner announced the advent of a true poet. In a notice of the book by prof. Wilson, in Blackwood's Magazine, the promise of the young writer was recognised in suf ficiently express terms. The praise was, however, not unmixed with censure, which, though it seemed on the whole judicious, did not commend itself as such to the poet, who retaliated on "crusty Christopher" in his next volume, published in 1833. This consisted of a selection of poems from the previous one, carefully retouched by the writer, with the addition of pieces produced in the interval, many of which have scarcely been surpassed in beauty by anything he has since produced. Onward from this time the reputation of the writer slowly but surely extended itself; and the publi cation, in 1842, of Poems, by Aflred Tennyson, in two volumes, raised him to the posi tion of absolute supremacy which he has ever since continued to occupy by almost uni versal consent. In 1847 appeared The Princess, a Medley; and in 1850 the series of elegies entitled In Memoriam, A. H., a tribute of affection to the memory of Arthur Hallam, a son of the eminent historian, and the chosen friend of the poet in his earlier years at Cambridge. On the death of Wordsworth, in 1850, Tennyson succeeded him as poet-laureate, in which capacity he issued, in 1852, his Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. In 1855 appeared Maud, and other Poems. The immediate recep Lion of this little volume was not enthusiastic. While many of its lyrics instantly caught the public ear, Maud, as a whole, at first rather puzzled the critics, and was little better than " caviare to the general; " and though it has since risen in estimation, the subtle and recondite art exhibited in the structure of the poem is probably even now appreci elated by only a few of its admirers. But for any little falling off in Tennyson's popular
ity on this occasion, a noble amende was made him on his next appearance. The Idylls of the King, published in 1850, were everywhere received with enthusiasm. With scarce a whisper of dissent, this work at once took rank as one of the noblest poems in our language. It was followed in 1864 by a volume, containing Enoch Arden, one of his most finished and successful works; Aylmer's Field; a short piece, Tithonus. consum mate in its beauty and finish; and a few other poems of a somewhat less elaborate char acter; one of which, however, The Northern Farmer, written in the Lincolnshire dialect, is singularly striking. Since then Tennyson has given us several new Idylls, which may be considered to complete his handling of the Arthurian romance: The Holy Grail and Petleas and Ettarre (1869); and Gareth and Lynette, and the Tournament (1872), The Window, or Songs of the Wrens, appeared in 1870. In 1875 he essayed in a new field by publishing Queen Mary, a drama, which was followed by Harold, also a play, in 1876. The collected editions of Tennyson's works (since 1872) arrange the various Idylls of the King iu the order, not of their publication, but of their proper sequence in the legend of Arthur, and enable the reader to appreciate the full beauty and significance of the ideal story. Tennyson's biography, even more than that of most authors, is given, so far as the public is concerned with it, in the simple enumeration of his works. He has lived for the most part a retired life in the Isle of Wight, not much caring to cultivate society, but greatly beloved by his intimate friends.
It is not an easy matter to criticise the poetry of Tennyson dispassionately, so deeply is one apt to become enamored of its beauties. His verse is the most faultless in our language, both as regards the music of its tiow'and the art displayed in the choice of words. Nowhere in literature is the callida junctura ferborum so wondrously seen. As a painter, no modern poet has equaled him. But it is neither to his color nor to his music alone that he owes his great popularity. His virtue as a poet doubtless lies in these things; but the pleasure which his poetry gives springs largely from the cordial interest he displays in the life and pursuits of men, in his capacity for apprehending their higher and more beautiful aspirations, and in a certain pervasive purity and strength of spiritual feeling.