IN MEMORIAM. 'In Memoriam' by Tennyson is one of the great elegies of the English language. 'Lycidas' and 'Adonais' would probably both come to mind in compari son, but neither is so widely known, nor does either answer so exactly to the spirit of the 19th century. 'In Memoriam' expresses the grief of the poet over the death of an early friend, but with the expressions of personal grief there is also an interpretation of the problems of death and the future life. The poet himself said: °This is a poem, not an actual biography. 'I' is not always the author speaking of himself, but the voice of the human race speaking through him.* Beside his own personal feel ing, then, Tennyson in his poem gives voice to the sentiment of his time on Death and Immor tality,— and in this effort he was remarkably successful. So capable a judge as F. W. Rob ertson said: °To my mind and heart the most satisfactory things that have ever been said of the future state are contained in this poem.* Many other such opinions might be quoted. F. D. Maurice thought that the author harl made a definite step toward the unification of the highest religion and philosophy with the progressive science of the day. Henry Sidg wick subsequently wrote of certain stanzas: °I feel in them the indestructible and inalienable minimum of faith which humanity cannot give up because it is necessary for life.* Such opin ions probably would not prevail to-day on the part of liberal and radical thinkers, but they serve to show how actually Tennyann's poem was something more than an expression of indi vidual feeling. It expressed a very general sentiment of the race. This depth of thought comes in part from the fact that the poem was not written all at one time (like Browning's (La Saiziaz' a little later) but was gathered together in the course of 17 years. Arthur Hallam had been Tennyson's closest intimate at Cambridge and in following years. In 1833
while traveling on the Continent he died. The poem presents a development of thought and emotion from the first passionate despair to the matured wisdom that sometimes comes with time. Four different stages are clearly shown by the three sets of stanzas describing the celebration of three returns of Christmas. The poem presents what has been called the Way of the Soule (A. C. Bradley),— a passing from the first stupor and confusion of grief, through a growing acquiescence often disturbed by the recurrence of pain, to an al most unclouded peace and joy. The following main divisions are generally marked: (I) Absorption in grief ; (II) Reflection on the idea of continued life and an advance from mere sorrow; (III) Resignation and Faith; (IV) Awakening of a new sentiment of the possibilities of life. The poem however is not chiefly noteworthy for thoughts which might have been expressed in prose. The ideas are themselves poetical, namely, the plain concep tions of philosophy on life transfused with imagination. The poem gives not so much argument as a way of and feeling. The particular poetic expression is in a stanza form which had been rarely used before, but which Tennyson in this poem made his own and indeed believed that he had invented. The stanza-form is such a slight variation from a very common one that it seems remarkable that no one should have used it before, but it is so absolutely the right thing in In Memoriam' that it is practically a real creation of Tenny son's. There are several commentaries on In Memoriam,' especially those by A. C. Bradley and John F. Genung. In Vol. I, Chapter 14 of the (Life' by Tennyson's son will be found the chief authoritative facts concerning the poem.