In 1850 the long-delayed an•nobly-labored elegy on the death of Hallam was given' to•die • world. It is hardly too much to say that 'In Memoriam) stands out, in present vision,. as the most illustrious poem of the 19th centnry. Cer tainly it has been the most frequently trans lated, the most widely quoted, and the most deeply loved. It is. far more than a splendid monument to the memory of a friend. It is•an utterance of the•inipenshable hopes and aspira tions of the human soul passing through the valley of the of death. It is a unique group of lyrics,. finished with an •exquisite artist's cart which is only surpassed by the ,•ntense, and steady passion which fuses them into a single poem. • It is the English classic on the love of immortality and the immortality of love.
In the same year with the appearimce•of this i poem happened the two most important events of Tennyson's career. He was married in June to . Miss- Emily Sellwood, a lady. of rare and beautiful •who proved herself through a long life of unselfish devotion, the true partner of a poet's existence. And he Was appointed in November to- •sncceed Words worth as poet laureate.
His first official poem was the stately 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' in 1852. • The majestic march of the verse, its freedom, its orgain-toned music, its patriotic vigor, and the lofty 'solemnity with which it closes, give it a higher place than can be for any other poetical production•Of ski English laureate for a %public occasion,. 'The Charge of, the Light Brigade,'• written in 1854, was a trumpet note that rang through England and .echoed around the world.
'Maud' was published in 1855. It is la lyrical monodrama, 'in which the hero, a sensi tive and morbid , man, • with hereditary tend ency to madness, tells the story of his re demption and despair by the power of a pure love, unhappy but victorious. The variety of the. metrical forms in this poem, the passionate tenderness of the love songs, the beautiful truth of the descriptive passages, and the intense personality of its •spirit give it a singular charm, which is felt most deeply perhaps by those who are young and in love. Tennyson himself said think 'Maud' is one -Of my most original poems? In 1859 began the publication of the epical sequence called the. 'Idylls of the King? ; the largest and in some respects the most iiiipori ant•of the works of Tennyson. The first group contained Wivien,' 'Elaine> and 'Guns The second group appeared in 1870, and eotvsiated of 'The Coming of Arthur,' 'The Holy Grail,' 'Pelleas and Ettarer and 'The Passing of Arthur.> In 1872 'Gareth and
Lyaetter and 'The Last Tournament' were Published; and in 1885 'MOM and Milan' was Printed in the volume entitled (Tiresias and Other Poems.' The division of 'Enid' into two parts — (The Marriage of Geraint' and. 'Geraint and Enid'— makes the epic, as it now stands, consist of 12 idylls. Each of these clothes an ancient legend from the Arthurian Cycle in the richest and most harmonious of modern blank verse. The idylls are so far in dependent that any one of them might stand alone as a complete poem. But there is a connecting thread running through them all in the threefold love-story of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, and in the history of the Round Table. The underlying motive of the whole series is to shadow forth the war of Sense against Soul. The idylls are to be interpreted, therefore, as movements in a symphony, the theme of which is the rightful royalty of man's spiritual nature, seeking to establish itself in a settled reign of law, and constantly opposed by the disorderly and disintegrating elements of humanity. In 'The Coming of Arthur' it is doubt that threatens the kingdom; in 'Gareth and Lynette' the conflict is with false ambition; in (The Marriage of Geraint,' with pride; in and Enid,' with jealousy; in and Balan,> with suspicion; in and Vivien,' with lust; in Holy Grail,' with superstition; until at last the poison of unlawful love has crept through all the court, and Arthur's Round Table is dissolved in ruin— but not without a vision of peace for the king who has kept his soul unstained, and a dim promise of new hope for some future age, when he shall return to bloodless victory.
Tennyson has not allowed the ethical pur pose of these poems to confuse their interest or bedim their beauty. They are not in any sense an allegory. The tales of love and knight errantry, of tournament and battle and quest, are vividly told in the true romantic spirit, lighting up the olden story with the thoughts and feelings of to-day. There is perhaps a touch of over-elaborateness in the style; but after all the figures stand out as distinctly as they ought to do in such a large tapestry. In the finer idylls, like and 'The Passing of Arthur,' the blank verse moves with a grandeur and dignity, a broad, measured, fluent harmony, unrivaled in England since Milton's organ voice was stilled.