Self-reverence. self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
6. The poetry of Tennyson is pervaded by a profound religious spirit. His view of the world—his view even of the smallest flower that blossoms in the world—is illuminated through and through by his faith in the Divine presence and goodness and beauty. He cannot conceive of a purely physical universe. Nothing that he has written could have been written as it is, if he had been an atheist or an agnostic. Even his poems of doubt and conflict are the resurgent protests of the heart against the cold negations which destroy personal trust in the unseen God, in whom we live and move and have our being. His method of dealing with religious subjects is not theological, like that of Milton or Wordsworth; nor philosophical, like that of Browning or Arnold or Clough. Tenny son speaks more from the side of the feelings, the ultimate spiritual instincts and cravings of humanity. The strongest of these is the desire and hope of a life beyond the grave. To this passion for immortality he gives full play, and it evokes some of the strongest and sweetest tones of his music. From (The Deserted House' to
the Bar,' his poetry is an evidence of his conviction that death cannot end all. This faith in the life that is to come elevates and purifies his conception of the life that now is. It gives a new meaning to duty and to love. And when we think of the many noble poems in which it has found expression,—
His influence upon the thought and feeling of the age has been far-reaching and potent. He has stood among the doubts and confusions of these latter days as a witness for the things that are invisible and eternal,— the things that men may forget if they will, but if they forget them, their hearts wither and the springs of poesy run dry. His verse has brought new cheer and courage to the youth of to-day who would fain defend their spiritual heritage against the invasions of materialism. In the vital conflict for the enlargement of faith to embrace the real results of science, he stood forth as a leader. In the great silent reaction of our age from the desperate solitude of a consistent skepticism, his voice was a clear toned bell, calling the unwilling exiles of belief to turn again. And when he passed away from his quiet home at Aldworth, with the moonlight falling on closed eyes and voiceless lips, the world mourned for him as for a mighty prophet, and rejoiced for him as a poet who had finished his course and kept the faith. See ENOCH ARDEN ; IDYLLS OF THE KING; IN MEMORIAM; LOCKSLEY HALL; MAUD; PRINCESS, THE.
Bibliography.— EDITIONS : Standard edi tions of Tennyson are the Cambridge edition by W. J. Rolfe (Boston 1898); Cabinet edition (1 vol., ib. 1899; id., 12 vols., ib. 1902) ; House hold edition (ib. 1899); Riverside edition (7 vols., ib. 1904) ; New Popular edition (3 vols., ib. l906) ; Globe edition (New York 1907) ; Eversley edition, by Hallam, Lord Tennyson (6 vols., ib. 1908) • Everyman's Library (ib.
1910) ; 'Works of Tennyson, with Notes by the Author,' edited with Memoir by Hallam, Lord Tennyson (ib. 1913) ; The Farringford edition, by Eugene Parsons; Athenxum Press edition (select poems), by Henry Van Dyke and D. L. Chambers (1903). CONCORDANCES AND BIBLI OGRAPHIES: Baker, A. E, 'Concordance to the Poetical and Dramatic Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson' (London 1914) ; Brightwell, D. B., 'Concordance to the Entire Works of Alfred Tennyson) (ib. 1870) ; Sheppard. R. H., 'Bibli ography of Tennyson) (ib. 1896); Thomson, J. C., 'Bibliography of the Writings of Tenny son) (New York 1905) ; Wise, T. J., 'Bibliog raphy of the Writings of Alfred, Lord Tenny son' (2 vols., London 1908). BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM: Benson, A. C., 'Alfred Tennyson) (London 1907); Bradley, 'Commentary on In Memoriam) (ib. 1901) ; Brooke, Stopford A., 'Tennyson: His Art and Relation to Modern Life) (2d ed., London 1894) ; id., 'Browning and Tennyson" in 'Poetry of Robert Brown ing' (ib. 1904; Cary, E. L. 'Tennyson: His Homes, HisFriends and His Work) (New York 1898); Collins, J. C., 'Early Poems of Tennyson, with Bibliography and Various Read ings) (London 1900) ' - Dowden, Edward, °Ten nyson and Browning)) in 'Studies in Litera ture' (5th ed., ib. 1889); Genung, 'Tennyson's In Memoriam' (ib. 11384) ' • Gosse, E. W., 'Por traits and (ib. 1912) ; Hallam, Lord Tennyson, 'Alfred, Lord Tennyson: A Me moir) (2 vols., New York 1898; new ed., ib. 1905; in 1 vol., ib. 1911), the authorized life of Tennyson; id., 'Tennyson and his Friends' (London 1912); Harrison, Frederic, 'Tenny son, Ruskin, Mill and other Literary Estimates' (New York 1900) ; Huckel, Oliver, 'Through England with Tennyson) (ib. 1913) ; Hutton, R. H., "Tennyson,)) in 'Literary Essays' (Lon don 1893) •, Jacobs, 'Tennyson and In Me moriam' (ib. 1892) ; Jones, 'The Growth of the Idylls of the King) (ib. 1895); King, 'A Critical Study of In Memoriam' (ib. 1898) ; Lang, Andrew, 'Alfred Tennyson) (London 1901) ; Littledale, 'Essays on Tennyson's Idylls of the King) (ib. 1893) ; Luce, Morton, 'Hand book to the Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson' (New York 1908); Lyall, A. C.,aennyson,) in English Men of Letters Series ((London 1902) ; Lounsbury, T. R, 'The Life and Times of Tennyson from 1809 to 1850' (New Haven 1915); Masterman, 'Tennyson as a Religious Teacher' (1900) ; More, 'Shelburne Essays' (7th series, New York 1910) Napier, 'Homes and Haunts of Tennyson) (1892) ; Rawnsley, H. D., 'Memories of the Tennysons) (New York 1912); Ritchie, (Mrs.) A. T., 'Records of Tennyson, Ruskin and Browning' (London 1896); id., 'Tennyson and his Friends' (ib. 1893) ; Saintsbury, G. E. B., 'Corrected Im pressions> (New York 1895) ; Scudder, V. D., 'Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets' (Boston 1897) ; Sneath, E. H., 'The Mind of Tennyson' (New York 1900) ; Sted man, 'Victorian Poets' (rev. ed., 1887) ; Strong, A. H., 'Great Poets and their The ology' (Philadelphia 1899) • Turnbull, A., 'Life and Writings of Lord tennyson' (London 1915) ; van Dyke, Henry, 'The Poetry of Ten nyson' (10th ed., New York 1898) ; Walters, J. C., (Tennyson: Poet, Philosopher, Idealist> (London 1893).