We pass by several songs, sonnets, and small pieces, all of singular merit, to arrive at a class, we may call them, of three poems derived from mythological sources--Œnone, the Hesperides, and the Lotos-eaters. But though the subjects are derived from classical antiquity, Mr. Tennyson treats them with so much originality that he makes them exclusively his own. Œnone, deserted by 'Beautiful Paris, evilhearted Paris,' sings a kind of dying soliloquy addressed to Mount Ida, in a formula which is _sixteen_ times repeated in this short poem. 'Dear mother Ida, hearken ere I die.' She tells her 'dear mother Ida,' that when evilhearted Paris was about to judge between the three goddesses, he hid her (Œnone) behind a rock, whence she had a full view of the _naked_ beauties of the rivals, which broke her heart. '_Dear mother Ida, hearken ere I die_:-- It was the deep mid noon: one silvery cloud Had _lost his way_ among the pined hills: They came--_all three_--the Olympian goddesses. Naked they came-- * * * * * * How beautiful they were! too beautiful To look upon; but Paris was to me _More lovelier_ than all the world beside. _O mother Ida, hearken ere I die._'--p. 56. In the place where we have indicated a pause, follows a description, long, rich, and luscious--Of the three naked goddesses? Fye for shame--no--of the 'lily flower violet-eyed,' and the 'singing pine,' and the 'overwandering ivy and vine,' and 'festoons,' and 'gnarlèd boughs,' and 'tree tops,' and 'berries,' and 'flowers,' and all the _inanimate_ beauties of the scene. It would be unjust to the _ingenuus pudor_ of the author not to observe the art with which he has veiled this ticklish interview behind such luxuriant trellis-work, and it is obvious that it is for our special sakes he has entered into these local details, because if there was one thing which 'mother Ida' knew better than another, it must have been her own bushes and brakes. We then have in detail the tempting speeches of, first-- 'The imperial Olympian, With archèd eyebrow smiling sovranly, Full-eyèd Here;' secondly of Pallas-- 'Her clear and barèd limbs O'er-thwarted with the brazen-headed spear,' and thirdly-- 'Idalian Aphrodite ocean-born, Fresh as the foam, new-bathed in Paphian _wells_--' for one dip, or even three dips in one well, would not have been enough on such an occasion--and her succinct and prevailing promise of-- 'The fairest and most loving _wife_ in Greece;'-- upon evil-hearted Paris's catching at which prize, the tender and chaste Œnone exclaims her indignation, that she herself should not be considered fair enough, since only yesterday her charms had struck awe into-- 'A wild and wanton pard, Eyed like the evening-star, with playful tail--' and proceeds in this anti-Martineau rapture--