Selections from Wordsworth and TennysonTennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
General
Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
English poetry -- 19th century
89-100. These lines, and the opening lines of the poem are among the best
of Tennyson's blank verse lines, and therefore among the best that
English poetry contains. The description owes some of its beauty to
Homer. In its earlier form, in the volume of 1832-3, it is much less
perfect.
132. A CRESTED PEACOCK. The peacock was sacred to Here (Juno).
103. A GOLDEN CLOUD. The gods were wont to recline upon Olympus beneath
a canopy of golden clouds.
104. DROPPING FRAGRANT DEW. Drops of glittering dew fell from the golden
cloud which shrouded Here and Zeus. See _Iliad_, XIV, 341 f.
105 f. Here was the queen of Heaven. Power was therefore the gift which
she naturally proffered.
114. Supply the ellipsis.
121-122. POWER FITTED--WISDOM. Power that adapts itself to every crisis;
power which is born of wisdom and enthroned by wisdom (i.e. does not owe
its supremacy to brute strength).
121-122. FROM ALL-ALLEGIANCE. Note the ellipsis and the inversion.
128-131. WHO HAVE ATTAINED--SUPREMACY. Cf. _Lotos Eaters_, l. 155 f, and
_Lucretius_, 104-108.
The gods, who haunt
The lucid interspace of world and world
Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,
Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,
Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans.
137. O'ERTHWARTED WITH=crossed by.
142 f. Compare the tone of Pallas' speech with what has been said in the
introduction, p. liv f., concerning Tennyson's love of moderation and
restraint, and his belief in the efficacy of law.
Compare also the general temper of the _Ode on the Death of the Duke of
Wellington_, and especially ll. 201-205.
144--148. Yet these qualities are not bestowed with power as the end in
view. Power will come without seeking when these great principles of
conduct are observed. The main thing is to live and act by the law of
the higher Life,--and it is the part of wisdom to follow right for its
own sake, whatever the consequences may be.
151. SEQUEL OF GUERDON. To follow up my words with rewards (such as Here
proffers) would not make me fairer.
153-164. Pallas reads the weakness of Paris's character, but disdains to
offer him a more worldly reward. An access of moral courage will be her
sole gift to him, so that he shall front danger and disaster until his
powers of endurance grow strong with action, and his full-grown will
having passed through all experiences, and having become a pure law unto
itself, shall be commensurate with perfect freedom, i.e., shall not know
that it is circumscribed by law.
This is the philosophy that we find in Wordsworth's _Ode to Duty_.
Stern Lawgiver! Yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face:
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,
And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,
And the most ancient heavens, through thee,
are fresh and strong.
165-167. Note how dramatic this interruption is.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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