INTRODUCTION

TENNYSON'S poem of The Princess was published in 1847. The author wrote it in the heart of London, and had at that time reached the age of thirty-eight. A work of such knightly purpose, and such patient and elaborate execution, could hardly have been inspired, one might suspect, except from something beyond the general interest of the theme. Tennyson, as we know from his son's Memoir, had as early as 1836 become acquainted with Emily Sellwood, and in 1839 discussed with her the plan of the poem that was to be. In the year following, on account of the poet's insufficient prospects, the lovers had been forbidden to hold communication with each other. The Princess was written when Tennyson was looking forward to a renewal of betrothal relations with Miss Sellwood. They were married in 1850, after In Memoriam had established its author's literary and social future.

"The Princess contains Tennyson's solution of the problem of the true position of woman in society—a profound and vital question, upon the solution of which the future of civilization depends. But at the time of its publication, the surface thought of England was intent solely upon Irish famines, corn-laws, and free-trade. It was only after many years that it became conscious of anything wrong in the position of women. The idea was

not relegated to America, but originated there in the sweet visions of New England transcendentalists; and, long after, began in Old England to take practical shape in various ways, notably in collegiate education for females. No doubt such ideas were at the time in the air' in England, but the dominant practical Philistinism scoffed at them as ideas banished to America, that refuge for exploded European absurdities.' To these formless ideas Tennyson, in 1847, gave form, and with poetic instinct, discerning the truth, he clothed it with surpassing beauty."

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So far as the poem was intended to serve an immediate purpose of this kind it may be considered to have fulfilled its mission. Few readers, at least on this side of the Atlantic, would regard its main teachings as greatly exceeding the standard of the trite. We seem, indeed, in this country to have gone somewhat beyond what the author postulated: we have accomplished the higher education of woman, on a scale equal with man's, -much as his Princess dreamed, yet with no least detriment to her womanliness. But to the literary reader the poem has not lost its charm. If its ultimate meanings are no longer edifying, the artistic forms in which they have been declared to the world will be a delight forever. The Princess is the fullest expression of Tennyson's poetic genius, and exhibits, in a more consistent and sustained fashion than any other work, his peculiar inspiration as a poet. But to discern the beauty of the poem the unprepared student must go into training. Those who read poetry merely for the story, or like nothing better than

'Dawson's Study, pp. 9, 10.

the most straightforward poetic diction, are apt to find The Princess tedious. Moreover, people very generally assume that poetry is merely verse, or made up of ornate or high-sounding circumlocutions. They are sometimes. taught that prose is the original, fundamental, and solely legitimate form of expression, and that poetry is an expansion, chiefly verbal, of prose meanings. It will be necessary, first, that the reader become better advised upon certain points.

I.

It is possible to cast common prose meanings into perfect metric form. The product in each case will not be poetry in the true sense, but versified prose, prose-poetry merely. Among a great number of possible examples the following might be ventured:

It rained this afternoon for quite a while.

I have not seen him since he was a boy.

I knew no reason why her eyesight failed.

The days have grown so very long of late,
Street lamps are lighted now at half-past eight.

The first test to which verse of high pretensions should be subjected is the test of major rhythm. In heroic couplets and blank-verse lines, like the ones proposed, the supporting stress of the sense should occur on the fourth, the eighth, and the tenth, or else the sixth and the tenth, syllable. We find the lines in question correct and normal in this regard; the sense-stress conforms to the scheme of four-eight-ten in 11. 2, 3, and of six-ten in the others. Moreover, the examples are good in meter and But the effect, in spite of all, is

other respects of form.

by no means edifying. We naturally doubt whether lines so bald, so barren of æsthetic quality, could ever find their way into permanent literature. However, a little inspection will show that Chaucer abounds in such. Milton, with all his dignity, is not above admitting the like upon occasion. Shakespeare indubitably writes lines here and Wordsworth tolerates them in

there not more select.

theory and practice alike. Tennyson even, pronounced finical and effeminate at times, by some critics, for nicety of diction, has many prose-poetic lines and indeed passages, as these examples show:

I waited for the train at Coventry.

We will be liberal since our rights are won.

But as for her, she stay'd at home,

And on the roof she went,

And down the way you use to come
She look'd with discontent.

She left the novel half-uncut
Upon the rosewood shelf;
She left the new piano shut:
She could not please herself.

Well, you

shall have that song which Leonard wrote:

It was last summer on a tour in Wales:

Old Jones was with me.

I'm glad I walk'd. How fresh the meadows look

Above the river, and, but a month ago,

The whole hill-side was redder than a fox.

Is yon plantation where this byway joins

The turnpike?

Yes.

And when does this come by?

The mail? At one o'clock.

It will be interesting to contrast the poetic and prosaic expressions in a couple of continuous passages, which shall be the opening paragraphs of Tennyson's Princess, and Holy Grail. Prosaic matter is italicized.

Sir Walter Vivian all a summer's day
Gave his broad lawns until the set of sun
Up to the people; thither flock'd at noon
His tenants, wife, and child, and thither half
The neighboring borough with their Institute
Of which he was the patron. I was there
From college, visiting the son,—the son
A Walter too,—with others of our set,
Five others; we were seven at Vivian-place.

From noiseful arms, and acts of prowess done

In tournament or tilt, Sir Percival,

Whom Arthur and his knighthood call'd The Pure,
Had pass'd into the silent life of prayer,

Praise, fast, and alms; and leaving for the cowl
The helmet in an abbey far away

From Camelot, there, and not long after, died.

II.

There are no meanings so prosaic as not to admit of being couched poetically, or in such a way as to address imagination, and give some degree of pleasure. Tennyson opens the first canto of his Princess with a brief paragraph which, with the last line altered, runs as follows:

A Prince I was, blue-eyed, and fair in face,
Of temper amorous, as the first of May,
With lengths of yellow ringlet, like a girl;
For I had had my birthplace in the North.