the poet begs her to accept them as a tribute to the memory of
‘one to whom I made it o’er his grave.’
He prays for blessings for the Queen and England.
TO THE REV. F. D. MAURICE.
An invitation to pay a visit to the poet and his family sent by
Tennyson to the godfather of Hallam Tennyson.
TO THE REV. W. H. BROOKFIELD.
A sonnet written at the death of an old Cambridge friend. The poet
recalls past companionship and prays a blessing for the dead.
TO ULYSSES.
Lines sent by the poet to W. G. Palgrave. _Ulysses_ was the title of a
book of Palgrave’s _Essays_, descriptive of Travels. This poem conveys
the poet’s pleasure in this book of Palgrave’s _Essays_--a ‘various
book’--in thanks for which he sends ‘a gift of slenderer value,’ a book
of his own.
TOURNEY, THE.
The story of a knight who was victorious in a tourney and won his
lady-love. A short poem in three stanzas.
TO VICTOR HUGO.
A sonnet written to Victor Hugo, after Lionel Tennyson had visited the
French poet in France.
TO VIRGIL.
A poem in ten stanzas. Tennyson salutes the ancient poet as the
‘Wielder of the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man.’
TO W. C. MACREADY.
A sonnet addressed to the actor on his retirement from the stage.
TO ---- WITH PALACE OF ART.
Lines in which the poet dedicated his ‘sort of allegory,’ to a friend
who ‘will understand.’
TWO VOICES, THE.
The poem is an account of the agitations, the suggestions, and
counter-suggestions of a mind sunk in hopeless despondency, and
meditating self-destruction; together with the manner of its recovery
to a more healthy condition.
ULYSSES.
A short poem. The soliloquy of the aged Ulysses expressing his
unconquerable love of adventure. He leaves his son to manage his
kingdom and sets forth once more on his voyaging with undiminished
zest. The theme of the poem is from Dante’s _Inferno_, Canto XXVI.
VASTNESS.
A poem in which the poet declares the whole Creation to be simply
an unmeaning vastness unless interpreted by the doctrine of the
immortality of life and love.
VICTIM, THE.
A narrative poem. An ancient kingdom was ravaged by plague and famine.
The priests consulted the gods and declared that only the sacrifice
of the ‘nearest and dearest’ to the king would appease their wrath.
The priests took the king’s only son, but at the last moment the queen
substituted herself for her son, declaring that she was the dearest to
the king.
VILLAGE WIFE, THE.
A poem in Lincolnshire dialect, in which an old ‘village wife’ tells
the story of an old book-loving, impractical squire, whose estate was
entailed, and was to come to the nearest male relation, passing over
the squire’s many daughters. The death of the squire and his only son
at the same time leaves the daughters entirely unprovided for, and a
stranger becomes squire and owner of the estate.
VISION OF SIN, THE.
A poem in which the poet recounts a vision of a purely sensual soul. It
may have been suggested by Shelley’s _Triumph of Life_.
VOICE AND THE PEAK, THE.
The Peak signifies height, the voice of the Peak is drawn downwards,
for ‘the deep has power on the height,’ but the ‘thought of man’ is
higher and deeper than either, and will endure long after
‘The valley, the voice, the peak, the star,
Pass, and are found no more.’
VOICE SPAKE OUT OF THE SKIES, A.
A fragment. A heavenly voice declares that the earth will endure but
for a moment. The poet in answer to a beggar’s cry for food, reflects
that if the Voice speak truth, the giving and receiving of food is of
very little moment.
VOYAGE, THE.
A poem in twelve stanzas. The story of an endless voyage in the wake of
a vision--
‘--blind or lame or sick or sound,
We follow that which flies before.’
VOYAGE OF MAELDUNE, THE.
The story of a legendary Irish Chief who called his men together to
sail with him to the Isle of Finn to avenge the death of his father.
They reached the Isle, but were blown away before they could land. They
continued their voyage and landed at various magic islands in all of
which they fought. After a while they came to the Isle of Brendan, who
blest them and bade them ‘Let the past be past,’ so when they reached
the Isle of Finn where the murderer of Maeldune’s father was, they
forewent revenge and left the murderer alive.
WAGES.
‘The wages of sin is death,’ but, says the poet, the wages of virtue is
‘the glory of going on.’ Two stanzas.
WALKING TO THE MAIL.
A conversation in blank verse between two men walking to the mail.
They discuss a neighbour and politics, and their own youthful doings.
WANDERER, THE.
Four stanzas in which a ‘wanderer’ bids farewell to his friends and
passes on.
WAN SCULPTOR, WEEPEST THOU TO TAKE THE CAST.
A sonnet in which the poet contrasts the grief of a sculptor or painter
making a portrait of some dead friend with the greater grief of one who
mourns the death of love itself--more generous than the death of love’s
object.
WELCOME TO ALEXANDRA, A.
A poem written to welcome the young and beautiful Danish bride of the
Prince of Wales--afterwards Edward VII. It is full of enthusiasm and
praise for the young Princess, now the Queen-mother.
WELCOME TO H.R.H. MARIE ALEXANDROVNA, DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH.
Another poem of welcome for a bride. It was written at the time of
the marriage of the duke of Edinburgh with the Russian princess Marie
Alexandrovna.
WILL.
Two stanzas in which the poet praises the man who possesses a strong
will and pities the man whose will is weak.
WILL WATERPROOF’S LYRICAL MONOLOGUE.
A monologue of a wine-loving man, seated in his favourite tavern. It
is a discourse upon wine and the purely physical pleasures of life, in
light, humorous verse.
WINDOW, THE.
A song cycle ‘in the German fashion’ written for music of sir Arthur
Sullivan. The story is a series of little songs of the loves of two
wrens.
WINDS, AS AT THEIR HOUR OF BIRTH, THE.
A song, in two stanzas, of the freedom of the winds.
WRECK, THE.
A woman, unhappily married, escapes by sea with a more congenial lover
than her husband. She is haunted by memories of her only child, and
when, after ten days, the boat is wrecked and her lover killed, she
cries to be taken back to it. Her remorse comes too late, as the child
died on the night of the wreck. The poem is in the form of a story told
by the woman herself to her mother.
YOU ASK ME WHY, THO’ ILL AT EASE.
In this poem the poet answers those who question him as to why, in
spite of disadvantage, he still chooses to live in England. England is
free, ‘a man may speak the thing he will,’ but in spite of his choice
of England as a permanent home, the poet desires to visit other lands
before he dies.
YOU MIGHT HAVE WON THE POET’S NAME.
A poem written after reading a biography of one who ‘might have won the
poet’s name’ but preferred a silent ‘deedful’ life and so escaped the
unseemly posthumous publicity which is the lot of poets.
THE TENNYSON DICTIONARY
ABADDON.
The angel of the bottomless pit.
And they had a king over them, _which_ is the angel of the bottomless
pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue _is_ Abaddon. _Rev. ix. 2._
_St. Simeon Stylites._
ABDIEL.
One of the Seraphim, who withstood Satan in his revolt against God.
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found;
Among the faithless faithful only he;
Among innumerable false unmoved,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
Milton: _Paradise Lost_, Book v. 896-900.
_Milton._
ABEL.
Hear me, son. As gold
Outvalues dross, light darkness, Abel Cain,
The soul the body, and the Church the Throne,
_Becket._
ABOMINABLE.
The Abominable, that uninvited came
Into the fair Peleïan banquet-hall,
Has reference to Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord. She
was the only goddess who was not invited to the marriage of Peleus and
Thetis, and in revenge threw a golden apple among the guests, which led
to the Trojan war.
_Œnone._
ABSALOM.
Deal gently with the young man Absalom.
Bishop Foliot’s reference to Archbishop Becket.
_Becket._
ABÛ SAÎD.
Sufee poet, born +A.D.+ 968, died at the age of 83. He was a mystical
poet, and some of his expressions have been compared to our George
Herbert. _Poet’s Note._
_Akbar’s Dream._
ACACIA.
The name of a thorny tree found in Egypt.
_The Princess_;
_Maud_.
ACADEME.
= Academy.
who could think
The softer Adams of your Academe,
Shakespeare in _Love’s Labour’s Lost_ uses the same term.
_The Princess._
ACANTHUS-WREATH.
The Acanthus is a prickly plant, the leaves of which are reproduced in
the capital of Corinthian and Composite Orders.
_Lotos-Eaters._
ACHÆANS.
The common name for the Greek nation in the Homeric period.
_Achilles over the Trench._
ACHILLES.
Son of Peleus and Thetis, grandson of Æacus, king of the island of
Ægina, and the most famous of the Greek heroes in the Trojan war. When
a baby he was taken to the river Styx, for it was said that those who
bathed in its waters could never be wounded. Afraid to let go her child
for fear he might drown, his mother plunged him into the tide, holding
him fast by one heel. This she held so tightly that the waters never
wet it, and some time after, when too late to remedy it, the oracle
told her he would be wounded in his heel. At Troy he slew Hector, tied
the corpse by the heels to his chariot and dragged it three times
round the walls of Troy. After several other great fights Achilles was
wounded in his heel by a poisoned arrow, shot by Paris, from which he
died. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy. Upon his death his arms were
awarded to Ulysses, who afterwards saw and conversed with him in Hades.
It is supposed that he married Helen after the siege of Troy, but
others maintain that he was married after death in the island of Leuce,
where many of the ancient heroes lived.
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
The story of his quarrel with Agamemnon--who deprived him of his
favourite mistress, Briseis--is the main subject of the _Iliad_ of
Homer. In the _Odyssey_ he is one of the heroes of the underworld
visited by Odysseus, and is also one of the characters in
Shakespeare’s _Troilus and Cressida_.
_Ulysses_;
_Achilles over the Trench_.
ACRE.
A seaport on the coast of Syria, on a promontory north of Mount Carmel.
It was captured by the Saracens in 638, by the Crusaders in 1104,
recaptured by the Saracens in 1187, and in 1191, after a two years’
siege and a loss of 300,000 soldiers, it was taken by the Crusaders
under Richard Cœur de Lion and Philip Augustus. It was then named St.
Jean d’Acre on account of it being the headquarters of the Knights of
the Order of St. John. It was again taken by the Saracens in 1291, when
60,000 Christians perished. In 1517 it was captured by the Turks, and
in 1799 was besieged by the French under Napoleon, but was successfully
defended by the garrison with the aid of English sailors under sir
Sydney Smith. In 1832 it was stormed by Ibrahim Pasha, son of the
viceroy of Egypt, in whose possession it remained until 1840, when it
was captured by a combined English, Austrian and Turkish fleet under
sir Robert Stopford.
_The Foresters._
ACRISIUS.
The included Danaë has escaped again
Her tower, and her Acrisius--where to seek?
I have been about the city.
In Greek mythology, king of Argos and father of Danaë (_q.v._).
Being told by an oracle that his daughter’s son would kill him, he
kept her shut up in a tower of brass, where she became the mother of
Perseus--who won the Golden Fleece, and cut off the Gorgon’s head--by
Jupiter, in the form of a golden shower. Acrisius then ordered his
daughter and her child to be cast into the sea, but they were rescued
by a fisherman named Dictys. When Perseus was grown to manhood, wishing
to show his skill in throwing the quoit, he by misadventure struck the
foot of Acrisius with a quoit, which caused his death, and thus the
oracle was unhappily fulfilled. Acrisius reigned about 31 years.
_Becket._
ACTON (Roger).
_See_ =Roger Acton=.
ADAIR.
_See_ =Ellen, Ellen Adair=.
ADAM.
For since the time when Adam first
Embraced his Eve in happy hour,
And every bird of Eden burst
In carol, every bud to flower,
_Day-Dream._
ADAM.
so might there be
Two Adams, two mankinds, and that was clean
Against God’s work:
_Columbus._
ADAM.
From yon blue heavens above us bent
The gardener Adam and his wife
Smile at the claims of long descent.
_Lady Clara Vere de Vere._
ADAMS.
who could think
The softer Adams of your Academe,
_The Princess._
Adam is used here as ‘Galen’ in Canto 1, line 19.
ADAM’S WINE.
A cant phrase for water as a beverage.
_Northern Cobbler._
ADDER.
A small serpent of the genus _Vipera_.
_Harold_;
_Becket_.
ADELINE.
You are not less divine,
But more human in your moods,
Than your twin-sister, Adeline.
_Margaret._
ADELINE.
_Adeline._
ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN.
A title conferred upon Columbus and on his heirs and successors for
ever, by Ferdinand of Spain.
ÆAKIDES.
_See_ =Achilles=.
ÆGIS.
In mythology the shield of Jupiter, made of the hide of the goat
Amalthæa. Jupiter gave this shield to Pallas, who placed upon it
Medusa’s head, which turned into stone all those who fixed their eyes
upon it. It was the symbol of divine protection.
and round
The warrior’s puissant shoulders Pallas flung
Her fringed ægis,
_Achilles over the Trench._
ÆOLIAN HARP.
A stringed instrument consisting of a box, on or in which were
stretched strings, on which the wind acted to produce the notes. It
was usually placed at an open window.
_Two Voices._
ÆSOP.
Inverted Æsop--mountain out of mouse.
Say for ten thousand ten--and pothouse knaves,
Æsop was a famous Greek fabulist who lived in the sixth century +B.C.+
Little is known of his history except that he was a native of Phrygia
and a slave, but subsequently set free by Jadmon of Samos. Visiting the
court of Crœsus he gained his confidence to such an extent that he was
sent on several missions, on one of which to Delphi he was put to death
by the priests. (+B.C.+ 620-560).
_Queen Mary._
ÆTNA.
A mountain on the east coast of Sicily, noted for its volcano.
_Demeter and Persephone_;
_Lover’s Tale_.
AFRIC (Africa).
The voices of our universal sea
On capes of Afric as on cliffs of Kent,
The Maoris and that Isle of Continent,
And loyal pines of Canada murmur thee,
_A Welcome to Her Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna,
Duchess of Edinburgh._
AGARIC.
A fungus, to which the common mushroom belongs.
_Edwin Morris_;
_Gareth and Lynette_.
AGATHA.
A sister of mercy, who persuaded Eva Steer, who was supposed to be
drowned, to return home to her father and implore his forgiveness.
Agatha rescued Eva when she was about to commit suicide by drowning.
_Promise of May._
AGAVE.
A plant, native of the warmer parts of America. It takes from ten to
seventy years, according to climate, to attain maturity, the stem
rising to a height of 40 feet.
_The Daisy._
AGINCOURT.
A village in Pas-se-Calais where one of the more important battles in
the Hundred Years’ War was fought; Henry V defeating the French on
October 25, 1415.
_The Princess._
AGLAÏA.
The child of Lady Psyche. Means brightness, and is the name of one of
the Graces.
Her maiden babe, a double April old,
Aglaïa slept.
_The Princess._
AGNED-CATHREGONION.
The scene of one of king Arthur’s battles. Some authorities consider
it to be a hill in Somersetshire; according to others Edinburgh is the
place, as the old name of that city was Agned.
And up in Agned-Cathregonion too,
And down the waste sand-shores of Trath Treroit,
Where many a heathen fell;
_Lancelot and Elaine._
AGRIPPINA.
A cultured and courageous Roman matron, daughter of Vipsanius Agrippa
and Julia, and the granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. She married
Germanicus, whom she accompanied on his campaigns, and upon his death
brought his ashes to Rome; was subsequently exiled to the island of
Pandataria, by Tiberius, where she died in 33 +A.D+.
and the Roman brows
Of Agrippina.
The Princess here is pointing out the brows on the marble statue of
Agrippina.
_The Princess._
AGYPT (Egypt).
_Tomorrow._
AÏDONEUS.
A surname of Pluto, king of the Molossi, who imprisoned Theseus because
he and Pirithous attempted to ravish his daughter Proserpine, hence the
fable of the descent of Theseus and Pirithous into hell.
_Demeter and Persephone._
AILMER (John).
Chaplain to Henry Grey, marquis of Dorset, and tutor of lady Jane Grey.
In 1522 he was made archdeacon of Stow, but on the accession of Mary
was deprived of preferments for opposing in Convocation the doctrine
of Transubstantiation, and fled to Zurich. In 1558, upon Elizabeth’s
accession, he returned, was made archdeacon of London 1562; D.D. of
Oxford 1573; and bishop of London 1577 (1521-1594).
_Queen Mary._
AJALON.
Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua’s moon in Ajalon!
A valley in Palestine, and the scene of a battle between Joshua and
five Canaanitish kings, during which Joshua commanded the sun and moon
to stand still.
‘Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of
Ajalon.’ _Joshua x. 12._
_Locksley Hall._
AKBAR (Jellal-Ud-Din-Mohammed).
The greatest of the Mogul emperors, who, at the age of 13, succeeded
his father Humayun. Assuming the reins of government at the age of
18, he commenced his conquest of Hindustan. He subdued and ruled over
fifteen provinces, and his empire extended from Cashmir to Ahmedabad
and from Cabul to Dacca. His reign was marked by his daring change
of policy from fanatical Mohammedanism to universal tolerance. He
consulted Mohammedans, Hindus, Parsees, Jews and Christians, and drew
up a new faith upon eclectic principles, by which he hoped to unite
all creeds and peoples; he abolished the poll-tax on infidels and the
pilgrimage tax on Hindus (1542-1605).
_Akbar’s Dream._
AKROKERAUNIAN WALLS.
The long divine Peneïan pass,
The vast Akrokeraunian walls,
The Acroceraunia: a mountain range along the coast of north-west Greece
jutting out into the Ionian sea.
_To E. L._
ALBERIGHI (Federigo degli).
_See_ =Federigo degli Alberighi=.
ALBERT.
The Prince Consort, husband of queen Victoria. Before the _Idylls of
the King_ were published the Prince died (1861), and to his memory they
were afterwards dedicated.
These to His Memory--since he held them dear,
Perchance as finding there unconsciously
Some image of himself--I dedicate,
I dedicate, I consecrate with tears--
These Idylls.
In the concluding lines of the _Dedication_ Tennyson added some words
of comfort to the Queen on the death of the Prince:
May all love,
His love, unseen but felt, o’ershadow Thee,
The love of all Thy sons encompass Thee,
The love of all Thy daughters cherish Thee,
The love of all Thy people comfort Thee,
Till God’s love set Thee at his side again!
The success of the Exhibition of 1851 was mainly due to the efforts of
the Prince, who at the time of his death was planning the International
Exhibition of 1862. In the _Ode sung at the Opening of the
International Exhibition_, and the _Opening of the Indian and Colonial
Exhibition by the Queen_, the poet alludes to the part played by the
Prince in connexion with these two Exhibitions.
It was chiefly owing to the Prince’s admiration of _In Memoriam_ that
Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate.
_Dedication of Idylls._
ALBERT.
And with him Albert came on his.
I look’d at him with joy;
As cowslip unto oxlip is,
So seems she to the boy.
Brother of Olivia, who was betrothed to Walter.
_Talking Oak._
ALBION.
Ancient name for Britain, in use among the early Celtic inhabitants.
The word means ‘white island’ and was used by the Gauls to describe the
white-chalked cliff land they saw to the North.
_On the Jubilee of Queen Victoria._
ALCESTIS.
Had I but known you as I know you now--
The true Alcestis of the time.
In Greek mythology, daughter of Pelias and Anaxibia, and wife of
Admêtus. In order that her father might be restored to youth by Medea,
she, with her sisters, put him to death, but Medea refused to redeem
her promise, and the sisters fled to Admêtus, who married Alcestis.
Their brother Acastus with an army pursued them, and Admêtus being
taken prisoner, was redeemed from death by Alcestis who gave herself to
save her husband; but Hercules descended to the lower world and brought
her back. Alcestis is the subject of one of the tragedies of Euripides.
_Romney’s Remorse._
ALCOR.
The name of a star in the tail of the Great Bear.
_Last Tournament._
ALDER.
A tree related to the birch, usually growing in moist land.
_Edwin Morris_;
_Amphion_;
_A Farewell_;
_Balin and Balan_.
ALDRED.
Abbot of Tavistock, 1027; bishop of Worcester, 1044; appointed
ambassador by Edward the Confessor to the emperor of Germany, Henry
III, 1054; and was the first English bishop to visit Jerusalem, which
he did in 1058. On his return, he was made archbishop of York, 1060,
with leave to hold his former See, but upon visiting Rome the pope
refused him the pallium unless he resigned his former post. On the
death of Edward (1066) Aldred supported Harold, and officiated at his
coronation; but after the battle of Senlac he became a faithful servant
of the Conqueror, and crowned William at Westminster before the year
was completed in which he had crowned Harold (_d._ 1069).
_Harold._
ALDWYTH.
Daughter of Alfgar, and widow of Griffyth, king of Wales; she
subsequently became the wife of Harold.
_Harold._
ALENÇON.
Capital of the department of Orne, North France, once famous for its
point-lace. The title of a Duchy held by various members of the royal
family of France, from Charles II of Valois. In 1048 duke William
of Normandy captured the town, and inflicted great cruelty on the
inhabitants who had taunted him with his birth, by hanging raw hides
over the walls,
hast thou never heard
His savagery at Alençon--the town
Hung out raw hides along their walls, and cried,
‘Work for the tanner.’
The town was taken and retaken in the French Wars during the reigns
of Henry V and Henry VI of England; and in 1871 it capitulated to the
Germans under the grand duke of Mecklenburg. The only remains of the
ancient castle are three towers which form part of the present Town
Hall.
_Harold._
ALEXANDRA.
Eldest daughter of the late king Christian IX of Denmark; married to
the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII, at St. George’s Chapel,
Windsor, on March 10, 1863. The poem was written as a welcome to her
upon her arrival in England.
Sea-Kings’ daughter from over the sea, Alexandra!
Saxon and Norman and Dane are we,
But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee Alexandra
Welcome her, thunders of fort and of fleet
Welcome her, thundering cheer of the street
_A Welcome to Alexandra._
ALEXANDROVNA.
_See_ =Marie, Marie Alexandrovna=.
ALFGAR.
Son of Leofric, earl of Mercia and Godgifu (Lady Godiva). He and his
father supported king Edward the Confessor against earl Godwin at
Gloucester, 1051. Was outlawed by the Witan, 1055, and took refuge in
Ireland; invaded Herefordshire with Welsh allies but was defeated by
Harold; made peace and succeeded as the earl of Mercia, 1057. In the
same year he was again outlawed, but regained his earldom with the help
of Northmen.
_Harold._
ALFRED.
Duke of Edinburgh and duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; second son of
queen Victoria and prince Albert; married February 23, 1874, at St.
Petersburg to the grand duchess Marie Alexandrovna, only daughter of
Alexander II, czar of Russia. The bride and bridegroom made their
public entry into London on March 12 of the same year.
_A Welcome to Her Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna,
Duchess of Edinburgh._
ALFRED.