He endeavored out of all the schools
to synthesize a new one. In many of his descriptive pieces he followed
Wordsworth: in his idyls, he adheres to the romantic school; in his
treatment and diction, he stands alone.
EARLY EFFORTS.--He was the son of a clergyman of Lincolnshire, and was
born at Somersby, in 1810. After a few early and almost unknown efforts in
verse, the first volume bearing his name was issued in 1830, while he was
yet an under-graduate at Cambridge: it had the simple title--_Poems,
chiefly Lyrical_. In their judgment of this new poet, the critics were
almost as much at fault as they had been when the first efforts of
Wordsworth appeared; but for very different reasons. Wordsworth was simple
and intensely realistic. Tennyson was mystic and ideal: his diction was
unusual; his little sketches conveyed an almost hidden moral; he seemed to
inform the reader that, in order to understand his poetry, it must be
studied; the meaning does not sparkle upon the surface; the language
ripples, the sense flows in an undercurrent.
Pages:
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715