The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Part 35

[Footnote 16: Inserted in 1842.]

[Footnote 17: Thus in 1833:--

Or that deep-wounded child of Pendragon Mid misty woods on sloping greens Dozed in the valley of Avilion, Tended by crowned queens.

The present reading is that of 1842. The reference is, of course, to King Arthur, the supposed son of Uther Pendragon.

In 1833 the following stanza, excised in 1842, followed:--

Or blue-eyed Kriemhilt from a craggy hold, Athwart the light-green rows of vine, Poured blazing h.o.a.rds of Nibelungen gold, Down to the gulfy Rhine.]

[Footnote 18: Inserted in 1842 thus:--

Or hollowing one hand against his ear, To listen for a footfall, ere he saw The wood-nymph, stay'd the Tuscan king to hear Of wisdom and of law.

List a footfall, 1843. Ausonian for Tuscan, 1850. The reference is to Egeria and Numa Pompilius. 'Cf.' Juvenal, iii., 11-18:--

Hic ubi nocturnae Numa const.i.tuebat amicae ...

In vallem aegeriae descendimus et speluneas Dissimiles veris.

and the beautiful pa.s.sage in Byron's 'Childe Harold', iv., st.

cxv.-cxix.]

[Footnote 19: This is Camadev or Camadeo, the Cupid or G.o.d of Love of the Hindu mythology.]

[Footnote 20: This picture of Europa seems to have been suggested by Moschus, 'Idyll', ii., 121-5:--

[Greek: Hae d' ar ephezomenae Zaenos Boeois epi n_otois tae men echen taurou dolichon keras, en cheri d' allae eirue porphyreas kolpou ptuchas.]

"Then, seated on the back of the divine bull, with one hand did she grasp the bull's long horn and with the other she was catching up the purple folds of her garment, and the robe on her shoulders was swelled out."

See, too, the beautiful picture of the same scene in Achilles Tatius, 'c.l.i.tophon and Leucippe', lib. i., 'ad init.;' and in Politian's finely picturesque poem.]

[Footnote 21: In 1833 thus:--

Europa's scarf blew in an arch, unclasped, From her bare shoulder backward borne.

Off inserted in 1842. Here in 1833 follows a stanza, excised in 1842:--

He thro' the streaming crystal swam, and rolled Ambrosial breaths that seemed to float In light-wreathed curls. She from the ripple cold Updrew her sandalled foot.]

[Footnote 22: 1833. Over.]

[Footnote 23: 1833. Not.]

[Footnote 24: 1833. Many a.]

[Footnote 25: The Caucasian range forms the north-west margin of the great tableland of Western Asia, and as it was the home of those races who afterwards peopled Europe and Western Asia and so became the fathers of civilisation and culture, the "Supreme Caucasian mind" is a historically correct but certainly recondite expression for the intellectual flower of the human race, for the perfection of human ability.]

[Footnote 26: 1833. Broidered in screen and blind.

In the edition of 1833 appear the following stanzas, excised in 1842:--

So that my soul beholding in her pride All these, from room to room did pa.s.s; And all things that she saw, she multiplied, A many-faced gla.s.s.

And, being both the sower and the seed, Remaining in herself became All that she saw, Madonna, Ganymede, Or the Asiatic dame--

Still changing, as a lighthouse in the night Changeth athwart the gleaming main, From red to yellow, yellow to pale white, Then back to red again.

"From change to change four times within the womb The brain is moulded," she began, "So thro' all phases of all thought I come Into the perfect man.

"All nature widens upward: evermore The simpler essence lower lies, More complex is more perfect, owning more Discourse, more widely wise.

"I take possession of men's minds and deeds.

I live in all things great and small.

I dwell apart, holding no forms of creeds, But contemplating all."

Four ample courts there were, East, West, South, North, In each a squared lawn where from A golden-gorged dragon spouted forth The fountain's diamond foam.

All round the cool green courts there ran a row Of cloisters, branched like mighty woods, Echoing all night to that sonorous flow Of spouted fountain floods.

From those four jets four currents in one swell Over the black rock streamed below In steamy folds, that, floating as they fell, Lit up a torrent bow.

And round the roofs ran gilded galleries That gave large view to distant lands, Tall towns and mounds, and close beneath the skies Long lines of amber sands.

Huge incense-urns along the bal.u.s.trade, Hollowed of solid amethyst, Each with a different odour fuming, made The air a silver mist.

Far-off 'twas wonderful to look upon Those sumptuous towers between the gleam Of that great foam-bow trembling in the sun, And the argent incense-steam;

And round the terraces and round the walls, While day sank lower or rose higher, To see those rails with all their k.n.o.bs and b.a.l.l.s, Burn like a fringe of fire.

Likewise the deepset windows, stained and traced.

Burned, like slow-flaming crimson fires, From shadowed grots of arches interlaced, And topped with frostlike spires.]

[Footnote 27: 1833.

There deep-haired Milton like an angel tall Stood limned, Shakspeare bland and mild, Grim Dante pressed his lips, and from the wall The bald blind Homer smiled.

Recast in its present form in 1842. After this stanza in 1833 appear the following stanzas, excised in 1842:--

And underneath fresh carved in cedar wood, Somewhat alike in form and face, The Genii of every climate stood, All brothers of one race:

Angels who sway the seasons by their art, And mould all shapes in earth and sea; And with great effort build the human heart From earliest infancy.