Identifier: alfredlordtenny00waug (find matches)
Title: Alfred Lord Tennyson; a study of his life and work
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Waugh, Arthur, 1866-1943
Subjects: Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892
Publisher: London Heinemann
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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fe,contained three new and important pieces— Enoch Arden,* Aylmers Field, and the Northern Farmer(old style).This was the chief and last achievement of the Laureatesreactionary period, and the poems showed a return, gradualbut evident, to his natural manner. For while SeaDreams stands almost in a class by itself, Aylmers Fieldrecurs rather obviously to the manner of Dora and theearly Idylls, and the Enoch Arden separates itself stillfurther from the uninviting life of a city clerkship. Itdraws nearer to the world of adventure, of movingaccidents by flood and field, of shipwreck and desolation.It possesses, too, one strange gleam of mystery which freesthe poem from a bondage to the obvious. It is a return tonature and to art. But neither this poem, nor AylmersField, are really representative of Tennysons w^ork. Bothhave one failing in common : they set themselves to tell astory, without having a sufficiently strong story to tell.Aylmers Field is the history of a thwarted love, warped
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LADY TENNYSON,After the picture by G. F. Walts, R.A. FROM THE IDYLLS TO THE DRAMAS 153 by the pride of parents, and turned at last into a disastrousissue. Neither the characters nor the plot have novelty.The one bold effort of the poem is the recital in verse ofa funeral sermon, based on the text, Your house is leftunto you desolate. This is a strong and unaccustomedexperiment, wliich finds vent in a vigorous piece of de-nunciatory rhetoric. It is effective as a tour de force, but itslength sets it somewhat out of proportion to the rest of thestory. The conclusion is overweighted by the massivenessof the oratory. The story of Aylmers Field was suppliedto Tennyson by Mr. Woolner, and it is characteristic ofhis manner of work that he refused to be satisfied with abare outline, but demanded from his friend a len^hy re-lation of all the incidents. The story of Enoch Arden is equally simple. Twofisher-lads love the same girl: Enoch wins her, Phifipremains solitary. Enoch goes to sea, and h

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