The Idea of Mortality in Tennyson's Classical and Arthurian Poems: "Honor Comes with Mystery " Author(s): Gerhard Joseph Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Nov., 1968), pp. 136-145 Published by: University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/435832 Accessed: 30-11-2015 08:28 UTC

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This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE IDEA OF MORTALITY IN TENNYSON'S CLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS: "HONOR COMES WITH MYSTERY"

GERHARD JOSEPH

wo of AlfredTennyson's early To the extentthat Tennyson'smajor poems, "Nothing Will Die" and poetrytried to come to termswith this "All ThingsWill Die," open in their "dying sun," to reconcile the fact of verytitles the dialogue of contraryvoices decay and death with the beneficent that was to expressone of his obsessive God in whom he believed,his work may themes-the tragicinevitability of change be read as a lifelongstruggle to justify and human mortality.Throughout his the ways of a God of Love to himselfand work he was hypersensitiveto the possi- to his fellowVictorians. While the intellec- bilitythat a meaninglessdecay mightbe tual designof his theodicywas not start- the essentialprinciple of the cosmos. The linglynew, Tennyson did conveyhis vision oft-citedTennysonian "passion of the in the originaland powerfulimaginative past," the desireto fixin art momentsof structuresthat we associate witha major departedjoy, arose froma need both to poet. I should like in thisessay to sketch deny and pay a grudgingheed to ineluc- thatdeepening vision as it formeditself in table change. Such moving lyrics as the elegiac dignity,the allusiveness,and "Tears, Idle Tears" and "Break, Break, the sensuous concretenessof myth-to Break" capturethe lacrimaererum which suggest,in otherwords, that Tennyson's the memoryof days that are no more classical and Arthurianpoems, taken as a could make rise in the heart and gather body,explore the theme of naturalchange to the eyes of the poet. But it was the and human mortalityas the recurring mostcrushing personal instances of muta- confrontationof his eternal deities and bility-thedeath of a father,a friend,or a mortalheroes. son-that could transforma free-floating, habitual melancholyinto the intenseand I all-inclusivemourning of works like In Tennyson's earliest mythicconsidera- Memoriam and "Demeter and Perse- tion of mortality appears in "The phone." An apocalypticrunning down of Hesperides,"the fascinatingwork that he "all things" was the soft dirge that suppressedafter its initialappearance in Tennyson's priestessSorrow could hear his 1833 volume and that did not see echoing out from the death of Arthur printagain untilits publicationin Hallam Hallam to the extinctionof the human Tennyson'sMemoir of his fatherin 1897. race and to the finalwasting of the earth The body of the poem is the Song of the itself. Three Sistersthat the Carthaginiancom- hears while "The stars,"she whispers,"blindly run; mander,Hanno, sailingalong A webis wovenacross the sky; the westerncoast of Africa. In anxious Fromout wasteplaces comes a cry, song the Hesperidean Sisters ask their And murmursfrom the dying sun" fatherHesperus, the eveningstar, to help [In Memoriam,Vs. III].1 themkeep awake the dragonwho guards 1 All quotations from Tennyson's poetry, unless otherwise the sacred tree of the Hesperides lest noted are taken from The Poetic and Dramatic Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson,ed. W. J. Rolfe (Boston, 1898). Heracles, "one fromthe East," success-

[Modern Philology, November, 19681 136

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MORTALITY IN TENNYSON'S CLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS 137 fullysteal an apple fromit as his eleventh by the symbolof a holy fruittree in the labor. In the standardcritical explication, mythologicalsystems of the East.3 Because G. Robert Stange sees the poem as the apples are magic devices for gaining Tennyson'searly parable of the artist's immortality,the minorHesperidean god- secretlife, which must be activelydefended dessesmust againstthe destructive prying of theworld. ... watch,watch, night and day, The Hesperideansong defines"the spiri- Lest theold woundof theworld be healed, tual conditions under which the poetic The gloryunsealed, experience comes to life" and pays The goldenapple stolen away, rhapsodictribute to the raregenius of the And theancient secret revealed [11. 68-72]. that can flourish poetic imagination only That the "old wound of the world" may in a Western of art cut offfrom garden referto the fact of nature's mutability the of The sophistries ordinaryhumanity. and man's death is suggested by the of himself, daughters Hesperus,Hesperus Miltonic contextthat the poet supplies. and the who the tree dragon guard repre- Tennyson'sepigraph to thepoem, sentthe artistwho both nourishesthe tree of imaginationthrough song and at the Hesperusand his daughtersthree, That about same timedraws his vitalityfrom it.2 sing thegolden tree, Whilesuch a readingis in partconvinc- is taken fromthe Epilogue to Comus,in ing, thereare severalimportant lines that which the AttendantSpirit describeshis it does not seem to explain. What, for Edenic home (11. 976-1,023). That same instance,is "the old wound of the world" passage alludes to the mythof Adonis, that would "be healed" (1. 69) were the whose archetypal"deep wound" (11.999- golden apple stolenby Heracles? Or why 1,000) did indeed have its correlativein would "the world.. be overwise" (11. the old wound of the world, as a late 63-64) should the fruitbe taken? The Victorianlike Sir James Frazer has des- symbolicresonance of Tennyson'smyth- cribedin detail and as such sophisticated ological poems is unrestrictiveenough for mythologistsas Miltonand even the early us to see that while the "ancient secret" Tennyson would have known. Further- that Heracles intendsto steal may indeed more, given such a Miltonic key as the be thevatic key to poeticcreativity, it may Epigraph,we cannotavoid an association at thesame timebe theformula of immor- betweenthe "old wound" of "The Hes- talitythat would explain such otherwise perides"and the "wound" thatearth feels puzzlinglines. whenEve firsttastes of the apple in Para- The eternallife that man has attempted dise Lost (IX, 780-84), a wound that to wrestfrom the gods sincethe beginning bringsdeath and mutabilityinto the world.4 of time has frequentlybeen represented 3 See George Stanley Faber, The Origins of Pagan Idolatry (London, 1816),III, 231. W. D. Paden,in Tennysonin Egypt: 2 G. RobertStange, "Tennyson's Garden of Art: A Study A Study of the Imagery in His Earlier Work (Lawrence, Kan., of The Hesperides," PMLA, LXVII (1952), 732-43, and 1942),pp. 154-55,believes "The Hesperides"to be a thorough- reprinted in Critical Essays on the Poetry of Tennyson, ed. goingadaptation of Faber,a famousmythologist of theearly JohnKillham (London, 1960), pp. 99-112, fromwhich my nineteenthcentury whose work, Paden argues, supplied quotationsare taken."The Hesperides"was firstsingled out Tennysonwith a continuingsupply of myth,symbol, and as an interestingearly work by T. S. Eliot,who read it as an imagery.According to Faber's interpretationof all gentile illustrationof Tennyson'sclassical learningand masteryof mythologiesas versionsof a Mosaic archetype,the Garden meter (Essays Ancient and Modern [New York, 1936], pp. of the Hesperideswas a typeof Eden and Ararat,the Hes- 176-78). Douglas Bush seconded Eliot's high valuationof perideantree an adaptationof thefatal tree in Eden, and the the "remarkableHesperides," calling it "the purestpiece of HesperideanSisters themselves a triplicatedEve. Stange(n. 2 magic and mystery" (Mythology and the Romantic Tradition above), p. 109,feels that there is no conclusiveevidence that [Cambridge,Mass., 1937],pp. 200-201).It is theBush implica- Tennysonwas exposedto Faber's work. tion that "The Hesperides,"with its "weird mythological 4 The extentof Milton'sprofound influence upon Tennyson incantation,"is a workof pure mythmakingwhose music is is treatedin "Milton and Tennyson,"a chapterin JamesG. an end in itselfthat the Stangeessay is clearlyintended to Nelson's The Sublime Puritan: Milton and the Victorians counter. (Madison, Wis., 1963),pp. 106-25.

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 138 GERHARDJOSEPH The old woundof theworld that assures tion whetherhe gains the object of his the inevitabledeath of man differentiatesquest or not,because the gods are able to him fromthe gods. It mustbe kept from fendhim off or betrayhim with the weapon healing so that the Olympiangods will of mystery.The Sistersknow that remain unchallenged: Honorcomes with mystery; If thegolden apple be taken, Hoarded wisdombrings delight [11. 47-48]. The worldwill be overwise[11. 63-64]. Elsewherein his poetryTennyson claims Should Heracles,the hero in quest of the for his own uses the "quiet Gods" of ancient to steal the secret,manage apple Lucretius'De rerumnatura, deities who, and take it back into the East-the world "carelessof mankind," of activityand everydaylife in Tennyson's lifelongsymbolic geography-such "wis- ... lie beside theirnectar, and the bolts dom" in thepossession of humanitywould are hurl'd presumablyheal the wound and thereby Far belowthem in thevalleys, and theclouds threatenthe serenityand the veryrule of are lightlycurl'd Roundtheir withthe the gods. It is absolutelyimperative to goldenhouses, girdled world; their "eternal pleasure" (1. 24) that gleaming While they smile in secret,looking over and climates change, "kingdoms lapse, wastedlands, and races die" for are secure (1. 46), they Blightand famine,plague and earthquake, in the certitudeof nature'sconstant only roaringdeeps and fierysands, mutability.Their immortalityraises them Clangingfights, and flamingtowns, and to a supreme height above dying man, sinkingships, and prayinghands and theirassurance of uniquenessdirectly ["TheLotos-Eaters," 11. 110-16].6 assuages theirpride. Heracles is thus the firstin a line of While the Hesperidean Sisters lack the of the and theiramused Tennysonianfigures who try to wresta serenity quietgods "secretsmiles" at the universalchaos far "wisdom" fromthe gods. To the extent below the of the sacred thatTennyson's classical poems are veiled them, guardians tree do understandthat it is the fact of parablesconcerning poetic aspiration, such universal of wisdom may allude to the poet's "vatic change-of kingdomslapsing, wave of mountains nature, the qualities of the poetic clashingagainst wave, charism."5Yet the termachieves a wider weakening-counterposedagainst the enig- ma of divine and that metaphysicalreach-the ancient secret immobility repose thatman seekscan takesuch various forms makes for the "bliss of secret smiles" the as the heavenlybeauty that Paris takes as among gods: a giftin "Oenone," the knowledgethat Wanderingwaters unto wandering waters call; Ulyssesinsists upon followingbeyond the Let themclash together, foam and fall. utmost bound of human thought,the Out of watchings,out of wiles, "passionlessbride, divine Tranquility" of Comesthe bliss of secretsmiles. "Lucretius," the divine knowledgeasso- All thingsare nottold to all [11.75-79]. Athene in ciated with Pallas "Tiresias," The "honor" of the HesperideanSisters and the thatTithonus asks of immortality thus depends upon their ability to veil the goddessEos in "Tithonus." their formula in mysteryin order to Each of theheroes is doomed to frustra- preservetheir monopoly on immortality; 6 Stange(n. 2 above), p. 102. 6 See also "Lucretius,"11. 73-79.

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MORTALITY IN TENNYSON'S CLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS 139 the "delight"and "eternalpleasure" that the fruit of the sacred tree "suggests accompanythe honor of the gods flourish the ancientdistinction among body,soul, at the expense of a sufferinghumanity. and spirit,as well as the organicprinciple The particularform of the Hesperidean of multiplicityin unity,"and the "five" "wiles" is suggestedby the blank-verse refersto the five senses upon which the Prologue to their song, in which the poetic imagination depends;' perhaps Carthaginiancommander Hanno, passing "the five and three make up an awful betweenthe southernand westernHorn, mysterybecause theyadd up to eight,the hearsthe Sisters'melody "like voices in a sacredogdoad ofthe mysteries," according dream / Continuous; till he reached the to the speculations of George Stanley outer sea" (11. 12-13). Their mysterious Faber which Tennyson may have been song is a sirensong of the kindthat lured followingin "The Hesperides";8 perhaps weary sailors into a destructiveenchant- there was a book in the Rev. George mentin "The Sea Fairies" of Tennyson's ClaytonTennyson's extensive and widely 1830 volume. ranging Somersby library, an obscure The gods do tantalizeman withan in- work, gnomic or hermeticin nature, timationof themystery's meaning through that would supplythe key to Tennyson's the riddleof numbers."The Hesperides" numerology. aboundsin references to "five"and "three." My own feelingis thatall suchattempts The incantatorylines, to renderexplicit the magic symbolismof numbersviolate the "awfulmystery" that Five links,a goldenchain, are we, Wisdom,whispering in her corner,wishes Hesper,the dragon, and sistersthree, to secret;such effortsrepresent the Boundabout the golden tree keep critical of Heracles' invasionof [11.65-67, 106-8], equivalent the Westerngarden. Tennyson's poetry appear twice,and the arcane portentous- is full of numberswhose numinosityand ness of such magic numeralsis evident power defywholly persuasive explication. fromthe message that Wisdom whispers The numbersymbolism of "four," as a "in a corner": case in point,is a significantmotif in "The Palace of Art": the builds four Five and three speaker courtsfor his soul the (Let it not be preachedabroad) make an proud within great awfulmystery [11. 28-29]. mansion,while four currents of waterflow down fromit throughfour jets. And The The Sistersrepeat these numbers over and Idylls of the King,as we shall see below, over to keep the sleepydragon awake: frequentlyhas recourse to mysterious numbers.But whilethe ingenuityof man- Number,tell them over and number kind can discover ways How manythe mystic fruit-tree holds certainly plausible to their numbersin Lest thered-combed dragon slumber pierce mystery, Tenny- are another of the Rolledtogether in purplefolds [11. 49-52]. son's poetry merely silentforms that the immortalgods use to Both the history of numerologyand tease us out of thoughtas doth eternity. Tennyson'ssymbology in this and other works have temptedcommentators upon Although"The Hesperides" is one of the poem to assign meanings to the Tennyson'smost interestingearly works, numbers:perhaps the association of the 7 Stange(n. 2 above). "three" with the root, the bole, and 8 Paden (n. 3 above).

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 140 GERHARDJOSEPH it is a poem whose complexityand impor- Ay me! whateverlasting pain, tance have not been generallyacknowl- Beingimmortal with a mortalheart, edged. If we move on to the dramatic To liveconfronted with eternal youth: To look on whatis beautifulnor know monologues-on classical subjects which Enjoymentsave thro'memory [11. are recognizedas being among his most 11-15].9 mature and lastingproductions, it is in In the"Tithonus" published in theCornhill "Tithonus" that Tennyson mounts the Magazine of February,1860, and reprinted most direct and representativeclassical in the EnochArden volume of 1864,these variationof the mortalitytheme that he relativelyneutral lines way to ones broachedin "The Hesperides." give which emphasizethe narcissismof Tith- The Hesperidean song is chanted en- onus and the hubrisof himselfa tirelyby the divine Sisters,who wish to believing protecttheir ancient secret; Heracles, the god: intruderfrom the East, is alluded to in a Alas, forthis gray shadow, once a man- singleline. If "The Hesperides"dramatizes So gloriousin hisbeauty and thychoice, in the voices of the their to gods attempts Who madesthim thy chosen, that he seem'd wardoff the challenges of man, "Tithonus" To hisgreat heart none other than a God! invertsthat perspectiveand providesthe I ask'd thee,"Give me immortality" lamentof a mortalwho has managed to [11.11-15]. wresteternal life fromthe gods, only to findthat he has been cursedwith a "cruel The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite,upon immortality"which does not includeeter- whichTennyson based his poem,does not nal youth. accentuate the vengeance of the gods. The goddessEos, who had fallenin love There Eos' failureto ask Zeus foreternal with Tithonus, is as despondentat the youthas wellas eternallife is just a mistake. effectsof her carelessgenerosity as Tith- "Tithonus"does not allude to Zeus at all. onus himself.She had givenher gift easily, That the terriblegift seems to come and she is genuinelyregretful at what it directlyfrom Eos makesher responsibility has done to her human lover: her tears for Tithonus' plight even more direct flowdown the cheeks of the wizenedold thanit was in Tennyson'ssource. Tithonus man (1. 45). himselfindicts the agencynot of Zeus but And yet the changes that took place of the goddess in the descriptionof his between Tennyson'sfirst version of the aging: Tithonusstory, the "Tithon" that appeared in the J. M. Heath CommonplaceBook, ... thystrong Hours indignantwork'd their and the finalpoem suggestthat the god- wills, dess's tears do not mitigateher role in a Andbeat me down and marr'd and wasted me, divine plan wherebyhuman pride must And tho' theycould not end me, leftme maim'd be severelychastised, even if she herself does not desiresuch In the 1833 To dwellin presenceof immortalyouth, revenge. Immortal besideimmortal "Tithon" the that Tithonus is age youth, possibility And all I was in ashes [11.18-23]. beingpunished for agreeing to unitehim- self with a heavenlybeauty is missing. 9 The historyof the poem's compositionand an indispen- sable, detailed comparisonof the various versionsin the The linesthat open the second versepara- Heath Commonplace Book, Cornhill Magazine, and the Enoch Ardenvolume appear in Mary Joan Donahue's "Tennyson's graph outlininghis dilemma stress only Hail Briton! and Tithon in the Heath Manuscript," PMLA, LXIV (1949), 385-416.The quotationfrom "Tithon" is taken his pain: fromMiss Donahue's article,which reprints the poem.

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MORTALITY IN TENNYSON'S CLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS 141 Despiteappearances, Eos thusresembles II -if and her faintly,equivocally, despite The work which treats the Christian best intentions-Tennyson'sother relent- equivalentof the "awfulmystery" that the lessclassical goddesses, the mythic counter- classicalgods tryin one way or anotherto parts of his "fatal who (with women,"'10 keep away fromman is The Idylls of the the singleimportant exception of Demeter King. "The Coming of Arthur" offers in "Demeter and Persephone") blast the three natural explanations of Arthur's mortal lives they touch. When they are birthand a supernaturalone, but we are not the indifferentquiet gods, such deities clearlymeant to believeBellicent's tale of become the mocking Aphrodite, who Arthur'smiraculous coming on thecrest of bestows Helen upon Paris only to bring a flamingninth wave. The presenceat his an entirecivilization to ruin for that gift coronationof the Lady of the Lake and of in "Oenone," or thefurious Pallas Athene, thethree queens who supporthim through who blinds Tiresias for his audacity in lifetestifies readily enough to his myster- her out. ("Lucretius" considers searching ious nature,as does Camelot itself,his the alternatepossibilities that the Venus "city built to music" that "moved so who oversees the disintegrationof the weirdlyin the mist" ("Gareth and Lynette," questingpoet-philosopher is eitherone or 11.238-74). the either one of the aloof other, quiet But the burden of man's relation to of his De naturaor a gods rerum jealous Arthurian is shadowed forthin intent for his mystery goddess upon revenge the of Arthur's and in the of her whileshe several story passing slighting occupied of the firstand last of classical attempt Bedivere, mythicalforms.) Tennyson's god- his to frustrateits when enterthe worldof knights, inevitability desses, they men, Arthur'shonor and fame. do so like the Zeus of William Butler by prolonging That the death of Arthurconstituted the Yeats's "Leda and the Swan": their key to the king'sentire life for Tennyson ravaginggifts are too terriblefor man to is indicatedby the fact that the trialrun bear; the price theyexact for the power for The Idylls of the King, the "Morte offeror are forced to relinquishis they d'Arthur"of the 1842 volumes,concerns Tithonus realizes too late catastrophic. itself withArthur's end. Bedivere's that far betterthan his own lot is the lot entirely two refusalsin "The Passingof Arthur"to of those"happy men" who, untouchedby relinquishExcalibur, Arthur's magic sword, "have the powerto die" (1. 70). divinity, as his has commanded,may be If fastid- dyingking we, then,compare Tennyson's read as an Arthurianecho ofHeracles' mis- ious quiet gods who take theirease far sion in "The Hesperides." In his first above a strugglinghumanity, the Sisters attemptBedivere keeps Excalibur from the who guard their Hesperidean jealously merefor reasons that are clearlyselfish. He garden at the edge of the world from is dazzledby its rare beauty, by itshaft that humanintrusion, and the Eos who takesa human lover, we see that the differences ... twinkledwith diamond sparks, their among themare not as importantas Myriadsof topaz-lights,and jacinth-work similarity.All threekinds of classical de- Of subtlestjewellery [11. 224-26]. ities,even when not activelyhostile, are ruinousto mankind. But as Bedivere tries unsuccessfullya second timeto fulfilhis king'scommand, 10 Clyde de L. Ryals, "The 'Fatal Woman' Symbol in Tennyson," PMLA, LXXIV (1959), 438-43. Tennysoncomplicates the motive of simple

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 142 GERHARDJOSEPH greed.It is, to be sure,a grievousfault to once thatwisdom has made its powerfelt disobey one's king, "seeing obedience is through Arthur's work, Bedivere does the bond of rule." But what if the kingin insistupon tryingto retainits talisman. his sickness unto death is making a Bedivere'sinitial reluctance to returnthe mistake? If Excaliburdisappears from the magical brand to the Lady of the Lake is earth,Bedivere speculates, thus a defensive,less aggressiveversion of Heracles' attempt to steal the golden "..*. What record, or what relic of my lord apple fromthe HesperideanSisters. Shouldbe to aftertime,but empty breath "Much honorand muchfame were lost," And rumorsof a doubt? butwere this kept, Bediverebelieves (1. 277), were Excalibur Stored in some treasure-houseof mighty to disappear fromthe earth. In answer, kings, Arthur's insistence that Excalibur be Some one mightshow it at a joust of arms, throwninto the mereimplies the themeof 'King Arthur'ssword, Excalibur, Saying "The that"honor comes with Wroughtby thelonely Maiden of theLake. Hesperides" But whereas the Nineyears she wrought it, sitting in thedeeps mystery." Hesperidean Upon the hiddenbases of the hills"' Sisterswere concerned with the protection [11.266-74]. of theirown honor,Arthur cares primarily for the welfareof his realm-his good Though the narratorassures us that this name was bound to the formerperfection rationalizationis made by a Bedivere of Camelot. Arthurknows that his own "clouded with his own conceit" (1. 278), honor and that of the world through the reader cannot but treat it with a which he moved will be kept alive not measureof respect.If Bediverecan show throughvain questsafter palpable fact and Excaliburto doubters,Arthur's legend is materialevidence of his existencebut by more apt to sound crediblewhen "some the abilityof his legend to inspirenoble old man," like himself,"speak in the belief and virtuousdeed as his mystery aftertime/ To all the people, winning moves throughtime. ("The Holy Grail" reverence"(11. 276-77) forArthur (as well, had made a related point about the perhaps,as forhimself). There is afterall Christianmystery: the holy quest after a differencebetween the voice of an old, visions of the chalice used at the Last brokenBedivere and the voice of a living Supper is for most of human society a Arthur,which has receivedat least partof vain, destructivepursuit of wandering its authorityfrom his skilfulwielding of fires.Visions will come "as theywill" to Excalibur."The Passing of Arthur"is, as those who do not striveto penetratethe a matterof fact,related by a Bediverewho mystery,to those who do not strayfrom in the "white winterof his age" is "no their allotted tasks in the fields of the morethan a voice" (11.3-4). One can well world.) imaginethe "rumors of a doubt" thatmust A similardistinction can be made be- have dogged the ancientknight's retelling tweenthe Hesperidean garden and Avilion. of his fabuloustale. It is thereforeunder- The Avilion,"deep-meadow'd, happy, fair standablethat Bedivereshould have tried withorchard lawns / And boweryhollows to do all in his power to keep a cloud of crown'dwith summer sea" (11.430-31), to mysteryfrom Arthur'sname and deed. whichArthur travels to heal his woundsis Bediverehad not activelysought out the the Celticequivalent of the Garden of the "ancient secret" that Arthurbrought to Hesperides. Both evince Tennyson'slife- cleanse the wasteland of the world. But long fascinationwith a Miltonic

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MORTALITYIN TENNYSON'SCLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS 143 ... boweryloneliness, mystery of numbers. When Bedivere The brooksof Eden mazilymurmuring, finallythrows Excalibur into the mere,an And bloom profuse and cedar arches arm "clothedin samite,mystic, wonderful 11. ["Milton," 9-11], ... caughthim by thehilt, and brandish'd him Three times,and drew him under placesof rest, fecundity, and freedomfrom / the mere" The Idylls of the worldlycares. But while the Hesperidean (11.310-13). is filledwith threes. What, we ask, is grove is a refugeof divine repose and King the of the "vast charm"in the generation jealously guarded against significance starsthat Merlin that human intrusionand utterlyhostile to contemplates, man, Avilion will send Arthurback into ... singlemisty star, theworld after his recoveryto willhis will Whichis thesecond in a lineof stars and work his work anew forthe good of That seema swordbeneath a beltof three? mankind.The ultimatecharacter of Avil- ["Merlinand Vivien,"11. 506-8]. ion's ancientsecret may remainclothed in do three follow Arthur mystery,but the effectiveagent of that Why queens life and accompany him to mysterywill move witha "power on this through Avilion? To such we can again dark land to lightenit, / And power on questions the answer that this dead world to make it live" ("The supply numerologist's three is the odd number,the Comingof Arthur," 11. 92-93) afterperiodic primary emblem of multiplicityin unity,or the regenerationin the island valley of the answer like the three West. mythologist's that, Sisters of "The the three The relationsthat the Hesperidesand Hesperides," a of Great Avilion bear to the world are best illus- queens are type triplicated Mother, a cosmic female presence that tratedby thedifferent ways that the works broods over the lifeof Camelot in several in whichthey appear use the same image. forms, both natural and supernatural. The guardiansof the Hesperideansacred himselfinsisted upon theinviol- treeform a "golden chain" about it: Tennyson abilityof his symbolsin a way thatmakes Five links,a goldenchain are we, him appear less simple-mindedthan some Hesper,the dragon, and sistersthree, of his severestcritics have been willingto Daughtersthree, allow. When the Bishop of Ripon, Boyd Boundabout Carpenter,asked him whetherthose who The bole of thecharmed tree gnarled had interpretedthe threequeens as Faith, [11.106-10]. Hope, and Charitywere correct, Tennyson In contrast,Arthur in his finalspeech of characteristicallytried both to embrace consolationassures Bedivere that and to disavow an allegoricalintention: "They are right,and theyare not right. thewhole round earth is everyway ... Theymean thatand theydo not. Theyare Boundby goldchains about the feet of God threeof the noblestof women. They are [11.422-23]. also thosethree Graces, but theyare much The golden chain of "The Hesperides" more.I hate to be tied down to say, 'This servesto excludemankind, to hem in the means that,' because the thoughtwithin tree fromthe depredationsof the world; theimage is muchmore than one interpre- the gold chains of the Idylls fastenthe tation."11Such equivocationmay suggest worldto a beneficentGod. I' Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by That God asserts himselfthrough the His Son (2 vols.; London and New York, 1897),II, 127.

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 144 GERHARDJOSEPH thatin his treatment of classical and Arthur- teleology,a controlledevolution wherein ian mythTennyson meant to evoke the man moves progressivelytoward God as sacred,undecipherable mystery of numer- he increasinglyadapts theworld to express ical as well as verbal symbol.But, again, himselfin his changingforms and as he while the incantationof numbersin "The evolves to man's apprehensionof him. Hesperides"was intendedto keepa misan- To retaina singlegood customtoo long thropicdragon awake, the numbersof the would frustratethis process. Idylls are mysticalsigns of a universe throughwhich man can walk in meta- The workthat draws together Tennyson's physicalself-assurance because of Arthur's classical gods and the High God of the benign,if intermittent,presence. Idylls is "Demeter and Persephone," The benignityof this universeand its Tennyson'sevocation of classical mythin God must somehow encompass the fact his 1889 volume. From her experience of mutabilityand mortality,of Arthur's withher fellowgods who look on at the death and the disappearanceof Excalibur, kidnappingof Persephone, Demeter comes thatBedivere finds so hard to accept.The to know thatZeus, the "brightone in the conclusion to "The Passing of Arthur" highest,"and Aidoneus,the "dark one in answersBedivere's doubt witha Christian the lowest,"are brothersin theirreserved variation of the Hesperidean "wisdom" contemplationof universalsuffering. This and of the understandingthat Tithonus knowledgemakes Demeter curse such quiet had come to bythe time of his monologue: gods and refuseto partakein theirfeasts. In addition,her own "The old order to sufferingencourages changeth,yielding place in her an identificationwith and commit- new, mentto And God fulfilshimself in manyways, humanity: Lest one customshould the good corrupt The man,that only lives and lovesan hour, world"[11. 408-10]. Seem'dnobler than their hard eternities [11.104-5]. This climacticmessage seems to repeata Hesperidean notion: it is necessarythat It is onlywhen Demeter's tears and ravings Arthur die and that Camelot come to make the earth barrenthat Zeus, in his blight,that "kingdoms lapse, and climates vanityat no longerreceiving the sacrifices change,and racesdie" ("The Hesperides," and praises of men, grudginglyforces 1. 46). But the Hesperidean Sisters had Aidoneus to surrenderPersephone to her celebrated natural mutabilitybecause it motherfor nine months of every year. assuredthe "bliss of secretsmiles" and the Althoughpartially mollified, Demeter re- smug knowledge of divine uniqueness. mains. "but ill-content/Withthem who The "High God" ofthe Idylls, who beholds still are highest"and yearnsfor the over- the world frombeyond and entersit to throwof the Olympiansystem. When will makeit beautiful ("The Passingof Arthur," theyappear, she asks,whom the Fates had 11.16-17), withholds immortality from the predicted,those worldfor man's good, as well as his own, ... younger,kindlier Gods to bearus down, lest man come to know the "corruption" As we boredown the Gods beforeus ? Gods, of a Tithonus. Furthermore,while the To quench,not hurl the thunderbolt, to stay, Hesperidean Sisters oversee a random Not spread the plague,the famine;Gods clashingof "wanderingwaters," the High indeed, God of the Idylls "fulfils"himself in a To sendthe noon intothe night and break

This content downloaded from 141.233.160.21 on Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:28:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MORTALITYIN TENNYSON'SCLASSICAL AND ARTHURIAN POEMS 145 The sunlesshalls of Hades intoHeaven ? and representa hymn,a "worshipwhich Till thydark lord accept and love theSun, is Love" on man's partfor such a sign. And all theShadow die intothe Light, Tithonus,we have seen,is punishedbe- thewhole Whenthou shalt dwell brightyear cause "he seem'd/ To his greatheart none withme... [11.129-37]. otherthan a God," an illusionthat makes In the comingtriumph of a gentleChrist- himask forthe terrible gift of immortality. ianityover the harshOlympian gods, De- But the kindlierGod of "Demeter and meterenvisions the replacement of the quiet Persephone"will nourishwithin man an or avengingclassical gods by the High impressionof godhead,will enlighten the Death in the God of the Idylls. Life, ... soulsof men, who grew beyond their race, Tennysoniandeity of Fear and Sorrow,12 And made themselvesas Gods againstthe will give way to a God of Life, and the fear Queen of Death shallbe no more."Thou," Of Death and Hell [11.138-40]. Demeterassures her daughter, Man will thus come to apprehenda God ... thathast from men, of Life, who, neither the indifferent As Queen of Death, thatworship which is observernor the torturerof a classical Fear, underworld,allows man's soul a share in as risen fromout the Henceforth, having his brightimmortality. dead, It is thus to discerna single Shaltever send life withmine possible thy along consistentand coherent in Fromburied thro' blade,and pattern Tenny- grain springing and bless son's handling of classical myth be- Theirgarner'd autumn also, reapwith me, Arthurianlegend. Briefly,Tennyson Earth-mother,in the harvest hymns of Earth lieved in-and sometimesasserted in a Thatworship which is Love,and see no more poetry of philosophical reflection-the The Stone,the Wheel, the dimly-glimmering gradual evolution of a "crowningrace" lawns (In Memoriam,Epilogue), the consummate Of thatElysium, all thehateful fires utopian society of "men with growing Of torment,and theshadowy warrior glide wings" whose image Merlin has sculpted Alongthe silent field of Asphodel [11. 140-51]. in the hall he builds for Arthur("The To be sure, the "springingblade" will Holy Grail," 1. 237), the "men, who grew stillhave to ariseout ofthe "buried grain"; beyondtheir race," of "Demeter and Perse- burialin the earthmust still precede birth phone." For such a credo-fainttrust in a been in the springtime;natural process-muta- largerhope thatit may at timeshave bilityand corporeal mortality-willstill -Tennyson foundan appropriatemythos be inescapable.But whenthe kindlier gods in thedisplacement of the severe Olympian come, Demeterand Persephonewill act in systemby the "kindlierGods" of Christ- humanrace's a loving harmonythroughout the year. ianity.One signfor him of the was its The daughtershall ever send her life "along burgeoning spiritual maturity with" her mother'sthrough the whole of ability to metamorphoseclassical gods, from organicprocess-the sowing,the reaping, who keep theirancient secret man, and the harvesting.And the harvestwill into a God of Love, who sends into the man bothbe a signof God's eternallove ofman worldsurrogates like Arthurto bring intimationsof the soul's immortality. 12 I have described the transformation of a lyrically con- ceived Death in Life into its mythic equivalent in "Tennyson's Death in Life in Lyric and Myth: 'Tears, Idle Tears' and HERBERT LEHMAN COLLEGE OF THE 'Demeter and an essay that will appear in a Persephone,"' NEW YORK forthcoming issue of Victorian Newsletter. CITY UNIVERSITY OF

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