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11-1975

An Interview with Tennyson on Poe

Terry L. Meyers College of William and Mary, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Meyers, Terry L., An Interview with Tennyson on Poe (1975). Tennyson Research Bulletin, 29, 167-168. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/aspubs/414

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts and Sciences at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Articles by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TENNYSON RESEARCH BULLETIN

INDEX TO VOLUME II (1972-1976) Con1piled by Lionel Madden NOTE This index lists in one sequence: \ AUTHOR of papers, reviews, statements and miscellaneous items. Titles of and books discussed or to which signi£cant reference is made . .,I Subjects and persons referred to in paper , reviews, statements and announce­ ments. ,e1l, Arthur M. 150-4. Bradley, Isaac. 78. 3EY, RICHARD. 212-14. BRASHEAR, WILLIAM R. 24. Jiilles Over the Trench. 38-9, 8 . Bratton, J. . reviewed 164. �ams, Francis. 148. BRINEY, JOHN 0. 24, 64. 1.ams, Robert Dudley. 132-4. Brook£eld, William Henry. 137-8. ICKS, RICHARD. 200. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. 177-80. !)LER,JOSHUA. 160-1. Browning, Robert. 53, 177-83, 190. :>LER, THOMAS P. 128-30. Bucke, Dr. Richard Maurice. 200. .:.bar's Dream. 12-13. Buckle1, Jerome. 45-6, 51. lworth. 193, 215. Burne-Jones, Edward. 178-80. Ill along the valley, stream that lashest white". 147. � EN, STEPHEN C. 171-2. Cameron, Julia Margaret. 65, 83, 159, L LENTUCK, MARCIA. 64. 173. _ LI1gham, Helen. 82. CA PBELL, A IE H. 118-19; . ;obrook, ian revie ed 6 . reviewed 117-18. ., phion. 62. CAMPIO , . EDWARD. 212-14. .-slavery movement. 35. Carlyle, Thomas. 46, 50, 101, 145-6, MSTRONG, KARE . 24. 178, 211-12. 1 .old, Matthew. 104. CARTER, DU A A. 204-7. ffey Court. 201. Catullus. 6 . tralia. 131-4. Central Literary 1agazine (Birmingham). 76-8. don, Francis. 99-101. Charge of the Light Brigade The. 75. :iehot, Walter. 181. Church, R.W. 181. i ey, Philip James. 160. CLUBBE, JOHN. 115. i and Bala11. 27, 29-30, 161. COATES, J. D. 63-4. ,ng, Ro a. 201. Coleridge, Hartley. 37- . , 1ard, Jonathan Gross. 2 4-7. Coleridge, S. T. 160-1. , et. 174-5. COLLINS, PHILIP. 131-4. c;on, E. F. 35. COLLINS, WINSTON. 115, 126-8. I, Sir Arthur. 174. "C ome, w 1 1en no graver cares emp1 oy "

CONTENTS

PAPER 1. Cautcretz Revi itcd b Jer n1e . Hix n

PAPER 2. Tenny on' Phil oph ' b ir Charle Tenny on

PAPER 3. The Tenny on and the Ma ingb rd ' by Terence Leach

. Research in Progre

. Recent publication , and review by Sir Franci Hill, R. B.Martin, and P. G. Scott

. Other ite1ns, including notes by J. C. Miller, Terry L. Meyers, K.]. Fielding, S. C.Wilson, and J.M. Gray.

. Index

Published by the Tennyson Society at the Tennyson Research Centre, The Central Library, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1 FZ England C2

AN INTERVIEWWITH TENNYSON ON POE

Terry L. Meyers

College of William and Mary

IN 1926 Mary E. Phillips was able to refer casually and without documentation to a time "when Alfred Tennyson said that the only thing he wished to see in_ America was the grave of Edgar Allan Poe." 1 By 1973 Gerhard J. Joseph, properly cautious, had to characterize Tennyson's remark as "reputed." 2 Now, however, a source for Phillips' claim has come to light. The following noteappears in the e111 York Ti111es, February 13, 1886 (p. 2, col. 6): A VI IT TO TENNY ON AN AMERICAN DE CRIBE HI CALL UPON HIM AT HIS I LE OF WIGHT HOME. Fro/II a Lo11do11 Letter to the Chicago Inter Ocea11. Tennyson is not a sociable n1an, and he take no special pleasure in communion with his fellows. His happiest hours are spent alone in hi secluded study, engaged in poetical meditation or wrapt in el sian dreams, his pipe always in hi mouth and a great tobacco jar on the floor beside him. The poet i tall and lightly bent by the 75 Winter that have also left their mark up n hi hitcned hair and beard, both of which are long and flowing. His e, es are large, dark and dream . Hi manner ar sh and awkward - the result of long seclusion fromthe odd. He wore a uit of badly fittinggr:i clothes, a loose turned-down collar, a carclc sly tied cravat, and ] w, wide hoe , made 1nore for c mfort than beauty. He peaks lo 11 and ith great dclibcrati n in a dull, rolling axon ace nt which might be called pr vincial, but hi word are well chosen and his language refined, plain] h wing chat he is a colleg man and the student of man languages. 'At one time I thought of vi iting America,' said the p ct, 'but I wa afraid.' 'Afraid of what? Certainly ou ould have been received n1 st cordially.' 'Yes, and that's what I wa afraid of. I recollect Dickens' fir t visit - the recep- tions, dinners, hand-shakings - and I c ncluded that I would n t venture t how myself in the great Republic. There i ne p t in y ur country hich I h uld like to vi it - a p t which, a our p ct, Fitz- r cne Halleck, finely e. pre. ed it, is hallowed ground, a pilgrim shrine, a Mecca f the 1nind.'3 'You mean Mount Vernon, here Washington i entombed?' 'No; I mean a long-neglected pot in the provincial town of Baltimore, where the greatest American genius lies buried. I mean the gra e f Edgar Allan P c,' 'I believe you have a great admiration for Poe?' 'Indeed I have. In my opinion our Bryant, Whittier, &c., arc pigmics compared with Poe. He is the literary gl r of America, and yet his gra c wa left unhon red for more than 26 years.'

167 'More than 35 years have elapsed since his death, and his fame is constantly increasing. That's the true test of genius.' 'No poet, certainly no modern poet, was so susceptible to the impression of beauty as Poe,' said Tennyson. 'He had all the Greeks' appreciation of beauty and much of their power of expressing it in poetry.' This enthusiastic admiration of Tennyson for Poe reminded me that, more than 40 years ago, when the English poet was struggling for the recognition which he at that ti1ne failed to receive from his wn countrymen, Poe pronounced him 'the noblest poet'4 that ever lived. In a microfilm of the Daily Inter Ocea11 of Chicago, for the days, weeks, and months preceding February 13, 1886, I have repeatedly sought the origin of the ew York Times article. To no avail. I may note, however, that the report by the correspondent of the Inter Ocean probably had a wide circulation - besides appearing in the ew York Times, it also appeared, shortened, in The Book111art (March 1886), p. 303.

TE 1 Edgar Allan Poe: Tl,e Ma11, 2 vol . (Philadelphia: Winston, 1926), II, 1606. 2 "Poe and Tennyson," PMLA, 8 (May 1973), 41 '. 3 ee "Burn ," The Pcwtical Works of Fitz-Greene H.11/eck (New York: Appleton, 1859): And consecrated ground it i , The b t, the hallowed home f one Who lives upon all mem ries, Though with the buried gone. uch grave as his are pilgrim hrincs, hrin to no code or creed confined -- The Delphian vales, the Palestines, The Meccas of the mind. (p. 26) 4 In 'The Poeti Principle."

3 TENNY ON FOR RECTOR: A NOTE K. ]. Fielding

niLJcrsity of Edi11b11r�l1

So FAR as I know there is no biographical record of one incident which concerns Tennyson, and which shows both his national reputation and his sound good sense. his is that, when arlyle came to the end of his three year period as student-elected Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh, Tenny on was invited to stand in his 1 place. He declined; but a note on the incident (in 1868) may have s01ne interest. The institution of the Lord I ectorship originated with the Universities of Scotland Act of 1858. Immediately thereafter the position was held by Gladstone for a double term, and it was evident that he had been an exceptionally strong candidate because he was not only a prominent national figure, but because he was a Liberal. He was followed by Carlyle, who had the advantage of his special connection with Edin­ burgh, and who defeated Disraeli in his election. As Carlyle's term came to an end and the question arose of who w to f; 11 w him, it seems clear that the choice

168