登陆注册
20314900000018

第18章 IN MEMORIAM.(2)

They had not developed, much less had they published, their "general ideas." Even in his journal of the Cruise of the Beagle Darwin's ideas were religious, and he naively admired the works of God. It is strange that Mr Harrison has based his criticism, and his theory of Tennyson's want of originality, on what seems to be a historical error. He cites parts of In Memoriam, and remarks, "No one can deny that all this is exquisitely beautiful; that these eternal problems have never been clad in such inimitable grace . . . But the train of thought is essentially that with which ordinary English readers have been made familiar by F. D. Maurice, Professor Jowett, Ecce Homo, Hypatia, and now by Arthur Balfour, Mr Drummond, and many valiant companies of Septem [why Septem?] contra Diabolum." One must keep repeating the historical verity that the ideas of In Memoriam could not have been "made familiar by" authors who had not yet published anything, or by books yet undreamed of and unborn, such as Ecce Homo and Jowett's work on some of St Paul's Epistles. If these books contain the ideas of In Memoriam, it is by dint of repetition and borrowing from In Memoriam, or by coincidence. The originality was Tennyson's, for we cannot dispute the evidence of dates.

When one speaks of "originality" one does not mean that Tennyson discovered the existence of the ultimate problems. But at Cambridge (1828-1830) he had voted "No" in answer to the question discussed by "the Apostles," "Is an intelligible [intelligent?] First Cause deducible from the phenomena of the universe?" He had also propounded the theory that "the development of the human body might possibly be traced from the radiated vermicular molluscous and vertebrate organisms," thirty years before Darwin published The Origin of Species. To be concerned so early with such hypotheses, and to face, in poetry, the religious or irreligious inferences which may be drawn from them, decidedly constitutes part of the poetic originality of Tennyson. His attitude, as a poet, towards religious doubt is only so far not original, as it is part of the general reaction from the freethinking of the eighteenth century. Men had then been freethinkers avec delices. It was a joyous thing to be an atheist, or something very like one; at all events, it was glorious to be "emancipated." Many still find it glorious, as we read in the tone of Mr Huxley, when he triumphs and tramples over pious dukes and bishops. Shelley said that a certain schoolgirl "would make a dear little atheist." But by 1828-1830 men were less joyous in their escape from all that had hitherto consoled and fortified humanity.

Long before he dreamed of In Memoriam, in the Poems chiefly Lyrical of 1830 Tennyson had written -"'Yet,' said I, in my morn of youth, The unsunn'd freshness of my strength, When I went forth in quest of truth, 'It is man's privilege to doubt.' . . .

Ay me! I fear All may not doubt, but everywhere Some must clasp Idols. Yet, my God, Whom call I Idol? Let Thy dove Shadow me over, and my sins Be unremember'd, and Thy love Enlighten me. Oh teach me yet Somewhat before the heavy clod Weighs on me, and the busy fret Of that sharp-headed worm begins In the gross blackness underneath.

Oh weary life! oh weary death!

Oh spirit and heart made desolate!

Oh damned vacillating state!"

Now the philosophy of In Memoriam may be, indeed is, regarded by robust, first-rate, and far from sensitive minds, as a "damned vacillating state." The poet is not so imbued with the spirit of popular science as to be sure that he knows everything: knows that there is nothing but atoms and ether, with no room for God or a soul.

He is far from that happy cock-certainty, and consequently is exposed to the contempt of the cock-certain. The poem, says Mr Harrison, "has made Tennyson the idol of the Anglican clergyman--the world in which he was born and the world in which his life was ideally passed--the idol of all cultured youth and of all aesthetic women. It is an honourable post to fill"--that of idol. "The argument of In Memoriam apparently is . . . that we should faintly trust the larger hope."That, I think, is not the argument, not the conclusion of the poem, but is a casual expression of one mood among many moods.

The argument and conclusion of In Memoriam are the argument and conclusion of the life of Tennyson, and of the love of Tennyson, that immortal passion which was a part of himself, and which, if aught of us endure, is living yet, and must live eternally. From the record of his Life by his son we know that his trust in "the larger hope"was not "faint," but strengthened with the years. There are said to have been less hopeful intervals.

同类推荐
  • Dreams & Dust

    Dreams & Dust

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上诸天灵书度命妙经

    太上诸天灵书度命妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 云松巢集

    云松巢集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 爝火录

    爝火录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说称扬诸佛功德经

    佛说称扬诸佛功德经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 天之玉

    天之玉

    传言她是废材,传言她是丑女,传言她是妖怪,长角,太多传言,真面目唯独被他知道。她有太多秘密,他能守在她身边吗?人虽相爱,但是总有太多迫不得已。
  • 紫府天书

    紫府天书

    蓝文轩是地球上的一个修真者,劫期将临,因为地球灵气稀薄,无奈之下,选择兵解,可万万没有想到,被一道天雷带去了异界……今世傲宇皓洲,神级、玄级功法层出不穷,灵丹妙药随手可炼。家族因他而快速再次崛起,这皓洲因他而改变,从一个默默无闻的穿越者一步步走向异界巅峰!
  • 亿万鲜妻:BOSS的大神菲佣

    亿万鲜妻:BOSS的大神菲佣

    “沐雪,我杠上你了,这辈子都别想逃跑了!”他是顾氏集团CES的当家总裁,冷漠无情,脾气火爆,家里的女佣都忍受不了;“那要看你有没有这个本事了!”她是言情小说知名作家,静如处子,动如脱兔,苦于好友的哀求,来家里受雇当女佣,看他和她能擦出怎样的火花。
  • 将旗

    将旗

    每一面旗帜,都有着它自己特有的意志!在这片大陆上,战争频频的爆发着。存在战争,就存在着胜负!可是,不知在什么时候起,战场上出现了那面双剑的十字军旗,黝黑的底纹配上银白的双剑,它的意志-就是胜利!---------------------------------------每日更新,希望看这本小说的朋友都能够登录起点,点击一下,收藏下,顺手丢下免费的推荐票。非常感谢!
  • 守护甜心之完成我的梦

    守护甜心之完成我的梦

    我第一次写哦加Q1289579042备注完成梦想还有这个封面我随便弄的表介
  • 恰樱花少年

    恰樱花少年

    被母亲抛弃而由父亲一手抚养成人的女生闵会娴,因为父亲的身体状况而被母亲接回国,母亲给了她最好的居住环境,却不对任何人承认自己是她的母亲,而是以一个她母亲生前好友的身份自居。带着神秘身份进入高中的女孩受到了很多人的关注,人气学长尉东澄,儿时的玩伴伊崇贤,还有以温柔著称的王子型饮品店店长宋一程,这是一场三面夹击的关爱战,真正的爱情在相遇时诞生,在时间中被实验,闵会娴得知尉 东澄是自己生母现任丈夫的孩子之后,内心备受折磨,她早在不知不觉中被他霸道的爱所打动,在矛盾之中,却引来了一场因爱生恨的绑架案……
  • 获取人生第一本钱:做人成事好心态

    获取人生第一本钱:做人成事好心态

    全书共11章,内容包括心态决定人生、生气不如争气、有自信才能赢、平常心不可少、宽容是一种美德等。
  • 基因星辰传

    基因星辰传

    都市末日,牙尸蔓延,基因邪物,妄言称神。天命星辰,都市崛起,兄弟协力,共抗邪神。命运轮回,早已注定,宇宙法则,谁来制定。时空传送,穿越自如,欲改命运,天命难更。……………………………………邪神说:“愚蠢的人类啊,都活了几百万年,还是这副样子,臣服于我,让我来改变你们那低劣的基因吧!”李星辰说:“我不是什么救世主,我只想救她一人而已!”陷入梦魇的×××说:“就算这是梦!那又如何?在这里,我就是神!!!”
  • 孝经(中华国学经典)

    孝经(中华国学经典)

    本丛书只是选取其中部分内容分门别类进行介绍。我们约请的作者,都是各个领域的专业研究者,每一篇简短的文字背后其实都有多年的积累,他们努力使这些文字深入浅出而严谨准确。无论您是什么学历,无论您是什么年龄,无论您从事的是什么职业,只要您是中国传统文化的爱好者,您都可以从本书中获得您想要的。
  • 大小姐的全能护卫

    大小姐的全能护卫

    也许有人会问,唐远是个什么样的人。有人说,他是个天才医生。有人说,他是个特级厨师。有人说,他是个法律专家。有人说,他是个超级黑客。妹子们都说,他是个极品男人。唐远却说,我是个哲学家,也是个佛学家,我不近女色,妹子们晚上来跟我聊聊人生如何?