“This is the poem of the air, / Slowly in silent syllables recorded; / This is the secret of despair

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday:

“The splendor falls on castle walls,” Alfred the Tennyson

      The splendor falls on castle walls
          And snowy summits old in story:
      The long light shakes across the lakes,
          And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

      O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,
          And thinner, clearer, farther going!
      O sweet and far from cliff and scar
          The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

      O love, they die in yon rich sky,
          They faint on hill or field or river:
      Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
          And grow for ever and for ever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.


This is one of several excellent lyrics found in the otherwise deservedly unread The Princess, a book-length didactic poem about female education. Spoiler: it can’t decide whether this is unwise or futile. Seriously, don’t bother reading it,* just the half-dozen anthology pieces from it—such as this one. It’s untitled in the original, but is sometimes called “The Splendor Falls” or “Blow, Bugle, Blow”. The content may be slight but oh those cadences, and the mouthfeel is :chef’s kiss:


* Unless you’re itching for a slapfight with Victorians, in which case I’ll just get out of your way ’scuse me. Honestly, though, a slapfight with A.E. Housman sounds more productive.

---L.

Subject quote from Snow-Flakes, Henry the Longfellow.

Comments

[graydon]

A.E. Housman and Tennyson are both arguably messed up by trying to imagine how to be homoromantic in a culture that considered that anathematic.

"The Splendour Falls" makes an interesting contrast with "On Wenlock Edge", all the same.

[larryhammer]

Both deeply messed up by that, yes. (See also Tennyson's disturbed reaction to Swinbourn's "Anactoria".) I'd not thought to connect those poems before, but they do indeed make a good pairing. Thanks!

[graydon]

You're welcome!

(I had a really good prof for Victorian Literature long ago.)

[puddleshark]

...Unless you’re itching for a slapfight with Victorians, in which case I’ll just get out of your way ’scuse me...

LOL. Laughed so hard at this. Thank you.

Also, lovely piece by Tennyson. I hadn't come across it before.

[larryhammer]

My work here is done. Both tasks.

[bushwah]

Help, I'm having feelings.

[larryhammer]

It's okay -- this is a safe space for feelings. No judging.

[bushwah]

How did they make the chorus sound like a lonely bugle note on a moor, though. That's what I want to know.

[larryhammer]

Tennyson had possibly the best ear for and command of the sound of the language of any English poet. It's uncanny, sometimes. One of the few rivals I can think of is Swinburne, and only in the limited domain of meter.

[graydon]

The line that sticks with me about Tennyson, being discussed among the Victorian poets, was something like "the best ability to speak and the least amount to say".

(Which is where a whole lot of alternative history could be wedged, should one be so inclined.)

Late Kipling can do something adjacent; The Peace of Dives, The Land, Tomlinson, and The Fairies Seige come to mind.

[larryhammer]

For all that he could turn wonderful lines, Kipling has always struck me as having a better ear for speech than for poetic effect.

[graydon]

Generally, yes, indeed very much so.

But sometimes the context rises up and grabs you. Usually that's context-of-feels, rather than context-of-place, and in the examples I give it's more feelings-producing-locative-association than raw locative association—we shall none of us stand by heaven's gate and come back with a description—but I find the sense of place is there.

It's not the swooping sudden vista of Splendour falls, but there's a related note of where-the-hell-am-I?