November 1, 1888.---A message from Hallam [Tennyson] telling me his father was better and would like to see me brings me to Aldworth. A.T. received me with all his wonted kindness, and presently his voice grew firm and strong, his conversation was full of life as ever. He emphatically repeated to me his constant estimate of Wordsworth as the greatest of our poets in this century. He gave me to read a very lovely and skilful poem on Gifford as Ulysses . . .Excerpted in G. Palgrave, Francis Turner Palgrave, p. 217.
Text: The Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Poet Laureate. ed. William J. Rolfe. 12 vols. Boston: 1896.
I.
Ulysses, much-experienced man,
Whose eyes have known this globe of ours,
Her tribes of men, and trees, and flowers,
From Corrientes to Japan.
II.
To you that bask below the Line,
I soaking here in winter wet --
The century's three strong eights have met
To drag me down to seventy-nine
III.
In summer if I reach my day --
To you, yet young, who breathe the balm
Of summer-winters by the palm
And orange grove of Paraguay,
IV.
I tolerant of the colder time,
Who love the winter woods, to trace
On paler heavens the branching grace
Of leafless elm, or naked lime,
V.
And see my cedar green, and there
My giant ilex keeping leaf
When frost is keen and days are brief --
Or marvel how in English air
VI.
My yucca, which no winter quells,
Altho' the months have scarce begun,
Has push'd toward our faintest sun
A spike of half-accomplish'd bells --
VII.
Or watch the waving pine which here
The warrior of Caprera set,
A name that earth will not forget
Till earth has roll'd her latest year --
VIII.
I, once half-crazed for larger light
On broader zones beyond the foam,
But chaining fancy now at home
Among the quarried downs of Wight,
IX.
Not less would yield full thanks to you
For your rich gift, your tale of lands
I know not, your Arabian sands;
Your cane, your palm, tree-fern, bamboo,
X.
The wealth of tropic bower and brake;
Your Oriental Eden-isles,
Where man, nor only Nature smiles;
Your wonder of the boiling lake;
XI.
Phra-Chai, the Shadow of the Best,
Phra-bat the step; your Pontic coast;
Crag-cloister; Anatolian Ghost;
Hong-Kong, Karnac, and all the rest;
XII.
Thro' which I follow'd line by line
Your leading hand, and came, my friend,
To prize your various book, and send
A gift of slenderer value, mine.
Tennyson's notes
line 26 -- Garibaldi said to me, alluding to his barren island, 'I wish I had your trees.'
line 35 -- The tale of Nejd.
line 38 -- The Phillippines.
line 40 -- In Dominica.
line 41 -- The Shadow of the Lord. Certain obscure markings on a rock in Siam, which express the image of Buddha to the Buddhist more or less distinctly according to his faith and his moral worth.
line 42 -- The footstep of the Lord on another rock.
line 43 -- The monastery of Sumelas.
line 43 -- Anatolian Spectre stories.
line 44 -- The three cities.
line 44 -- Travels in Egypt.
Title -- 'Ulysses,' the title of a number of essays by W. G. Palgrave. He died at Monte Video before seeing my poem.
A good copy of this romance WITH AN AMUSING LETTER TO BUXTON FORMAN With an autograph letter signed to 'Forman,' [H. Buxton Forman], dated 10 December 1885 from Montevideo, Uruguay, the British Legation. It is a lengthy letter (6 pages) and replies to several questions asked by Forman including giving a short autobiographical sketch. He comments on Tennyson: 'to what a depth of twaddle has Tennyson descended. I have just read his 'Vastness,' the inanest fustian I have come across for many a day.' He continues writing that at a certain age every poet and statesman's heads should be chopped off 'to preserve their youth from the disecrations of their age.' He states the Tennyson and Gladstone should have had theirs removed at least five years before. He looks forward to receiving Forman's 'Byron.' A very amusing letter.