<u>Controlled Variety</u>
I haven't read Tennyson for a very long time, at least ten years. After reading this essay, I searched
Poets'Corner and found the following poem. Although one might interpret many hypothetical stresses--for ever IN a glimmering, prodiGAL in oil--I'm wondering if such interpretations might be an attempt to fit the lines into an "iamb-obsessed" modern metricity; consider the frequent use of adjacent stresses: LOW LARGE MOON, ROAR ROCK-THWARTed, etc. I even read the first two words as being stressed; I read "one" as being stressed throughout the poem (which is more obvious after the first two stanzas.)-- The first line I read as "ONE SEEMED ALL DARK and RED--a TRACT of SAND." Considering these adjacent stresses, I find the poem flows much better if the "hypothetical" stresses are left unstressed.
I wish I could comment on the theme of experiencing a family tradition tied to poetry, but alas, this is out of my experience.
The Palace of Art
One seemed all dark and red--a tract of sand,
And some one pacing there alone,
Who paced for ever in a glimmering land,
Lit with a low large moon.
One showed an iron coast and angry waves.
You seemed to hear them climb and fall
And roar rock-thwarted under bellowing caves,
Beneath the windy wall.
And one, a full-fed river winding slow
By herds upon an endless plain,
The ragged rims of thunder brooding low,
With shadow-streaks of rain.
And one, the reapers at their sultry toil.
In front they bound the sheaves. Behind
Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil,
And hoary to the wind.
And one a foreground black with stones and slags,
Beyond, a line of heights, and higher
All barr'd with long white cloud the scornful crags,
And highest, snow and fire.
And one, an English home--gray twilight pour'd
On dewey pastures, dewey trees,
Softer than sleep--all things in order stored,
A haunt of ancient Peace.
[This message has been edited by Curtis Gale Weeks (edited December 23, 2001).]
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