Academy of the Visitation - Crescent Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 20 text:

TENNYSON AND BROWNING A CONTRAST CGleaned From Varrous Sourcesj Tennyson and Brownrng were both great poets Both gave a long and laborrous hfe to therr art and to the maturrng of therr rdeas both burlt upon a phrlosophrcal foundatron both made the poetrc art subservrent to the sprrrt ual lrfe, both towered above therr contemporarres as the hrghest and best representatrves of Englrsh poetry Both were alrke rn therr apartness and self unrty but rn therr poetry and rn themselves they were opposrte as the poles And first of all they drffered rn therr publrc fate, Tennyson s first two volumes gave hrm rmmedrate recognrtron and In Memorram erglrt years later placed hrm above all other poets of hrs trme A host of young wrrters rmrtated hrs mus1c and songs But Brownrng s first works were consrdered so obscure that few cared to read them even hrs Bells and Pomegranates those orrgrnally fresh and delrghtful poems fell dead on the publrc Only a few krndred sprrrts knew and loved them There were no rmrtators of hrs style at that trme Tennyson had Frfty years of recognrtron rn hrs lrfetrme Brownrng had barely ten Agarn, there could scarcely be two musrcs two mmds two methods rn art, two rmagrnatrons more contrasted than those of these two poets Tenny son s strength rs that of perfectron the perfectron of art from the standpornt of technrque rhyme measure color harmony hrs weakness the over perfec tron whrch marks the strll lrfe parnter Brownrng s strength rs that of rm perfectron paradoxrcal as this may sound rmperfectron rn the sense of rncompleteness hrntrng at a hrgher unattarnable perfectron Hrs weakness the lack of perfectron rn hrs technrque whrch he often delrberately sacrrfices to the thought Tennysons method rs rnductrve Brownrngs deductrve Tennyson rs the rdealrst Brownrng the realrst the rmpressronrst, dealrng wrth the objec trve rn art deprctrng sudden moments of passron rmpressrons layrng bare the motrves of the soul Tennyson does not as Brownrng catch the secret of a master passron, he grves an rdeal prcture of an rdeal person, hrs poems are mostly rdylls hrs method rs rdyllrc Brownrng s method rs dramatrc Tenny son forces men and women to adapt themselves to preconcerved statuesque oprnrons of hrs own, he never reaches a sublrme herght or depth of passron He grves a serres of marvelous tableaux rather than rmpassroned speech and deeds Even when he began to wrrte Tennyson drd not always take orrgrnal themes or methods He rs more remarkable for artrstrc perfectron than for rnventrve genrus rmpassroned fervor Grve hrm a theme and he wrll handle rt exqursrtely Wrth the Malory legends to draw upon he could go on wrrtrng Idylls of the Kmg forever From the Hrst Brownrng s poems show an orrgrnal poetrc lrfe all hrs own He rs never monotonous hrs subjects vary rmmensely both rn the characters he portrays and rn the scenery Tennyson often lacks the freshness of orrgrnalrty Brownrng was rn some respects rnferror to Tennyson Tennyson scarcely ever wrote a lrne that was not poetry Brownrng wrote pages that were un mrstakably not poetry Tennyson s work was one clear sweet melody whrle hrs brother poet s was often harsh and uneven-overcrowded and unfinrshed He had a style of hrs own more rnterestrng than Tennyson s and rt would have been more to hrs glory had he taken more parns wrth rt 18 . 1 1 y - . . . . . - . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . , . . . . . U . ,, . 1 , . . . . . . . . , ' ss 11 , .T , . . 1 1 1 - ' , . . . . 1 1 1 1 1 ' ' . . . . . . , . . 1 1 1 1 1 , . . . . , . . , . , T - , ..- - 1 1 . l . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . 1 L . ' Y . . . . , . 1 1 - . , , - 1 v . , . . . . , .

Page 19 text:

CORINNE WAGNER Chnld of Mary Asslstant Prefect for Sodahty School Record Crescent Tenms 21 Poor Rxchard Debatmg Club Brrght and cheerful at her work Not a duty does she shlrk But the twmkle ln her eyes Shows her sprlghtly as she s wlse PEARL MICHEL Chnld of Mary Alumnae Notes Crescent Poor Rlchard Debatmg Club Kmd her heart and hlgh her arm Latm verbs call forth her mlght Muslc and Pops are her dellght MARY BAKER Chnld of Mary Alumnae Notes Crescent Tenms 21 Baseball 21 Poor Rxchard Debatmg Club Mary has the blggest heart Everybody knows She excels ln klndly art Everywhere she goes 17 . , , ff ' '9 ' 2 1 lf ' ,T ' A Pearl is worthy of her nameg ' fl 1, ' X - . , If ' ,Y ' 9 1

Page 21 text:

In regard to polltncs and socral questlons we find them dnt-ferent agam Tennyson s sympathles were deeply rooted ln Engllsh soil so he set down h1s vrews on these questrons and stamped them wlth Great Brrtam T nrough out hrs works we see the Constrtutron hke Zeus on Olympus w1th the world below awartmg 1ts nod From hrs poetry one would suppose that only the Englxsh nat1on had ach1eved h1gh deeds of sacrrnce and glory 1n battle Brownmg on the other hand was cosmopol1tan He was qulck to sympa thlze w1th natlons of the ancrent or the modern world wlth Greece or Rome or Spam or France or Germany or Italy The first great characterxstlc of hls poetry IS undoubtedly the essential elemental quality of 1tS humanlty tralt ln whrch lt IS surpassed only by Shakespeare In Browmng we have men and women as multxform as nature or soc1ety has made them Tennyson with exqursrte art mterprets the customs and comforts and proprletres of respectable Englrsh hfe the decorous and the Httmg rn the present order of thmgs Poverty and dlstress and humble llvmg dxd not msplre hlm Hls temperament hrs social rank hrs trammg at an old um verslty and h1s phxlosophlc learning all bred 1n htm a llberal conservatism H1s easy popularlty the fame whlch he reached at a bound strengthened hls lnchnatlon to accept thmgs as they were He was too mtellectual not to age but he was not the man to lead a reform or dzsturb the pleasant condl trons around hlmself Tennysons smooth melodlous art subjects d1d not represent the clashlng complexlty of llfe the turbulence and turmoll exther of the passlons or of the xntellect or of the movements of the world Many were the new dxscords approaching wrth the new era and few concords, but out of the dlscords emerged a steady thought and controlled emotlon ln one case at least that of Brownmg s poetry Tennyson hoped for th1s but was uncertaln and often lamented the fact But Browning was certam of hls hope and set hlmself to resolve the dxscords Tennyson was a slave to certa1n soclal and pol1t1cal conventlonalxtles and could not see beyond them They all bear the stamp of the hlgher type of Engllsh soc1ety and he rarely came out of hrs shell Browmng s poetry on the contrary IS free from the op1n1ons maxlms and conventlons of any perlod It belongs to no type of soc1ety to no speclal nat1on to no separate creed or church Both Tennyson and Brownmg are truly great poets whose contrlbutlons to Engllsh llterature have shed a glory over thelr own doubtmg mechamcal materlallstlc age and have enrlched the world wlth poems that could xll be spared The crown of England s laureates w1ll ever be greener from the brows of hnm who uttered nothmg base The poems Prosplce and Crossing the Bar have the same theme the last tremendous act ln the drama of mans llfe The one shows the xdeallsm of Tennyson the other the realism of Browmng Margaret Fa1rch1ld 21 19 , . . . . ! l Y v 9 ' ' . . . . . . -a v . . . , . U 9 - 1 1 ' . . , . y see the wrongs existing among the oppressed and struggling classes of his , - . . , . . . 1 . . . , . . . 7 , - - . , . ' ! 1 u . s u , . 7 ' 7 9 9 9 ' 3 3 I . , . . - u a Q , , 1 9 ' 66 ' ' Sl If ' 79 CC ' V! T- . , . . . 3 , . . D . . , .. , I