University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD in seeking mental repose is physical activity; our motive in seeking absolute repose is a desire to avoid all kinds of activity. Now if the order of thought be superior to the physical order and the physical order be above the state of absolute quietude, we may make our classification thus, numbering in the order of merit the dif- ferent phases of activity: First mental activity; secondly, physical activity; thirdly, the absence of activity, or quietude. Again by changing these terms to the corresponding form of repose we have: First, phj sical repose; secondly, mental repose; thirdly, absolute repose. There may of course be various degrees of morality in all three cases, but it will be sufficient to keep the general principles in mind and to apply them according as cases arise. I proposed to apply them to two very interesting cases, ' ' St. Agnes ' Eve and The Lotus-Eaters and for this reason I thought it proper to be profuse in my explanation of the general terms, before I attempted an application. II. It may occur to some that at best it is prosaic to try these principles on Tennyson ' s poems and at worst it is comparable to an attempt to test a problem in mathematics by its fluidity of movement and liquidness of diction; but poems and poets must be approached according to our capacity. If we cannot drink in all the hidden pleasure at a gulp, we must sip the honeyed flowers; if we cannot gather the full meaning in one reading, we must read the poem over and over again, and if it helps us to analyze and to break the piece up into prose, we may analyze and break it up into prose. This is my intent. To begin with St. Agnes ' Eve. This poem may be called a soliloquy in which — I was going to say — St. Agnes unburdens her heart; but it is not St. Agnes. The poet had in mind no particular saint and no particular person; he gives us a picture of an ordi- nary nun praying in the silence of night that she may be released from the bonds of the flesh. Originally the piece was entitled St. Agnes, but as that might have been misleading and as it certainly was inappropriate, the poet changed it to the present form. He would, I think, have been more happy in selecting as his title, Sister Agnes for this reason that the poem is nothing whatever but the prayer of some indefinite nun.

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THE REDWOOD repose, as distinct from the absolute, we seek in vain. The mind of man must work; it is a restless, energetic, tireless agent and its activities cannot be suspended except in sleep. But that is abso- lute repose, and what we want is a type of mental repose as dis- tinct from the absolute and from the physical. The dumb ox would serve the purpose admirably, but that would take us out of our field; we have to do with man. The only illustration therefore is that state of intellectual torpor into which man sometimes falls and which makes him comparable to the ox, a brother to the ox, soul-quenched, a thing that grieves not and that never hopes. So much for the varying nature of repose. To study its mor- ality is another and a far more difficult thing, and yet it is only after an earnest study of its morality that one is justified in an- swering the question already put: When, where and how long may we pause? It may be dull to pause, but it certainly is not always wrong. To re pose our wearied virtue after exertions is a necessity, to repose in sleep from physical and mental efforts is also a necessity, and though some strenuous minds of old cried out in an excess of ardor: ' ' Deliver us from our necessities, O I ord — they were not delivered therefrom, nor can any mortal hope for such a boon. Dull then and disagreeable as it may be for hungry hearts to pause, pause they must, and taking all in all, they will find that life is a stern mistress requiring almost as much time for rest as she allows for labor. To hearts that are not hungry she may not appear stern in this that she demands so much rest, but in this that she does not allow more. According to the motive, therefore, with which man seeks re- pose, will the morality of his action be determined. But because the moral qualities of an action are more easily grasped from posi- tive elements, we must find something positive in repose. This is easily done; in physical repose there is always some degree of mental activity and indeed, the greater the physical repose, pro- vided it does not approach the absolute, the more intense are the mental activities. So on the other hand in mental repose there will ever be found a degree of physical activity, varying in intensity according to the nature of the repose. In absolute rest alone shall we find an absence of activity. Our motive therefore in seeking physical repose may be and generally is mental activity; our motive

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THE REDWOOD This however is not the point in hand. What we want is the element of repose in this beautiful poem. It is a picture of a heart only, of a heart touched by immortal love, but this is enough for us. There is something similar, perhaps the arch-type of the poet ' s idea, in one of the Psalms, where the Israelites are represented in distant Ba bylon sighing for their return to Jerusalem. Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept; when we remembered Sion. Thus Sister Agnes longs to be united to her God, longs that her spirit be made pure and clear and that in raiment white and clean she may stand a glittering star, a peerless bride before the throne of the Lamb. Hers is a beautiful soul, if there is any beauty on earth, and Tennyson ' s poem is an admirable expression of this beauty. She is represented as looking out from the convent windows on the snows that are sparkling to the moon, and as she thus looks out, she has no other thought than to be made pure as the snow-drops, clear as the frosty skies, and fearing the possi- bility of stain she prays that, as her breath ascends to Heaven, her soul may follow soon. Break up the Heavens, O Lord, and far Thro ' all yon starlight keen, Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star In raiment white and clean. And again: The gates Roll back and far within For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits To make me pure of sin. The Sabbath of Eternity, One Sabbath deep and wide — A light upon the shining sea — The Bridegroom with his bride! There may be strains in literature more beautiful than this, but because this approaches the height of the beautiful they are of neces- sity few. In St. Agnes ' Eve, Tennyson rose to the summit of his inspiration; nothing in him is more expressive, nothing more calcu- lated to lift the soul. And yet this is a picture in repose, physical repose, it is true and as such the highest form, but it is repose