1388. Thomas Westwood to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 342–344.
[Chase Side, Enfield]
Sept 26th [1843] [1]
<***> “What is wanting in Tennyson”? [2] I fear you must have thought me very flippant, my dear Miss Barrett, when I hazard but an opinion that something was wanting in him—& yet though I quite agree with you in your estimate of him—though I feel that he has all the capabilities of a great poet—I am still of the same mind, & cannot get rid of that sense of deficiency– You yourself say—“I never can feel more intensely than now, the sublime uses of Poetry, & the solemn responsibilities of the Poet[.]” By these words let him be tried—granting that the uses of Poetry are sublime, & the duties of the Poets, solemn duties—do you think Tennyson has shewn himself alien to the one, and anxious to discharge the other– On the contrary in his finest poems,—poems on which he has expended his greatest strength—no truth is demonstrated—no lesson taught– They are mere phantasies of the imagination, & when their appeal to that faculty is over, they are silent. Take the “Lady of Shalott” for instance, or the Day-Dream, or even the Mort d’Arthur—& do these witness for, or against my view of this matter. The “Two Voices” is almost the only marked exception I can call to mind[.] [3] Involuntarily, I compare these with your own “Poet’s Vow’[’], or “Margret”, & feel how much loftier ground the latter take, because, in addition to their intellectual richness, they are based upon a “certain verity,” & teach a high lesson. Though it were absurd to apply invariably, the “cui bono” [4] principle to poetry, do you not think a great Poet, ought always to keep it in mind, & not, when he has wrapped the garment of his strength about him, merely dally with flowers, or “sport with the tangles of Nerina’s hair”– [5] By the by, you speak of his melodious expression—what exquisitely musical lines are those in the “Mort d’Arthur.’[’]
“I heard the water lapping on the crag,
And the long ripple washing on the reed.[”] [6]
I have heard that Tennyson is very idle—perhaps this will account for his so often taking up ready-made subjects instead of creating for himself.
Browning, I have read but little of—indeed “Pippa passes”—is almost the only poem of his I have seen—the commencement I thought very beautiful, & the design of the poem altogether,—but the interior is often so labyrinthine, that it is not the easiest matter in the world to thread one’s way– Thanks for your recommendation of Hartwel [sic] Horne’s [‘]‘Orion”. I have not yet obtained it, but am going to do so. I obtained something connected with it, though, & that quite unexpectedly– Turning over some numbers of the Athenæum, last night, I came upon a review of the poem, which the first half-dozen lines proclaimed to be yours. [7] How pleasant it is, all of a sudden, to turn round a corner, & be met by some familiar face– I believe we felt less grateful to Mr Horne for having written so fine a poem, than for having brought about by it, such a review.–
I read the “Brown Rosarie[”] the other day to a young friend, [8] an artist & he was so much delighted with it, that he determined forthwith to execute a set of designs from it. He has been making an attempt too, I find[,] with the “Margret”– In a letter I have received to day he says “I have sketched out slightly from “Margret”—but I find the “It” very, if not absolutely intractable”– Now, my dear Miss Barrett, as proof of my heroism, I beg that you will not take the trouble to reply to this empty gossip. Indeed I am very grateful to you, for writing to me now & then, & it is farthest from my wish, to drag you into a frequent correspondence, when the profit must be all on my side. I know, very well how much you must have, to occupy your time, & how many friends too, with heavier claims upon your kindness, than mine. When however those claims are silent, & you have a few moments that you can conscientiously bestow upon me—pray do not withhold them, but believe that there is no one, who will receive the gift with greater gratitude & pleasure, than
Yours very truly
T Westwood
Address: Miss E. B. Barrett / 50 Wimpole Street / London.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Westwood is responding to EBB’s comments in letter 1370.
3. The four titles mentioned were all included in Poems (1842). “The Lady of Shalott,” first published in 1832, was extensively revised for the 1842 edition, and this became the standard text.
4. “To whom it is a benefit.”
5. Cf. “Lycidas” (1638), lines 68–69.
6. “Morte d’Arthur,” lines 116–117.
7. Her review of Orion appeared in the issue of 24 June.
8. Henry Newsom Woods (1825–1905), draughtsman and engraver, as identified in A Literary Friendship: Letters … from Thomas Westwood, ed. Lady Alwyne Compton (1914).
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