1409. EBB to Thomas Westwood
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 8, 6–8.
[London]
[21] Oct. 1843. [1]
Dear Mr Westwood,
I break my silence to thank you for your very kind letter [2] & very graceful verses in the Athenæum, [3] at once. Thank you, thank you! It is pain & vexation to me to see the summer go, but I would rather see it go in your measures than otherwise, .. because, so, her “foot has music in’t when she goes down the stair.’ [4] Therefore I thank you for the verses: and the note with all its cordiality is thankworthy too,—as my selflove knows.
You are probably right in respect to Tennyson—for whom with all my admiration for him, I would willingly secure more exaltation, & a broader clasping of Truth. Still, it is not possible to have so much Beauty without a certain portion of Truth—the position of the Utilitarians being true in the inverse. [5] But I think as I did, of “uses” & [‘]‘responsibilities”, & do hold that the poet is a preacher & should look to his doctrine. Perhaps Mr Tennyson will grow more solemn like the sun, as his day goes on. In the meantime we have the noble “Two Voices”,—& among other grand intimations of a teaching power, certain stanzas to J K (I think the initials are) on the death of his brother, which very deeply affected me– [6] Take away the last stanzas which should be applied more definitely to the body, or cut away altogether as a lie against eternal verity,—& the poem stands as one of the finest of monodies. The nature of human grief never surely was more tenderly intimated or touched—it brought the tears to my eyes. Do read it. He is not a Christian poet up to this time—but let us listen & hear his next songs. He is one of God’s Singers,—whether he knows it or does not know it–
You told me, dear Mr Westwood, that a friend of yours, an artist, had been honoring me by illustrating my ‘Brown Rosary’ & ‘Margret—’ [7] Now you know what is to come next–––? You are aware that Human Nature could not possibly, whatever else she might do, help wishing to see ....…!– Is it a solecism in reasonable good manners for me to say so? Or is there a remote chance for me, that I may look some day at these drawings? Nay, now, if I embarrass you by hinting at such a thing, I beseech you to forget me altogether, if necessary,—but at any rate (which I should much prefer) forget my offence, rather than suffer me to ‘give you pause’ [8] in an unpleasant way. I was pleased, indeed, only to hear of the honor done, or attempted,—for Margret’s “It” was intractable.
So you found me out in the review on ‘Orion’ .. the only review on a living poet .. except Wordsworth the King .. I ever did or undid!–
I am thinking,—lifting up my pen, .. what I can write to you which is likely to be interesting to you. After all, I come to Chaos & silence,—& even old night, [9] .. it is growing so dark. I live in London to be sure,—& except for the glory of it, I might live in a desert,—so profound is my solitude, & so complete my isolation from things & persons without. I lie all day, & day after day, on this sofa,—& my windows do not even look into the street. To abuse myself with a vain deceit of rural life, I have had ivy planted in a box—& it has flourished & spread over one window, & strikes against the glass with a little stroke from the thicker leaves, when the wind blows at all briskly. Then I think of forests, & groves .. it is my triumph, when the leaves strike the window-pane. And this is not to sound like a lament. Books & thoughts & dreams (almost too consciously dreamed however for me—the illusion of them has almost past) and domestic tenderness can & ought to leave nobody lamenting. Also God’s wisdom, deeply steeped in His Love, is, .. as far as we can stretch out our hands. [10]
Sincerely yours
Elizabeth B Barrett–
Publication: LEBB, I, 157–158 (in part).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Dated by Westwood’s verses in The Athenæum.
2. Internal references show that EBB is acknowledging letter 1388.
3. The Athenæum of 21 October 1843 (no. 834, p. 944) contained “A Last Song of Summer” by Westwood.
4. Cf. “The Mariner’s Wife,” lines 7–8, by William Julius Mickle (1735–88).
5. The “sacred truth” of the Utilitarians was “That the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation” (The Works of Jeremy Bentham, ed. John Bowring, 1843, X, 142).
6. EBB means “To J.S.” This was written for James Spedding (1808–81) whose brother Edward died on 24 August 1832 while still a youth. First published in Poems (1833), it was reprinted with minor changes in Poems (1842). Edward’s early death doubtless rekindled EBB’s grief over the death of “Bro,” her own Edward.
8. Cf. Hamlet, III, 1, 67.
9. Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, I, 543.
10. Cf. Psalms, 44:20.
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