THE INFLUENCE OF CARLYLE UPON TENNYSON

BY D. T. STARNES

A consecutive reading of the essays of Carlyle and the poems of Tennyson reveal a kinship in subject-matter and in point of view. Certain passages from the works of these authors, indeed, afford parallelisms striking enough to raise in our minds the question of Carlyle's influence on Tennyson. By the very nature of the evidence, it is well-nigh impossible to give to this question an answer that will be conclusive. It is possible, however, to render one that will be suggestive and informative. With the purpose of giving such an answer, I shall discuss in this paper, (1) the personal and literary relations of Carlyle and Tennyson as revealed in their correspondence, memoirs, and biographies; (2) their works, to determine if there is in them confirmation of the probable influence suggested by the character of their friendship.

The outstanding fact in their correspondence and memoirs is that Carlyle and Tennyson enjoyed an uninterrupted and somewhat intimate friendship for more than forty years, or from about 1840 to Carlyle's death in 1881. We do not know when Carlyle and Tennyson first became acquainted. The evidence seems to indicate some date between 1837 and 1840. From 1827 to 1834 Carlyle resided at Craigenputtoch, Hawk's Hill. From here he went to London in 1834; and there, in 1837, published The French Revolution, which first made him famous. In 1831, Tennyson left Cambridge University, after three years' residence. From 1831 to 1837 he lived somewhat secluded with the family at Somersby. From Somersby the Tennysons removed to High Beech in Epping Forest, where they remained until 1840. At that time they went to Tunbridge Wells; from which place, in 1841, they again removed to Roxley, near Maidstone (D. N. B.); and there

after Tennyson was constantly in touch with literary men, including Carlyle of London.1 It seems reasonable to infer that while Tennyson was in college and during his residence at Somersby he had not met Carlyle. We know, however, that some time before or during 1840 these two young writers formed an acquaintance. In a letter to his brother, John, Sept. 5, 1840, Carlyle writes:

Some weeks ago, one night, the poet Tennyson and Matthew Allen were discovered here sitting smoking in the garden.

Tennyson had been here before, but was still new to Jane, who was alone for the first hour or two of it. A fine, large-featured, dim-eyed, bronze-coloured, shaggy-headed man is Alfred; dusty, smoky, free, and easy; who swims outwardly and inwardly with great composure in an articulate element as of tranquil chaos and tobacco smoke; great now and then when he does emerge; a most restful, brotherly, solid-hearted man."

This letter indicates that the acquaintance of Carlyle and Tennyson had begun shortly before September, 1840. Carlyle's remark, "Tennyson had been here before, but was new to Jane," and his pen-picture of the poet are, in my mind, very good evidence of a personal relationship which was not then of long standing. Though they had known each other personally only a short time, it is altogether probable that, even before their first meeting, they had a literary acquaintance Carlyle with the 1832 volume of poems; and Tennyson with the early essays, Sartor Resartus, and the French Revolution. The period of real intimacy, however, began after 1842. In the memoirs Hallam Tennyson writes,

Carlyle did not, I believe, become intimate with my father until after 1842, "being naturally prejudiced against one whom everybody was praising, and praising for a sort of poetry he despised." But directly he (Carlyle) saw and heard the man, pains to cultivate him; "assiduous in exhorting him to leave verse and rhyme and apply his genius to prose."

'Gywnn, Tennyson-A Critical Study, p. 9.

'Alfred Lord Tennyson-Memoir by his Son, I, 188.

Ibid., p. 188.

** he took

That Carlyle did "take pains to cultivate" Tennyson, and likewise Tennyson, Carlyle; that they were not infrequently associated; and that they freely exchanged opinions, is evidenced by Carlyle's correspondence.

In a letter to his brother, Alexander, Dec. 28, 1842, Carlyle tells of having had Tennyson and Darwin with him on the previous evening. "Alfred," he wrote, "is a right hearty talker and one of the powerfullest smokers I have ever worked along with in that department."' In a letter to Emerson, 1842, Carlyle writes, "Alfred is one of the few British and foreign figures who are, and remain beautiful to me, a true human soul, or some authentic proximation thereto, to whom your own soul can say 'Brother.'" He then refers to Tennyson as being "solitary and sad" and "dwelling in an element of gloom, carrying a bit of chaos about him, in short, which he is manufacturing into cosmos.

In appreciation of the 1842 volume of poems, Carlyle writes to Tennyson:

Wherever this finds you, may it find you well, may it come as a friendly greeting to you. I have just been reading your poems; I have read certain of them over again, and mean to read them over and over till they become my poems; this fact, with the inferences that lie in it, is of such emphasis in me, I cannot keep it to myself, but must needs acquaint you too with it. If you knew what my relation has keen to the thing called "English Poetry" for many years back, you could think such fact almost surprising! Truly it is long since in any English Book, Poetry, or Prose, I have felt the pulse of a real man's heart as I do in this same."

Carlyle's efforts in securing a pension for Tennyson are another proof of his interest in the poet. On one occasion, in 1845, Carlyle appeals to Richard Milnes to use his influence with Peel in behalf of Tennyson. In a letter to Fitz

'New Letters of Thomas Carlyle, I, 280.

"Memoirs, I, 187.

Ibid., 213; cf. also Lyall, Alfred Tennyson, p. 39. 'Ibid., 225, cf. also Lounsbury, Life, p. 505.

me as a distinctly necessary act of legislation that Alfred should have a pension of £150 a year

a hundred and fifty to Alfred, I say; he is worth that sum to England." The following in a letter, Oct. 8, 1845, to his wife indicates Carlyle's success in procuring the pension: " What you tell me today of Tennyson's pension is very welcome. indeed. Poor Alfred, may it do him good . . . . By the bye, was it not I that first spoke of that Pension, and set it afloat in the world? In that case, it may be defined as our ukase not less than Peel's

66

The excerpts that follow will serve further to show the relations that continued for years between Carlyle and Tennyson. To Fitzgerald, Carlyle writes, Oct., 1844, One day we had Alfred Tennyson here; and unforgettable day. He staid with us till late; forgot his stick; we dismissed him with Macpherson's Farewell,

10

Fitzgerald in

a letter, 1846, writes, I met Carlyle last night at Tennyson's and they two discussed the merits of this world and the next, till I wished myself out of this, at any rate."1 In the Memoirs Tennyson's son writes:

During the "forties" Carlyle and Tennyson would walk together at night. Carlyle would rail against the "government of Jackasserie which cared more for commerce than for the greatness of our em pire"; termed stuccoed houses of London "acrid putrescence"; the suburbs, "a black jumble of black cottages where there used to be pleasant fields." They were not in the least afraid of each other and they had long and free discussions on every conceivable subject, and once only almost quarreled, when Carlyle asserted that Tennyson talked of poetry as high art.12

12

During the spring of this year, 1852, Tennyson was at

*New Letters of Thomas Carlyle, I, 322.

'New Letters of Thomas Carlyle, II, 6.

10Ibid., I, 322.

"Alfred Lyall, Alfred Tennyson, p. 62. "Memoirs, I, 267.

Malvern with his wife and in daily communication with the Carlyle's. 13 In December, 1865 Carlyle writes to his brother, "On Sunday Alfred Tennyson was here; had a dilapidated kind of a look, but in talk was cheerful of tone

A letter (1870) from Carlyle to his brother reads,

7914

*** I had a second night of insomnia, and a weary walk yesterday seeking out Alfred Tennyson's London lodgings,-upon whom I felt bound to "leave a card"; he having called here last Sunday on very good-natured terms and borne me ditto company on my walk.15

Another letter (1873) to his brother tells of Carlyle's dining with Tennyson and Spedding at Foresters. 16 In still another letter (1873) Tennyson writes,

.

Mr. Carlyle called upon me, and was very interesting and touching about the old days, and was afraid of tiring me by over-talk. ing." Again, referring to a visit to the vicinity of the Carlyle family, Tennyson writes, " Whenever a chance offered itself we called on the Carlyles." He then reports a conversation between the poet and Carlyle, in which the latter praised The Revenge, The May Queen, The First Quarrel. . . On the same occasion the two writers visited the British Museum together.1

18

Besides having been associated in this informal and, more or less, private way, Carlyle and Tennyson were frequently thrown together on more formal occasions. We are told that, with other literary men, they used to attend Roger's breakfast parties; and that Tennyson had a "sincere friendship for the self-conscious tender-hearted old man with his trick of bitter speech." "Peace be to him," Tennyson said long after, "often bitter, but very kindly at heart. We have

18 Waugh, Alfred Tennyson, 132.

"New Letters of Thomas Carlyle, II, 233. New Letters of Thomas Carlyle, II, 266. 18 Ibid., II, 301.

"Memoirs, II, 152.

"Ibid., II, 273.