Tennyson and his Catholic Aspects [pp. 145-154]

THE
CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. VII., No. 38.-MAY, i868.
TENNYSON IN HIS CATHOLIC ASPECTS.
FOR a poet eminently modern and
English in his modes of thought, Tennyson is singularly free from the spirit of controversy. His native land
is distracted by religious feuds, yet
he who has been called "the recognized exponent of all the deeper
thinkings of his age," takes no active
part in them, and seldom drops a line
that bespeaks the school of theology
to which he belongs. At long intervals, indeed, devout breathings escape him. Once now and then he
extracts a block of dogma from the
deep quarry within, and fixes it in an
abiding place. He never scatters
doubts wantonly; he is always on the
side of faith, though not perfect and
Catholic faith. He alludes to Christian doctrines as postulates. For
his purpose they need no proof. It
would be idle to prove anything if
they were not true. They are the
life of the soul, and the vitality of
verse.
"Fly, happy, happy sails, and bear the press,"
he cries; but he adds this apostrophe
likewise:
"Fly happy with the mission of the cross."
The Golden Year.
VOL. VII.-IO
He looks for the resurrection of the
body, and bids the dry dust of his
friend (Spedding) "lie still, secure of
change." (Lines to.7. S.) When the
spirit quits its earthly frame, he follows it straight into the unseen world
and the presence of its Creator and
God. Hie points to "the grand old
gardener and his wife " in "yon blue
heavens," smiling at the claims of
long descent, (Lady Clara Vere de
Vere;) and he speeds the soul of the
expiring May Queen toward the
blessed home of just souls and true,
there to wait a little while for her
mother and Effie:
"To lie within the liight of God, as I lie upon your
breastWhere the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary
are at rest."
The Many Queen.
Intensely as he loves nature, Tennyson is no Pantheist. Though like
the wild Indian, he "sees God in
clouds and hears him in the wind,"
he does not therefore confound matter with its Maker, nor lose sight of
the personality of the Being whom he
adores. He is no disciple of fate or
chance, but recognizes in all human
affairs the working of a divine and
retributive providence, whose final