TENNYSON'S ELOCUTION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1378, 2 March 1912, Page 9

TENNYSON'S ELOCUTION.

Members of the Poetry Society-(says an English writer) will be'glad tolind'in Sir Charles Stanford's contribution to "Tennyson and his friends" details by a musical expert ou Tennyson's method of reading his own poetry .better than anyone else, and that although his reading broke most of tho rules of the elocutionist it was singularly effective, is well known. "His reading magnifies tho merit of everything," said Patmore, "it is so grand"; it drew "iron tears" down Jowctt's cheek, and such men as Gladstono and Dr. Henry Van Dyko did not fully understand "Maud" until .they had heard the poet's rendering of it. The marvellous voice accounted for a great deal of course, and those who havo described a reading fall naturally into such phrases as "a rich solemn music," "organ notes," or "melodious thunders." His reading, says Lady Ritchie, was "a sort of mystical incantation, a chant in which every note rises and falls and reverborates again. It fills the room, it ebbs and flows away; and when wo leave it is with a strange music in our ears, feeling that we have for tho first time, perhaps, heard what we may, have read a hundred times before."'- This,'' however, is vagus- generality, and the interest in Sir Charles 'Stanford's observations is that he goes into detail. ■ Thus ho notes that, although Tennyson's talking voico was of a wide range, in reading poetry he used few notes of it. He generally limited himsjlf to two, except in the cadeiico of a passage, when his voice would slightly fall, although in certain passages, such as the last stanza of'"Come into the garden, Maud," ho would uso "a peculiarly thin and ghostly'tcno of voice." That the monotone would .be amply relieved by the variety/of feeling is suggested by this remark of Rossetti's "I once heard Tennyson read 'Maud,' and while the fiery passages were given with a voica and vehemence which he alone could compass, the softer passages and tho songs mado tho tears run down his checks like rain." In respect of the task which faces every elocutionist, of reconciling rhythm and metre, Tennyson had also a peculiarity. He is sometimes quoted as having advised his renders to "read him as prose," but this was so little his own practice that he was, more than most reciters, careful to bring out his metre. It was a point on which ho was fastidious, and in" tho line from the "Ode to the Duke of Wellington," "Let the bell be tolled," ho not only accented but accented strongly the first syllable in order to havo threo accented syllables in, the line: "It wanted three strokes of the bell, not two."

The general impression thus given of Tennyson's reading of his own poetry is pretty nearly completed when we remember that he was exquisitely observant of those delicate vowel values which are .a chief beauty of his work. ' Allimrham spoke of him "lingering with solemn sweetness on every vowel sound," and the details Sir Charles furnishes are worth quoting in his own words:—"Such words as 'true' and 'too,' which in nyist people's mouths have an identical vowel sound, were differentiated by him. the 'oo' full and round, the 'no' inclining imperceptibly to 'u.' His 'a' also had far moro varied colours than is 1151101 even with singers. One modification is especial, the quality of which can best bo described as approaching that of 'Eh, mon,' in broad, Scotch, gave a breadth and a dignity to such words as 'nation,' 'lamentation,' 'pageant' (he never used the liotrible pronunciation 'padgent'l, which added vastly to the musical values of his verse."

it will be seen how exceedingly pergonal to himself Tennyson's method was. Every man must read poetry in his own way, and no one is likely to succeed who tries to nlnv Tonnrpon's fiddle with Tennyson's fidilcstick. Nevertheless , tho following passage from "Beckot" Irving used to render as he had heard tho noet himself render it. and actors noted that in it he reached his high-water mark as an elocutionist :— We came upon _ A wild fowl sitting on her nest, so still, _ I reached my hand and touched; she did not stir; The snow had frozen round her, and she eat Stone dead upon a heap of ice-cold eggs. "The" mastery of sound-painting in this line, the chilly 'oV and 'eV which the poet knew so veil how to place, Irvins declaimed with a quiet reverence which made the sentence so pathetic that it will always live in tho memory of those who heard it."