All the editions up to, and including, that of 1898 have been carefully collated, so that the student of Tennyson can follow step by step the process by which he arrived at that perfection of expression which is perhaps his most striking characteristic as a poet. And it was indeed a trophy of labour, of the application “of patient touches of unwearied art”. Whoever will turn, say to _The Palace of Art_, to _Œnone_, to the _Dream of Fair Women_, or even to _The Sea-Fairies_ and to _The Lady of Shalott_, will see what labour was expended on their composition. Nothing indeed can be more interesting than to note the touches, the substitution of which measured the whole distance between mediocrity and excellence. Take, for example, the magical alteration in the couplet in the _Dream of Fair Women_:—
One drew a sharp knife thro’ my tender throat Slowly,—and nothing more,
The bright death quiver’d at the victim’s throat; Touch’d; and I knew no more.
What nights we had in Egypt! I could hit His humours while I cross’d him. O the life I led him, and the dalliance and the wit,
We drank the Libyan Sun to sleep, and lit Lamps which outburn’d Canopus. O my life In Egypt! O the dalliance and the wit, The flattery and the strife.
She mov’d her lips, she pray’d alone, She praying, disarray’d and warm From slumber, deep her wavy form In the dark lustrous mirror shone,
Complaining, “Mother, give me grace To help me of my weary load”. And on the liquid mirror glow’d The clear perfection of her face.
How happy is this slight alteration in the verses _To J. S._ which corrects one of the falsest notes ever struck by a poet:—
A tear Dropt on _the letters_ as I wrote.
or where in _Locksley Hall_ a splendidly graphic touch of description is gained by the alteration of “_droops_ the trailer from the crag” into “_swings_ the trailer”.
Should my shadow cross thy thoughts Too sadly for their peace, _so put it back_. For calmer hours in memory’s darkest hold,
where by altering “so put it back” into “remand it thou,” a somewhat ludicrous image is at all events softened.
What great care Tennyson took with his phraseology is curiously illustrated in _The May Queen_. In the 1842 edition “Robin” was the name of the May Queen’s lover. In 1843 it was altered to “Robert,” and in 1845 and subsequent editions back to “Robin”.