In het programma The essay, dat normaliter elke avond tussen 00:00 uur en 00:15 uur onze tijd! door BBC Radio 3 wordt uitgezonden, wordt zowel in de nacht van dinsdag 3 op woensdag 4 augustus op genoemde tijd een gedicht van Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) aan een nader onderzoek onderworpen. Gwyneth Lewis buigt zich dinsdagnacht over The Kraken. Donderdagavond is Tears, idle tears aan de beurt voor een nadere beschouwing door Kit Wright [1].
THE KRAKEN
BELOW the thunders of the upper deep ;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth : faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides : above him swell
About his shadowy sides : above him swell
Huge sponges of millenial growth and height ;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fre shall heat the deep ;
Until the latter fre shall heat the deep ;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
Uit POEMS, CHIEFLY LYRICAL (1830)
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Dit is één der bekende portretten van de Engelse dichter Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Het is opgenomen in de portrettengalerij van de University of Texas te Austin.
Het portret is tevens opgenomen in het boek
Evert A. Duyckinick, Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women in Europe and America. New York: Johnson, Wilson & Company, 1873.
TEARS, IDLE TEARS
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge ;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge ;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square ;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.
The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square ;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.
Dear as remember'd kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd
On lips that are for others ; deep as lov,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regrets ;
Deep as first love, and wild with all regrets ;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more.
Deze laatste poëtische uiting is eigenlijk een songtekst, en als zodanig is deze opgenomen in het omvangrijkere (84 bladzijden lange) gedicht THE PRINCESS — A medley, voor het eerst gepubliceerd in 1847.
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Beide hier opgenomen stukken zijn afkomstig uit
POEMS OF TENNYSON
Oxford Edition (Humphrey Milford at the Oxford University Press, London 1913, Edinburgh, Glasgow, New York, Toronto, Melbourne, Bombay.
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[1] Zie tevens ons artikel van heden op onze zustersite Tempel der Letteren.
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