rational admirers. These volumes justly gave him the first place among
the poets of his time, and that supremacy he maintained--in the opinion
of most--till the day of his death. It would be absurd to contend that
Tennyson's subsequent publications added nothing to the fame which will
be secured to him by these poems. But this at least is certain, that,
taken with 'In Memorium', they represent the crown and flower of his
achievement. What is best in them he never excelled and perhaps never
equalled. We should be the poorer, and much the poorer, for the loss of
anything which he produced subsequently, it is true; but would we
exchange half a dozen of the best of these poems or a score of the best
sections of 'In Memoriam' for all that he produced between 1850 and his
death?

[Footnote 1: In 'The Keepsake', "St. Agnes' Eve"; in 'The Tribute',
"Stanzas": "Oh! that 'twere possible". Between 1831 and 1832 he had
contributed to 'The Gem' three, "No more," "Anacreontics," and "A
Fragment"; in 'The Englishman's Magazine', a Sonnet; in 'The Yorkshire
Literary Annual', lines, "There are three things that fill my heart with
sighs"; in 'Friendship's Offering', lines, "Me my own fate".]



III

The poems of 1842 naturally divide themselves into seven groups:--

1. STUDIES IN FANCY.

'Claribel'.
'Lilian'.