No Finer Ear for Poetry

 Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was English Poet Laureate during the reign of Queen Victoria. He is considered by many critics to be the greatest poet of that era and was easily the most popular poet writing in England. He had a particularly fine ear for musical rhythms and rhymes in his verse. T. S. Eliot said Tennyson had “the finest ear of any English poet since Milton (1608-1674). He tackled a variety of subjects in his poetry including classical mythology, religious issues, industrialization, mortality, etc. His most well-known and widely read poem is “Ulysses.” Another poem about the Greek hero, Ulysses, on one of his adventures, is “The Lotos Eaters.” Tennyson, who knew Homer’s epic The Odyssey by heart, took the short episode from Book IX. 82-97 in which Ulysses told King Alcinous about an encounter with the inhabitants on the island of the Lotos Eaters. Here is Homer’s episode, translated into prose by Samuel Butler (1900):

"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotos-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotos-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus, and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.”

In the Odyssey, Ulysses’ account is concise, focusses on Ulysses’ strong leadership, command of his crew and the appalling effect of eating the lotos fruit. Tennyson significantly expands the episode to 183 lines, focusing instead on a vivid description of the island and on the crew’s experience of eating the lotos flower. It begins with Ulysses’ brief encouragement, “Courage…”, winds through 5 stanzas spoken by a third-person narrator, then embarks on 8 stanzas of choric song sung by the mariners who have eaten the lotos fruit. Here are the first five stanzas:

                       The Lotos-Eaters

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land,
"This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon."
In the afternoon they came unto a land,
In which it seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;
And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,
Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.
They saw the gleaming river seaward flow
From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops,
Three silent pinnacles of aged snow,
Stood sunset-flush'd: and, dew'd with showery drops,
Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.

The charmed sunset lingered low adown
In the red West: thro' mountain clefts the dale
Was seen far inland, and the yellow down
Border'd with palm, and many a winding vale
And meadow, set with slender galingale;
A land where all things always seem'd the same!
And round about the keel with faces pale,
Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,
The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.

Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,
Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave
To each, but whoso did receive of them,
And taste, to him the gushing of the wave
Far far away did seem to mourn and rave
On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,
His voice was thin, as voices from the grave;
And deep-asleep he seem'd, yet all awake,
And music in his ears his beating heart did make.

They sat them down upon the yellow sand,
Between the sun and moon upon the shore;
And sweet it was to dream of Father-land,
Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore
Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar,
Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.
Then some one said, "We will return no more;"
And all at once they sang, "Our island home
Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."

Tennyson’s poem begins as Ulysses and his crew as they are approaching the Island of the Lotos-eaters. In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses simply provides the plot of what happened without description of the island. Tennyson’s imagery of the island is rich and offers a tranquility that can alleviate the hardships his men have been enduring. However, the imagery anticipates also the psychological effect eating the lotos will have on Ulysses’ men. As they view the land, the mariners see what looks like an eternal, tropical paradise where “…it seemed always afternoon.” The air languidly swoons, the moon is always full, the stream falls, but seems to pause, and then appears rather like smoke.

Stanza 2 continues the sensuous description: they see a “A land of streams!” Water flows like “smoke” and looking west they see “…far off three mountaintops / Three silent pinnacles of aged snow / Stood sunset-flushed.” This image of “sunset” subtly contrasts with the timelessness the mariners sensed in the first stanza of “it seemed always afternoon.” In stanza 3, the sunset is “charmed,” and “lingered low adown / In the red West” and once again time is standing still: “A land where all things always seemed the same!” What the mariners have observed so far seems a serene, timeless land to rest and refresh themselves. At this moment, Tennyson introduces the “mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters.”

In stanza 4, the Lotos-eaters give the mariners the lotos flowers. Those who eat undergo a profound transformation: “…but whoso did receive of them / And taste, to him the gushing of the wave / Far away did seem to mourn and rave / On alien shores; and if his fellow spake, / His voice was thin, as voices from the grave; / And deep-asleep he seemed, yet all awake, / And music in his ears his beating heart did make.” What also changes are how we see the imagery of those first three stanzas.

The island’s natural, Edenic beauty seemed to offer the opportunity for the mariners a tranquil rest from their arduous sea journey. But the enchanted aura of the land in the stanzas 1-3 now seems deceiving. The Edenic imagery appears more mirage than reality, designed to lure the unsuspecting mariners into eating the hypnotic flower. The effect of the lotos flower on the mariners in the last stanza of this section suggests such is the case:

...And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland,
Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore
Most weary seemed the sea, weary the oar,
Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.
Then some one said, "We will return no more";
And all at once they sang, "Our island home
Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."

The poem does not end with the “narcotic” effect of the lotos rendering the mariners oblivious. In the Choric Song they discuss the alternative merits of remaining forever lotos-eaters or choosing to again set out upon the sea and continue their efforts to return to Ithaca, their home in Greece. In the next post I will include the rest of the poem with more brief commentary.