this rather summary verdict our readers shall have some opportunity of judging for themselves.
"The Lover's Tale" extends to sixty pages, divided into two parts, and is entirely in blank verse. It was written apparently in 1828, though not printed till five years later; but it doubtless received many aftertouches and corrections during the interval. It must have been well known to Arthur Hallam, the period of whose friendship with Tennyson embraced precisely the years between the composition and the printing of it.
The whole poem is a monologue, and the lover is himself the speaker. He narrates the sad and tragical history of his past life to some of his dearest friends. The argument cannot better be set forth than in the poet's own words as they stand in the little prose introduction to "The Golden Supper,"[1] which is a sequel to "The Lover's Tale." Even the names are the same, or almost the same; Lionel is the successful
- ↑ See "The Holy Grail and other Poems" (1869).
(New York, 1849), p. 41. The writer in the "Fortnightly Review" (October, 1865, p. 393) makes a passing allusion to this poem, and says that only a few copies were issued; but he appears never to have seen it, and indeed to be unacquainted with its correct title.
