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R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

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Tennyson, Sw<strong>in</strong>burne, Meredith 173Then <strong>the</strong>re is <strong>the</strong> pretty fancy—as she hears <strong>the</strong> milkmaids<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g—of Elizabeth'sI would I were a milkmaid,To s<strong>in</strong>g, love, marry, churn, brew, bake and die.Then have my simple headstone by <strong>the</strong> church,And all th<strong>in</strong>gs lived and ended honestly.I could not if I would. I am Harry's daughterThis is au<strong>the</strong>ntic Tennyson, and holds its own for a duemoment.Philip is written somewhat flatly—his ma<strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess isto be bored and yet more bored by England and his queen—but with true economy and admirable irony. And who,that ever heard him, cannot hear Irv<strong>in</strong>g say<strong>in</strong>gBy St James I do protest,Upon <strong>the</strong> faith and honour of a Spaniard,I am vastly grieved to leave your Majesty.Simon, is supper ready?But Mary herself has, as she should have, <strong>the</strong> best of<strong>the</strong> play; and Tennyson is, at <strong>the</strong> crucial moments,spontaneously at his best <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g of her. Thecalculated effectiveness of <strong>the</strong> second act's end<strong>in</strong>g withits echoedMy foes are at my feet and I am Queen.could be carpentered up by any one, and <strong>the</strong> slash<strong>in</strong>g ofPhilip's picture is commonplace. But her lonely thrill<strong>in</strong>gto <strong>the</strong> hope of <strong>the</strong> un<strong>born</strong> child:He hath awaked! He hath awaked!He stirs with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> darkness!...The second Pr<strong>in</strong>ce of Peace—The great un<strong>born</strong> defender of <strong>the</strong> Faith,Who will avenge me of m<strong>in</strong>e enemies—He comes, and my star rises.The stormy Wyatts and Northumberlands,The proud ambitions of Elizabeth,And all her fiercest partisans—are paleBefore my star!

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