26
THE STAR
IN THE WEST
Both poets have
chosen
here not
the only word that
could
be chosen , but the only word that would in the
above poems express
the maximum
amount
of horror
in the one case , and of desire in the other .
Very different
from Blake do we
find such a poem
as
“ Vespers ,”
which , though differing
in
rime , in
cadence
and
spirit ,
is
reminiscent
of
Rossetti's
“ Blessed
Damozel " :
Still in those avenues of light,
No maid , with golden
zone ,
And lily garment
that from sight
Half hides the ivory
throne ,
Lay in my arms the livelong
night
To call my soul her own . ?
Whilst
parts
of the
poem
“ Messaline " with
which
“
Alice ” opens remind
us of poor
" Jenny."
Tennyson , if we are to judge from
the introduction
to
“ Alice , " does
not
seem to
hold
a very high posi
tion in the opinion
of Aleister Crowley .
“ He is a neu
rasthenic
counter - jumper ”
certainly
would
not
have
pleased
Poe , who
regarded
him
as the
noblest
poet
that
ever
lived .
Nevertheless
we
find
traces
of the
great
laureate's
work in these poems , such as the idea
contained
in the following verse of “ De Profundis ”:
I have dreamed
life a circle or a line ,
Called
God, and Fate , and Chance , and Man, divine .
I know
not
all
I
say
,
but through
it
all
Mark the dim hint of ultimate
sunshine
!?
which
is
almost
identical
with that
in
Canto LIV of
“
In
Memoriam
.”
A
poem written
in
the metre
of
Tenny
Songs
of
the Spirit
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
53
.
2
Mysteries
:
Lyrical and Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
113
.