Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson

s trac'd in flame
Wisdom, a name to shake
All evil dreams of power--a sacred name.

Again, in the 'Lotos Eaters'

Three thunder-cloven thrones of oldest snow
Stood sunset-flushed

is changed into

Three silent pinnacles of aged snow.

So in 'Will Waterproof' the cumbrous

Like Hezekiah's backward runs The shadow of my days,

was afterwards simplified into

Against its fountain upward runs
The current of my days.

Not less felicitous have been the additions made from time to time. Thus in 'Audley Court' the concluding lines ran:--

The harbour buoy,
With one green sparkle ever and anon
Dipt by itself.

But what vividness is there in the subsequent insertion of

"Sole star of phosphorescence in the calm."

between the first line and the second.

So again in the 'Morte d'Arthur' how greatly are imagery and rhythm improved by the insertion of

Across the ridge, and paced bes