"A Dream of Fair Women" (tennyson)

In his "Dream of Fair Women," Tennyson has not introduced his characters by name, but by some leading event in the life of each. Thus, in verses 21 to 24:--

Helen of Troy is readily recognized. According to the poet, she was the daughter of Leda and Jupiter, and the most beautiful woman of her age. She had suitors from all parts of Greece, but accepted Menelaus, King of Sparta. Three years after her marriage she eloped with Paris (son of the King of Troy): this brought on a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, which lasted for ten years, ending in the destruction of Troy. This series of events forms the subject of Homer's Iliad, and the return of the Greeks from Troy his Odyssey.

Iphigenia is here introduced. She was the daughter of Agamemnon, King of Argos. Her father having offended the goddess Diana, he had sworn to propitiate her by offering as a sacrifice the most beautiful thing that should come into his possession during the year: this was an infant daughter. He deferred, however, the payment of his vow until Iphigenia had grown to womanhood. When the Greeks were ready to sail for Troy, they were detained by contrary winds; and Calchis the seer said that Diana was angry because Agamemnon had not paid his vow. This he prepared at once to do; but, just as Iphigenia was about to be sacrificed, Diana came to her rescue, substituted a hind in her place, and carried Iphigenia away to Taurus, where she became her priestess. Her story is the subject of three tragedies, by Euripides, Racine, and Goethe, and has been a favorite theme for poets.

Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt (69-30 B.C.).

Jephtha's daughter. (See Judg. xi. 30).

"Fair Rosamond" was Jane Clifford, daughter of Lord Clifford, loved by Henry II., who kept her concealed in a labyrinth at Woodstock. She was poisoned by Henry's queen, the "angered Eleanor," in the year 1177.

References to Rosamond are found in two of Sir Walter Scott's novels,--"The Talisman" and "Woodstock." Her sad story has been also a favorite theme with poets.

This was Margaret Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More, a famous English statesman, and the author of "Utopia" (q.v.). When Henry VIII. of England assumed the title of "Head of the Church," More refused to take the oath to him under that title. He was tried, condemned for treason, and executed in the Tower of London (July 6, 1535); and his head was exposed to public view on London Bridge. His daughter Margaret, devotedly faithful to her father through his persecution, succeeded in obtaining possession of his head. She guarded it with great care during her lifetime, and requested that at her death it should be placed in her arms, and buried with her.

Also called the "Maid of Orleans." She was born at Domremy, Lorraine, about 1411. She restored Charles VII. to the throne of France, but was finally, in 1431, taken prisoner, and burned in Rouen by order of the English, on a charge of witchcraft.

Eleanor of Castile, the first wife of Edward I. of England, is here referred to. The incident took place previous to the accession of Edward to the throne.

Alfred Tennyson, the author of this poem, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1809. His first poems were published when he was eighteen years of age; but it was not until he was thirty-three years old that he wrote "Morte d'Arthur," "Locksley Hall," and the "Two Voices," which made him famous.

In 1850, on the death of William Wordsworth, he became poet-laureate, or poet to the crown. His "Idyls of the King," consisting of a series of poems taken from legends about King Arthur, is considered the finest epic poem the English language has produced for two hundred years. Lord Tennyson's home, in the Isle of Wight, is called Farringford.