Page:Tennysoniana (1879).djvu/157

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IMITATIONS OF CLASSICAL WRITERS.
147
'Whence come you?' and the brook, why not?
replies:
'I come from haunts of coot and hern,'" &c.
The Brook: an Idyl.


The idea of this song of the Brook is probably taken from a German lyric, "Das Bächlein ":

"Du Bächlein, silberhell und klar,
Du eilst vorüber immerdar,
****
Wo kommst du her? Wo gehst du hin?
Ich komm' aus dunkler Felsen Schoss,
Mein Lauf geht über Blum' und Moss.'"


"The Dying Swan." Compare this poem with the following passages from Shakespeare and from Plato:

"—'Tis strange that death should sing.
I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,
Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,
And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings
His soul and body to their lasting rest."
Shakespeare, King John, Act v. Sc. 7.