Mariana
233 Words
_"Mariana in the moated grange."_--'Measure for Measure'.
First printed in 1830.
This poem as we know from the motto prefixed to it was suggested by Shakespeare ('Measure for Measure', iii., 1, "at the moated grange resides this dejected Mariana,") but the poet may have had in his mind the exquisite fragment of Sappho:--
[Greek: deduke men ha selanna kai Plae****, mesai de nuktes, para d' erchet h'ora ego de mona kateud'o.]
"The moon has set and the Pleiades, and it is midnight: the hour too is going by, but I sleep alone."
It was long popularly supposed that the scene of the poem was a farm near Somersby known as Baumber's farm, but Tennyson denied this and said it was a purely "imaginary house in the fen," and that he "never so much as dreamed of Baumbers farm". See 'Life', i., 28.
[Footnote 1: 1863. Pear.]
[Footnote 2: 1872. Gable-wall.]
[Footnote 3: With this beautiful couplet may be compared a couplet of Helvius Cinna:--
[Footnote 4: 1830. _Grey_-eyed. 'Cf'. 'Romeo and Juliet', ii., 3, "The _grey morn_ smiles on the frowning night".]
[Footnote 5: 1830, 1842, 1843. Dark.]
[Footnote 6: 1830. Grey.]
[Footnote 7: 1830. An' away.]
[Footnote 8: All editions before 1851. I' the pane. With this line 'cf'. 'Maud', I., vi., 8, "and the shrieking rush of the wainscot mouse".]
[Footnote 9: 1830. Downsloped was westering in his bower.]
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