Poetry



THE MERMAID, Alfred Lord Tennyson

First printed in 1830.

Who would be A mermaid fair, Singing alone, Combing her hair Under the sea, In a golden curl With a comb of pearl, On a throne?

I would be a mermaid fair; I would sing to myself the whole of the day; With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair; And still as I comb'd I would sing and say, "Who is it loves me? who loves not me?" I would comb my hair till my ringlets would fall, Low adown, low adown, From under my starry sea-bud crown Low adown and around, And I should look like a fountain of gold Springing alone With a shrill inner sound, Over the throne In the midst of the hall; Till that great sea-snake under the sea From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps Would slowly trail himself sevenfold Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate  With his large calm eyes for the love of me. And all the mermen under the sea Would feel their immortality Die in their hearts for the love of me.

But at night I would wander away, away, I would fling on each side my low-flowing locks, And lightly vault from the throne and play With the mermen in and out of the rocks; We would run to and fro, and hide and seek, On the broad sea-wolds in the [1] crimson shells, Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea. But if any came near I would call, and shriek, And adown the steep like a wave I would leap From the diamond-ledges that jut from the dells; For I would not be kiss'd [2] by all who would list, Of the bold merry mermen under the sea; They would sue me, and woo me, and flatter me, In the purple twilights under the sea; But the king of them all would carry me, Woo me, and win me, and marry me, In the branching jaspers under the sea; Then all the dry pied things that be In the hueless mosses under the sea Would curl round my silver feet silently, All looking up for the love of me. And if I should carol aloud, from aloft All things that are forked, and horned, and soft Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea,  All looking down for the love of me.

Alfred Tennyson’s poem, written in 1830 is of a beautiful mermaid combing her long hair. The poem is written in the first person, and my impression of it is of a song more than a poem. It appears to be one of the enchanting songs that mermaids are often described as singing. The song is of her vanity, “All looking down for the love of me”, as she combs her hair under the sea, she will be wooed by all of the mermen under the sea, but will only be won by the merman King. There are many consistencies with the traditional European mermaid tales, the long hair, the image of the mermaid sitting and singing while combing her hair. Tennyson takes the idea of the vain mermaid further than the usual combing of her hair, as her song boasts of her power of attraction to the merman, and in fact all creatures living under the sea. What is unique about Tennyson’s poem, is that the mermaid’s affections are not aimed towards man, but merman. In this case, the mermaid is sitting on a throne under the sea, instead of, as is the typical vision of a mermaid combing her hair upon a rock on the shore. It is thought that John Williams Waterhouse’s painting was based on Tennyson’s poem, however in Waterhouse’s painting, the mermaid is clearly sitting on the shore, and not on a throne under the sea.