| RefNo | HSF/1/2/6 |
| Previous numbers | 600/31/20 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Copy letter from J F W [John Frederick William] Herschel, Collingwood, to Matthew Arnold |
| Creator | Herschel; Sir John Frederick William; first baronet (1792-1871); British mathematician and astronomer |
| Date | 3 February 1866 [dated in error, 1865] |
| Description | He gives thanks to Arnold for taking the time to peruse his excerpta. The whole version is now in the printer's hands, but being revised. He will give as much attention as he can to the points raised by Arnold. He has responded to the comments on the over-dactylic nature of the verses in 200 or 300 cases, but it remains open to this objection. Regarding the Moon-piece, he never quite liked the phrase 'rending abysses' although as a neuter verb it is justified by Pope. The style is outrageous but he thinks the term abysses would not occur to the general reader in expressing the profundity of space. He discusses this further, before writing that he has not been able to find a mode of altering the objectionable dactyl 'gleams ev'ry pointed rock', although it does not read more harshly than Scott's. Herschel gives his revised five lines for the Moon-piece. He notes [Alfred] Tennyson's very fine 'Breaks open to the highest', but this is so obviously from the song of the angels that it is out of place in a pagan poem. Macmillan, his publisher, insisted on the italics and Herschel has let him have his way. |
| Extent | 3p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8238 | Herschel; Sir; John Frederick William (1792 - 1871); astronomer | 1792 - 1871 |