933234. In the slanting handwriting of women.
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38. Cupid, the god of passion, was blind to spiritual love, of whichUranian Venus was the patron deity. The reference is to Plato’sSymposium. i a The Prince’s dreams are colored by his vague hopes and expec-tations. Tennyson, in a letter to Mr. Dawson, tellsus that the songs were notan afterthought, although they were not included in the poem untilthe publication of the third edition. “The public did not see,’’ hesays, ‘that the child, as you say, was the heroine of the piece, and atlast I conquered my laziness and inserted them.” The central theme of all the songs is the power and endurance of theaffections, and four refer especially to the love of children. The firstof these sings the power of their love for their child in bringing about@ reconciliation between a husband and wife who have quarreled,and is contrasted with Ida’s careless disclaimer of the power of child-Jove in the lives of mature men and women : : “ Ghildren die; and let me tell you, girl, - éHowe’er you babble, great deeds cannot die.”’—III. 236-7,
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