"Oenone" or "Œnone" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson in 1829. The poem describes the Greek mythological character Oenone and her witnessing incidents in the life of her lover, Paris, as he is involved in the events of the Trojan War. "Oenone" was inspired by Tennyson's trip to Spain, where he visited the Pyrenees mountains. It is considered the simplest of Tennyson's dramatic monologues.
Background
Tennyson became friends with Arthur Hallam while at Cambridge. During summer 1829, the two travelled to Spain to help a group of Spanish rebels in northern Spain. While there, Tennyson was able to experience the Pyrenees mountains, which influenced a few of his poems, including "Oenone", "The Lotos-Eaters" and "Mariana in the South". After meeting with the rebels, they travelled to Bordeaux and left for home on 8 September 1829. On that day, Tennyson read to a group of travellers on the boat his newly composed Oenone. Later in 1861, a return to the Spanish mountains and travelling the earlier path would inspire the poem "In the Valley of Cauteretz". The poem was included in Tennyson's 1832 collection of poems. It was later revised for his 1842 collection of poems. As with other revised poems, Tennyson removed blends of words that he added to his early poems, with "goldensandalled" and "rosehued" as two examples from Oenon.
Poem
The poem begins with a lament by Oenone. Although she describes her feelings, there is no one to hear her because her lover, Paris, is off to be with Helen: Oenone is deeplyin love with Paris, and she admits that when he is speaking she is unable to act. This is especially true when he reveals to her the Hesperian apple and when he becomes the judge of which goddess is allowed to have the apple as a gift: When Pallas offers her gifts to Paris, he refuses no matter how much Oenone wishes that he would have accepted: Aphrodite, the love goddess, follows Pallas and offers a gift that competes against Oenone's role as Paris's wife. This causes Oenone to resort to emotionally appealing Paris: The poem concludes with Oenone describing contemporaneous events:
Themes
Oenone is the simplest of Tennyson's dramatic monologues. Each of the monologues incorporates an ironic use of rhetoric by the manner in which an individual point of view is incrementally revealed within the poems. The character Oenone laments her fate and is portrayed as a victim to outside circumstances. However, her actions in letting her emotions control her is similar to the actions that Paris, her betrayer, committed; she, like him, is a victimiser to herself. Oenone is similar to other females in Tennyson's poems. In particular, she is a combination of the character Mariana, a quiet woman who suffers like a prisoner as she waits for her lover to return, and Fatima, who loses her mind and submits to her intense passions while losing herself in the material world. The refrain, "Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die", reveals Oenone's imprisonment to both the situation she finds herself in and to her emotions. When Paris is offered "self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control" by Pallas, Oenone cries out for him to accept the gifts above the others. When he refuses, she is dominated by her emotions in the same way Paris is dominated by his own. Instead, her actions are closer to those of Aphrodite, the goddess that Oenone competes against for Paris's affection. The jealousy and possessiveness of Oenone is similar to Tennyson's feelings at the time for Hallam's company, as Tennyson believed that he would be separated from his friend by a woman. Oenone's song is similar to the events described in the poem. The city of Troy was created in song and ends with its eminent destruction. In a similar manner, Oenone's song comes from the destruction left by Paris. She also shifts from the Mariana-like prisoner type of character to the Fatima-like self-destructive character as the poem progresses. Changes between the 1832 and 1842 edition of the poems reflect changes in Tennyson's role as the poet creating a song and, thus, his similarity to Oenone as a character.
Critical response
Tennyson's 1832 collection of poems was savaged by John Wilson Croker in a Quarterly Review article of April 1833. The review was based on a close reading of the various poems followed by attacks on the content. Of the various poems attacked, 'Oenone' was the truest hit, as Croker focused on how the poem was filled with unclear descriptions.
