I have another intersection between poetry and philately for you to consider. This here’s a ’92 issue (from Britain) commemorating the centenary of Lord Alfred Tennyson’s death. The stamps feature likenesses of a progressively older poet:

“O earth, what changes hast thou seen!”

Now, I wondered if the women incorporated into the design here were in some way related to Tennyson’s poetry. Their likenesses are in fact taken from paintings from around that period (nineteenth century). You can get the details here.

As you might expect, they are all connected to Tennyson’s work in some way. Artist John Waterhouse, whose I am Sick of the Shadows is featured alongside the 1864 representation, is probably best known for his painting of the Lady of Shallot (which was doubtless inspired by Tennyson’s poem). Her absence here is a mystery… although after a bit more digging, it turns out that Shadows is also a propos — it actually depicts a certain scene from Tennyson’s poem. Something about weaving.

Rossetti’s painting Mariana (shown alongside the portrait of the youngest Tennyson) could perhaps be alluding to Tennyson’s poem of the same name, but Rossetti himself wrote a poem titled Mariana as well. It is noted here that Rossetti illustrated a collection of Tennyson’s poetry published in 1857 (which did not include Mariana), so I guess they had some history of association.

Arthur Hughes apparently coupled April Love (1856) with a stanza from Tennyson’s poem the Miller’s Daugher. Hughes produced drawings for Tennyson’s Enoch Arden as well.

And finally, Sir Edward Burne-Jones’s the Beguiling of Merlin (accompanying the oldest Tennyson) is a reference to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. He also created a memorial window at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Haselmere after Tennyson’s death. Tennyson himself spent seventeen years working on In Memoriam, an extensive poem written after the death of a close friend. It’s good to see folks doing him the same turn in their own ways.