Tennyson's Oestrus

 Edward FitzGerald (who's appeared on this blog before) was a staunch friend and supporter of Tennyson, but he was not initially much impressed by In Memoriam. Writing to Tennyson's brother Frederick, he declared that 'it seems to be with him now, at least to me, the Impetus, the Lyrical oestrus is gone...' Richard Holmes (yes, I'm still reading, and enjoying, The Boundless Deep) thinks this is 'a curiously biological term for Fitzgerald to use, as the oestrus (from the Latin) means the period of sexual receptivity in specifically female creatures. It is the time when they are capable of being made pregnant. For FitzGerald, Tennyson's real lyrical gift was in some profound sense feminine. It was a brilliant imaginative fertility.' Well, maybe, but surely it is more likely that FitzGerald was using the word in its non-biological sense. The root is the Greek oistros, a gadfly (a word Socrates used to describe himself), from which something that stings or goads one on, a stimulus, a strong impulse, and hence on to its biological meaning. Vivaldi was using the word (in its Italian form) to describe a creative impulse when he called his great collection of concerti L'Estro Armonico – and surely FitzGerald was thinking along those lines when he used it of Tennyson.  In the entry for 'oestrus' in the OED, the second citation is 'The Impetus, the Lyrical oestrus, is gone – E. FitzGerald'. In our more relaxed times, he might have said he thought Tennyson had lost his mojo. He hadn't, of course.