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[hsut@purdue-ecn.ARPA (Tsun-Yuk Hsu)]

	And now, the uninformed report on Tennyson references
in Kate Bush's The Ninth Wave...

	First, probably most of it went over my head, but I was not
able to discover too many connections between the Ninth Wave and
the Tennyson poems mentioned in love-hounds (where did all those reports
come from, Doug?) Anyway, the quote from the inner sleeve is,as stated,
from Tennyson's poem The Coming of Arthur. This and all of Tennyson's
poems in the same cycle are collected in Idylls of the King (my
version is from Dolphin Books). Idylls of the King is in 12 books (poems)
and starts with a dedication and The Coming of Arthur. Here is part
of the passage from which the quote was taken. It describes how
on the night of King Uther's (Arthur's supposed father) death, Merlin
and Bleys witnessed the supernatural coming of Arthur:


	...When Uther in Tintagil past away
	Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two
	Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe,
	Then from the castle gateway by the chasm
	Descending thro' the dismal night --- a night
	In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost ---
	Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps
	It seem'd in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof
	A dragon wing'd, and all from stem to stern
	Bright with a shining people on the decks,
	And gone as soon as seem. And then the two
	Dropt to the cove, and watch'd the great sea fall,
	Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,
	Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep,
	And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged
	Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:
	And down the wave and in the flame was borne
	A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet,
	Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried "The King!
	Here is an heir for Uther!"...

	The Holy Grail is also in Idylls of the King. I don't see any
real connection between the quest for the grail and The Ninth Wave,
except for the general hallucinatory nature of the wanderings of the 
knights and the visions of the shipwrecked woman (I couldn't find connections
between the misadventures of the knights and the visions in the songs
either). There is some similarity in imagery at best, the sea being
a recurring presence in both the album and the poems.

	The third poem in Idylls of the King which I read in detail
(I only skimmed through the rest; I can take only so much romantic
verse, though I enjoy some Keats) was The Passing of Arthur, about
the last battle with Mordred and the death of Arthur. If only I had
read this before seeing the movie Excalibur (which I have seen 5 times)! 
Such chillingly beautiful passages... again not much explicit connections
with the Ninth Wave.

	I was unable to find the Tennyson-sounding verse spoken by
John Carter Bush near the end of Jig of Life. Does anyone know where
it is from?

	If anyone is able to make a better case for The Ninth Wave being
based on Tennyson's Idylls of the King, please post it. I was 
disappointed in what little I found, but of course that does not
diminish my enjoyment of the album.

	I should also listen to Side A again sometime...


					Bill Hsu