In an early review in the 1831 Westminster Review , J. Fox praise the depiction of women within the whole of Poems , Chiefly Lyrics and say that Tennyson 's " portraits are delicate , his likenesses [ ... ] perfect , and they have life , character , and individuality . They are nicely assorted also to all the different gradations of emotion and passion which are expressed in common with the descriptions of them . There is an appropriate object for every shade of feeling , from the light touch of passing admiration to the triumphant madness of soul and sense , or the deep and everlasting anguish of survivorship . " A review by a " Professor Lyall " in 1878 argue , " As descriptive poetry , and for that feature of realistic description so characteristic of Tennyson 's muse , ' Mariana ' have , perhaps , not been surpassed even by him . "