was more evident in the first form of the poem.
Parallel with the quenching in Gebir of the conqueror's ambition,
and with the ruin of his life and its new hope by the destroying
powers that our misunderstandings of the better life bring into
play, runs that part of the poem which shows Tamar, his brother,
preparing to dwell with the sea nymph, the ideal, far away from all
the struggle of mankind.
Recognition of the great beauty of Lander's "Gebir" came first from
Southey in "The Critical Review." Southey found that the poem grew
upon him, and became afterwards Landor's lifelong friend. When
Shelley was at Oxford in 1811, there were times when he would read
nothing but "Gebir." His friend Hogg says that when he went to
Shelley's rooms one morning to tell him something of importance, he
could not draw his attention away from "Gebir." Hogg impatiently
threw the book out of window. It was brought back by a servant, and
Shelley immediately fastened upon it again.
At the close of 1805 Landor's father died, and the young poet became
a man of property. In 1808 Southey and Landor first met. Their
friendship remained unbroken. When Spain rose to throw off the yoke
of Napoleon, Landor's enthusiasm carried him to Corunna, where he
paid for the equipment of a thousand volunteers, and joined the
Spanish army of the North. After the Convention of Cintra he
returned to England. Then he bought a large Welsh estate--Llanthony
Priory--paid for it by selling other property, and began costly
improvements.
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