Alfred Tennyson was a British poet, born in 1809, lived a long time, and wrote a

great deal of poetry.He have written many famous poems during his lifetime,

‘The Lotos-Eaters' One of his most beautiful poems inspired by Homer’s The

Odyssey. 'The Lotos-Eaters’ was written by Tennyson following a trip to Spain he

undertook with his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. It tells of the mariners who come

upon ‘a land / In which it seemed always afternoon’, and, upon Tennyson taking

the lotus plant, enter a dreamlike state.

Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’,was published in 1842. The poem, partly

inspired by Arthurian legend and partly by the epic sixteenth-century poem The

Faerie Queene written by Edmund Spenser, has been read variously as an allegory

about the world of fancy and the world of reality and as a reaction to the Industrial

Revolution. Undoubtedly it was one of Tennyson’s greatest poetic achievements.

Tennyson wrote “In Memoriam” after he learned that his beloved friend Arthur

Henry Hallam had died suddenly and unexpectedly of a fever at the age of 22.

Hallam was not only the poet’s closest friend and confidante, but also the fiance of

his sister. After learning of Hallam’s death, Tennyson was overwhelmed with

doubts about the meaning of life and the significance of man’s existence. He
composed the short poems that construct In Memoriam. In Memoriam consists of

131 smaller poems of varying length.The poem partly belongs to the genre of

elegy, because it mourns for the death of a person.

In Memoriam, undoubtly one of the greatest elegies of English literature, describes

the emotional changes Tennyson underwent .and tragic death of his closest friend,

Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem begins as a tribute and a call of the “Strong Son

of God.” Since man, never having seen God’s face, has no proof of His existence,

he can only reach God through faith. The poet attributes the sun and moon to God,

and accepts him as the creator of life and death in both man and animals. Man

cannot understand why he was created, but he must believe that he was not made

simply to die. The Son of God seems both human and divine. Man has control of

his own will, but this is only so that he might show off himself to do God’s will.

The speaker asks that God help foolish people to see His light. He repeatedly asks

for God to forgive. In this poem an opposition between science and religion is also

introduced as a ‘strife’, between God and ‘Nature’,

In Memoriam ends with a an wedding poem, celebrating the marriage of

Tennyson’s sister Cecilia to Edmund Lushington. The poet suggests that their
marriage will lead to the birth of a child who will serve as a closer link between

Tennyson’s generation and the “crowning race.” This birth also represents new life

after the death of Hallam. Not just an elegy and an wedding poem, the poem is also

a deeply philosophical reflection on religion, science, and the promise of

immortality.

The poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is among the greatest of English literature.

Tennyson’s reputation suffered somewhat in the first decades of the 20th century,

but he is now generally recognized as the greatest poet of the Victorian Age and is

sometimes considered one of the greatest poets in the history.Alfred, Lord

Tennyson achieved, what so many poets and writers throughout the centuries were

unable to achieve. After the publication of “In Memoriam”, he was considered as

the master of poets.His poems are masterpieces of contemporary era as well as of

English literature. His poem “In Memoriam” transcended from personal to an

universal level. Tennyson was one of the greatest poets of Victorian period,with

such a wide range of works.