M1 oi The Victorian Age (1837-1901) Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) Life... + Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, in central England in 1809, + Tennyson was partly educated by his father, a rector in the village, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. Tn 1829 he won the Chancellor's medal for English verse. In 1832 he travelled around Europe and later became engaged to Emily Sellwood, to whom he was not married until 1850, In 1850 Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth, beginning a period of greater success and fame. In his later years in London his many friends and admirers included Queen Victoria herself In 1884 Tennyson was made a lord and in 1892 he died at Aldworth, Surrey. He was buried in London, in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. su and works In 1832 Tennyson published a volume of Poems which included ‘The Palace of Art’, ‘The Lotos-Eaters’ and ‘A Dream of Fair Women’. In 1833-34 he composed Tithonas, a dramatic monologue spoken by a Trojan who is given immortality but not eternal youth and who, horrified by the effects of ageing, longs for death. In 1842 he published some revised poems written in the previous years along with some new ‘ones including ‘Morte d’Arthur’, ‘Locksley Hall’ and ‘Ulysses’ In 1850 he published Jn Memoriam AHH, a series of poems Tennyson had written over the years, expressing not only his sorrow for the death of a friend but also his own reflections on time, change and immortality. Among his most well-known poems of his later period are “The Charge of the Light Brigade’ (1854), commemorating the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (one of the great heroic failures in British military history), Maud (1855) and Ldylls of the King (1859-85), a series of twelve narrative poems based on the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round ‘Table. Focus on the text: ‘Ulysses’ Sources of the poem os of Tennyson's poem are Homer's poem Odyssey and Dante’ Iyer. oo a of Odysseus, whose return voyage from the Trojan wars to Ithaca is Odyseas is told bythe nein Particular, Tennyson's monologue refers to Book XI, where when he i ‘worn out with « ee that ‘a gentle death’ will come to him from the sea an exiting life, qu le old age’ Tennyson imagined a hero who, being used 0 ES eeereiniitisictnay ana neIn fact, ‘Tennyson’s poem takes more ing; ing in the broadest possible sense es recounts the story of his death at . iqesisible passion for exploration, jnowledge. Handing the duties and responsibilities of power and authority to his Taemachus, he does not despair but sees that in the few yeats that remain to hin oone kot agble note may still be done: The last part of the poem contains a fant note of optimism, Old age andthe joumey towards death may themselves possess a heroic splendour which, though aot equal to the glorious days of the past, still has its own rewards. Features rl, The poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue and it is written in blank verse (unthymed uid iambic pentameter). The poem can be read as a metaphor for a feeling of cultural anxiety which grew with the Victorian age. This is particularly evident in the last part of the poem where Tennyson takes the sphere of his reflections beyond Ulysses himself, a move which is signalled by the poem’s shift Shift oe from T to ‘we’ Ulysses’ predicament becomes a metaphor for the Victorian age, an age in which of focus the fires of Romanticism have almost been extinguished and the solitary Byronic hero has given see ay to the increasingly social and industrial context in which art finds itself situated. death As well as being concerned with the afterlife, the poem also explores the possibility of cultural nee renewal in a mechanised age. From a contemporary perspective, the call ‘to seek a newer world’ can even be linked to Britain's empire-building, which grew during the second half of the 19th yer the century. ons oF In the last lines of the poem Tennyson reflects on the nature of heroism. The we sees heroism < i ism is si t to Futile in a weaker and more realistic way than authors of the past. Heroism is simply an attempt \ sik change things, Berri cicct may fil, This notion of ‘utile heroism’ became an integral heroism je J] pat of the upper-clsses' idea of English national identity which developed during the second ies? half of the 19th century. ‘This took the form of a strange combination of courage and cae ‘pie ‘hich suggested that one should always behave in a ‘heroic’ and honourable way, even if the zs ses’ final command ‘not to yield’ can be linked to the ae ee Sane On the one hand this a te postige ks of ering to a principle. However, in the modern world such principles have Petts RY Meaningless since the values of individuals are crushed by the indisvent. at Site Which control their destinies. Therefore obstinately maintaining Sv ‘hanging reality can be considered self-destructive.V) Pretexts ONS The Victorian Age (1837-1901) ‘Ulysses’ (1842) 1. Read again Canto XXVI from Dante's infemo and consider the character of Ulysses as you read and listen to this poem, 2 Now read ‘nd listen to the poem. (EZ? Itlittle profits! that an idle? king, By this stil hearth, among these barren crags, * Matched with an agéd wife,> I mete and dole® Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard,? and sleep. and feed, and know not me. T cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees.* All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts? the rainy Hyades !9 Vexed !! the dim sea, I am become a name; For always roaming !? with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known, - cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, 8 but honoured of them all, — ‘And drunk delight of battle with my peers, !5 Far on the ringing plains '6 of windy Troy. 1am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch where-through 7 Gleams'* that untravelled world whose margin fades Forever and forever when I move. How dull itis to pause, to make an end, To must unburnished, ® not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life Were all too litte, and of one to me Little remains; but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, ‘And this grey spirit yearning) in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound? of human thought, 2 Hite profits: docs ip idle: lazy, inactive 3 still hearth: unlit fireplace 4 erage : steep, rocky hill 5 aged wife : Penelope 6 mete and dole : give ou, administer Ihoard :accumal the fture ave up for 8 to the lees: tothe end 9 seudding drifts: driving rain and 0 ir n B “u 15 16 17 18 19 » a 2 ood Hyades :fve stars in the constellation of Taurus which became vst when it began 0 Vered : itubed, troubled soaming : wandering, exploring Myself not least: myst included dean delight of ale dk peers: equal. Finging plains: bare fel Finging ith war cis ‘where-through : through which Gleam : shines rust unburnished :corode, bright anymore three suns : thre years ‘yearning - want ‘utmost bound : furthest initte This is my son, mine own Telemachus, Towhom I leave the sceptre and the isle Well-loved of me, discernii 3 fulfil this labour, by slow prudence to make mild Arugged™ people, and through soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centred inthe sphere Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet” adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. There lies the port; the vessel 8 puffs her sail;2? ‘5 There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, Souls that have toiled, *! and wrought, >? and thought with me — That ever with a frolic 33 welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads ~ you and I are old; Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all. But something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming *5 men that strove * with gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes;:” the slow moon climbs; the deep * Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, “Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite” The sounding furrows; # for my purpose holds ** To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. may be that the gulfs will wash us down, |Imay be we shall touch the Happy Isles,” And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. ® Though much is taken, much abides; * and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, , », Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will * To tive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. * Luysses daring Po 2 discerning to capable 24 rugged : rough, uncultured lameless : without reason conforming with ly accepted standards o 27 Meet : due, appropriate 28 vessel : ship 29 pls her sa: the aisle 30, gloom : become cloudy, dark or ‘bseure 81 tiled: wore hard. 32 wrought (2): shape, formed 33 frail 34 ere before 35 unbecoming dshonounble 36 strove :strugled pat of strive 37 wanes fades 38 deep scx 39 smite -hit 49 furrows he waves ofthe sea 41 for my purpose hols: base aca ther death and which wae thought oie west of the Sais of ea. 48 abides : romain 4 yield: surrender. yphemus ~ Homer's Odyssey M1829) by JM. W. Tune. The National Gallery, London