ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

By RIYA GOYAL
Alfred Lord Tennyson Introduction
(1809-1892)
◦ . One of the most popular british poets.
◦ . He was the poet laureate during much of
Queen Victoria ‘s reign.
◦ . Some major creations-’ Break , break ,
Break’, Ulysses’, In Memoriam’, tears’, Idle
tears’, crossing the bar etc.
◦ The most renowned poet of the Victorian age.
About The poet
◦ . The poem is the expression of sorrow and grief.
◦ . We see the poet’s recollection of a happy past spent with the individual he is now mourning.
◦ . ‘’ In Memoriam’’ ends with an epithalamion or wedding poem , celebrating the marriage of Tennyson’s
sister Cecilia to Edmund Lushington. And their marriage will lead to the birth of a child. This birth also
represents new life after the death of Hallam.
In Memoriam-
◦ . The poem was composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson In 1850 after the sudden death of his friend Arthur Henry
Hallam.
◦ . In the memory of his friend Arthur Hallam who died at a young age.
◦ . It connects despair and the poet grieves over the lose of his friend Arthur Hallam.
◦ . The poet believes that death only ends the physical body of his friend Arthur Hallam but not his soul.
◦ . Arthur Hallam was a devoted friend to Tennyson and a great supporter of his works.
◦ . So the poem is a tribute to poet’s beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam.
◦ . In the poem, the poet expresses the deep personal experience of his friendship.
◦ . The poet mentions that Man can not understand why he was created but the must believe that he was not made
simply to live.
◦ . But after the death ofd Arthur hennery Hallam (who was also the fiancé of his sister), Tennyson was overwhelmed
with doubts about the meaning of life and the significance of man’s existence.
Some lines of the poem.
◦ In Memoriam- Dark House
◦ Dark house, by which once more I stand
◦ Here in the long unlovely street,
◦ Doors , where my heart was used to beat
◦ So quickly, waiting for a hand ,
◦ A hand that can be clasp’d no more- -
◦ Behold me, for I cannot sleep,
◦ And like guilty thing I creep
◦ At earliest morning to the door.