Did you know significant events in a person’s life can inspire great masterpieces? Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote poetry from a young age until his death. His father, at first, did not support his poetry. He wrote no matter what but rarely received great reviews. It was not until the death of his best friend did his greater works occur. His works even won him the title of Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth. Tennyson was an active writer in his early years and his later years and his poetry shows his feelings of the world around him.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire (“British Literature”). He attended grammar school until age eleven and he was then homeschooled by his father. His father was very paranoid, abusive and violent and had a family of twelve unstable children, of which Tennyson is the fourth. He was not chosen as his father’s heir and instead became a member of the clergy and he wanted Tennyson to do the same (Everett). He began to show promise in writing at an early age. By age fourteen, he had written a drama in blank verse and a 6000 line epic poem (Alfred). When it was time for Tennyson to go to college, he decided to follow his two older brothers to Trinity College, Cambridge. It was there that he joined the Apostles, where he met his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam (Everett).
It was in college as an undergrad when Tennyson published his first work with his brothers, Poems by Two Brothers in 1827. He published his first solo volume in 1830, titled Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (“British Literature”). He also met his best friend as an undergrad. Even though he and Hallam only knew each other for four years, their friendship was very strong. Hallam became engaged to Tennyson’s sister...
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...himself to the universe and wonders if he will disappear in its vastness. He asks if he will have dark days due to the immense darkness of the universe. He mentions the works of God within the universe. He also says he has limited encounters with God because of his human state. He tells God he’s not afraid of being hidden from Him because His power is great. He ends by saying he’s not afraid of the world, himself, or God (Levi 320).
Works Cited
"Alfred, Lord Tennyson Biography." . CliffsNotes, 12 Apr. 2014.
Everett, Glenn . "Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Brief Biography." The Victorian Web., 30 Mar. 2004. 12 Apr. 2014.
Levi, Peter. Tennyson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993.
Scott Kastan, David, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Scott-Kilvert, Ian, ed. British Writers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981.
In Tennyson's "Tears, Idle Tears," a strong sense of nostalgia is perceived. In the last
What made Tennyson so Victorian was his ready acceptance of the mores of his day, his willingness to conform to popular taste, to write a poetry that was easily understood and enjoyed. Partly as a result of his position as a public and nationalist figure, Tennyson was by far the most popular poet of the Victorian era. No poet was ever so completely a nation...
Tucker, Herbert F. “Maud and the Doom of Culture.” Critical Essays on Alfred Lord Tennyson. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. New York: G. K. Hall, 1993. 174-194.
Throughout the years literature has been used to express new ideas, feelings and emotions. During the Romantic era authors wrote about their happy memories and sad experiences in life . The poem “We are Seven” written by William Wordsworth expresses the feeling of innocence in a child’s life. Like Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote the poem “The Lady of Shalott” with a similar theme. In his poem “The Lady of Shalott“ he expresses the innocence of a lonely women who grows old inside her house waiting for a man to marry her. The two author’s main focus was to express innocence in the lives of people.
Riede, G, David.. "Tennyson's poetics of melancholy and the imperial imagination." Studies in English Literature, 1500 - 1900 4(2000):659. eLibrary. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Tennyson’s abstract poetic structure provides comprehension difficulties in finding a single thematic idea. He intertwines historical allusions, along with deep and person feelings through one piece of work. The organic structure of certain Tennyson poetry presents a tone of uncertainty. While his unconventional works give a more solidified aura. Contrary in structure, mood, and tone, “Ulysses” and “The Lady of Shalott”, harbor the underlying theme of coveting to escape from their idle worlds.
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "The Lady of Shalott." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. 1204-1208.
Tennyson’s poetry is renowned for reflecting a penetrating introspection and meditative expressiveness unsurpassed by other poets of his time. His explorations into a vast breadth of topics ranging from the political to the deeply personal reflect his multifarious enthusiasms, and his ability to reach out to his readers as well as probe the depths of psychological expression. ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and ‘Mariana’, two of his earliest poems, exemplify this ability to communicate internal states of mind through his use of scenery.
Southam, B.C. “Tennyson.” Writers and Their Works : NO 218. London: Longman Group, 1971. p.6. print.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was one of the most famous poets of the Victorian era, some of his most famous poems include Ulysses, In Memoriam or Lady of Shalott. This paper will focus on his poem published in 1830 entitled Mariana. Mariana is Tennyson's well known poem, inspired by the charactre of the same name in shakespear's play Measure for Measure. T.S Eliot heard in Mariana 'something new happening in English verse”, and critics such as Carol Christ or Dwight Culler have “commented preceptively on its use of atomistic detail to create a landscape of strangeness appropriate to this sick-spirited maiden”. Mariana is a complex poem it is both a lyrical poem and a pathetic fallacy.
330-337. Tennyson, Alfred, Lord of the Lord. The Lady of Shalott. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed.
A brief but powerful poem written by the great Victorian poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Eagle is an inspiring poetic piece. Tennyson, recognized as the greatest poet in Victorian England, was distinguished as poet laureate in1850. Readers from all over looked to his poems for advice on the major issues effecting their lives. Tennyson began writing poetry when he was ten and published his first book of poetry with the help of his brother, Poems by Two Brothers. In 1830 Tennyson published the first volume of verse to appear under his own name, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. For twelve years after that Tennyson took a break from writing due to death of a close friend. He returned to poetry and in 1842 published Poems, a two-volume collection. Tennyson was so skillful in molding the English language in rhyme and rhythm that his poetry is as popular today as it was 150 years ago. This can be proven by one of Tennyson’s deepest and most symbolic poems, The Eagle. The poem's facade tells of a great American symbol, an eagle, watching over the sea as the leader of the land. Deeper down the poem tells of getting older and trying to hold to life enjoy the time you have.
Memoriam, The Mutable Locus Amoenus and Consolation in Tennyson's In. "Robert Bernard Hass." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 (1998): 669-687.
Alfred Tennyson gifted the Victorian Era, and the literary world with two iconic poems. The author explored the themes of personal development and culture clash in one of his most famous poems, “Ulysses”. Tennyson also discovered and analyzed the themes of love and death through his renowned and eminent poem, “Tears Idle, Tears”. The poet was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire in 1809 in the East Lindy district of England. Tennyson experienced numerous amounts of difficulties in his childhood and growing adolescent phases that spilled into his adult life. These trials and tribulations became a foundation and source of inspiration for Tennyson, who used them as a stimulus and catalyst to aide his literary progress and ideas. Two of the most prominent poems that Tennyson wrote were “Ulysses “and “Tears Idle, Tears”. These poems defined the peak of his literary endeavor and symbolized the struggles that Tennyson had experienced in his life. Throughout time readers have been able to distinguish a direct correlation between his life journey and the poems he crafted.
The poem is based on Lord Tennyson describing of a huge sea monster that is