Sir Alfred Tennyson: Expression Through Poetry

Alfred Tennyson was born in 1809, the fourth son of the Reverend George Clayton Tennyson, in Lincolnshire, England. His early childhood was a combination of cooperating with numerous siblings, engaging in a rigorous classical education forced upon him by his father, and an increasing fear of his father's drunken violence and paranoid resentment at the children and wife. Tennyson's fear of inherited madness, what he called “the black blood of the Tennysons”, and his grief for his friend Aurther Hallam, would be with him for much of his life and provide a basis on which he expressed his feelings in poems.

Beginning with Queen Victoria’s long reign, lasting from 1837 to 1901, the Victorian Era brought about many changes. Great expansion resulted in factories, towns, and other businesses. Thus, the industrial working class and modern middle class grew into the majority of the population. Economic and military power helped Britain acquire new colonies in distant countries.

Trade policy and electoral reform were the favored political topics of the time. The trade argument was centered on the Corn Laws, which introduced an undesirable tariff on it. The Laws discouraged food imports and helped British landlords and farmers keep food prices high. Reforms came in 1846 when Parliament decided to confront the famine in Ireland. The reform established free trade.

Many Britons supported the idea of imperialism. Colonies of Britain provided raw materials for industry. Also, competition between other countries urged Britain to expand, especially west. Many Victorians believed that Westerners, including whites, Christians, and progressives, were superior to all others.

Victorian thinkers of the time, normally disagreed on everything. The o...

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