Is it not true that events from the past can subsequently affect or influence the events of the future? This is certainly demonstrated in the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson. His nineteenth century background is clearly evident in his poetry. Inspirations for majorities of his works were from people he knew, occurrences in his life, imagery of trials, tribulations, love, and death in the Victorian era. His literary works in Poems of Tennyson 1830-1870 and The Poems and Plays of Tennyson strictly show the effects of his background during his adolescence and early adulthood.
Tennyson was born in 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England; the fourth of twelve children (Everett). After leaving grammar school in 1820, his father, a rector, managed to give him a broad literary education, despite difficult conditions at home (“Tennyson…”). As a precocious young man, Alfred learned to write in styles of John Milton, and Alexander Pope, as well as established an exceptional understanding of Elizabethan dramatic verse (Everett). William Wallace Robson says that by Tennyson’s early teens, “Lord Byron was a dominant influence on the young Tennyson” (Robson). Such an influence gave way to the young Tennyson’s The Devil and the Lady, a previously unpublished collection of poems, later published in 1930 with clear inspiration from his favorite childhood writers. Perhaps Tennyson’s father should have been an English teacher instead of a clergyman.
While at the rectory, the Tennyson children found their own resources. In this respect, it is said, “All writers on Tennyson emphasize the influence of the Lincolnshire countryside on his poetry: the plain, the sea about his home, “the sand-built ridge of heaped hills that mound the sea,” and...
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...on of war from the influence from this historical part of his Victorian era background certainly facilitated his fame and success.
Mesmerized by his surroundings and culture, Tennyson used everything he could from his life experiences to compose poetry with relevance and meaning to his time, which could also fit in the future. He used circumstances in his life to denote his own opinions. His poetry presents audiences with new outlooks on particular issues of his era, and further into our own. From death, depression and war, to love and ecstasy, Tennyson used what he was most familiar with in order to write lyrical verses that one can easily comprehend. His poetic works in Poems of Tennyson 1830-1870 and The Poems and Plays of Tennyson show the myriad ways that his background during his adolescence and adulthood affected his literary accomplishments overall.
Poetry’s role is evaluated according to what extent it mirrors, shapes and is reshaped by historical events. In the mid-19th century, some critics viewed poetry as “an expression of the poet’s personality, a manifestation of the poet’s intuition and of the social and historical context which shaped him” ( Preminger, Warnke, Hardison 511). Analysis of the historical, social, political and cultural events at a certain time helps the reader fully grasp a given work. The historical approach is necessary in order for given allusions to be situated in their social, political and cultural background. In order to escape intentional fallacy, a poet should relate his work to universal
The world is changing and evolving at an astounding rate. Within the last one hundred years, the Western community has seen advances in technology and medicine that has improved the lifestyles and longevity of almost every individual. Within the last two hundred years, we have seen two World Wars, and countless disputes over false borders created by colonialists, slavery, and every horrid form of human suffering imaginable! Human lifestyles and cultures are changing every minute. While our grandparents and ancestors were growing-up, do you think that they ever imagined the world we live in today? What is to come is almost inconceivable to us now. In this world, the only thing we can be sure of is that everything will change. With all of these transformations happening, it is a wonder that a great poet may write words over one hundred years ago, that are still relevant in today’s modern world. It is also remarkable that their written words can tell us more about our present, than they did about our past. Is it just an illusion that our world is evolving, or do these great poets have the power to see into the future? In this brief essay, I will investigate the immortal characteristics of poetry written between 1794 and 1919. And, I will show that these classical poems can actually hold more relevance today, than they did in the year they were written. Along the way, we will pay close attention to the style of the poetry, and the strength of words and symbols used to intensify the poets’ revelations.
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.
In “The Fatal Sisters” Thomas Gray has created a monologue pregnant with references to history, geography, and mythology. These reappearing references and allusions enrich the text, as they allow a closer look at the political situation surrounding eleventh century Britain. The poems’ sixteen stanzas exhibit an ABAB rhyme scheme, which provides for systematic organization and positive aesthetic effects. Closer examination of the setting, tone, and imagery of the poem permits insight into the text’s content and artistic genius.
The Victorians' obsession with physical appearance has been well documented by scholars. This was a society in which one's clothing was an immediate indication of what one did for a living (and by extension, one's station in life). It was a world, as John Reed puts it, "where things were as they seemed" (312).
Tennyson’s poem has a lot of action in it but Binyon’s poem is a view
The Victorian Era started when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837 and ended roughly the day she died in 1901. Victorian England “was a strictly patriarchal society” (Yildirim 2). It is common knowledge that during the Victorian era men and women had their own specific roles. It is also common knowledge to know that men had complete legal and economical control over the women (Mitchell 1, 142). Women were expected to stay at home to keep house and take care of the children.
The Victorian era was a beautiful time. It was full of highly sophisticated people, not including the artists. The artists of the Victorian era were more to the common people that stood out. Most of the artists back then weren’t as big as they are now. They differed in so many ways trying to be individuals. In this, the works would all be outlining subjects but they differed a great deal. Artists in the Victorian era were expressing themselves with extravagant portraits of daily life in ways of romanticism, realism, impressionism, and post-impressionism.
Blunden, Edmund and Heinemann, Eds. “Tennyson.” Selected Poems. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1960. p.1. print.
330-337. Tennyson, Alfred, Lord of the Lord. The Lady of Shalott. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed.
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” (Dickens n. pag.). These words by Charles Dickens, one of the most famous writers of the Victorian Period, were intended to show the connections between the French Revolution and the decline of Dickens’s own time, the Victorian Era (“About” n.pag.). Dickens wanted to show how the trends of his time were following a tragic path that had already played out and not ended well in France. According to an article about this historical period, the Victorian Era was “a time of change, a time of great upheaval, but also a time of great literature” (“Victorian” n.pag.). The Victorian Period reflects the great changes in the social, political, and economical shifts of the time.
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.. E. J. Chiasson, "Tennyson's 'Ulysses'—A Re-Interpretation." Critical Essays on the Poetry of Tennyson. Ed. John Killham (New York: 1960), 164–173. Mazzeno, Laurence W. "Alfred, Lord Tennyson."
The Victorian age and the Modern Literature era are two very different times for the literature world. Each era had a big impact through literature, politics, and economics. The Victorian era was a time of change during the reign of Queen Victoria between 1837 to 1901. The Modern Literature era also known as the Twentieth Century and After increased popularity in literature due to the rise of industrialization and globalization from roughly about the 1910 's to the 1990 's. Even though, both of these eras made an impact towards the way people see literature, their literature work is very different in terms of themes, subjects, purposes, and techniques.
The poem is based on Lord Tennyson describing of a huge sea monster that is