How did Tennyson’s poetry change after he became Poet Laureate in 1850?
Tennyson’s later poetry was primarily narrative rather than lyrical. For example, unlike “Mariana,” which described a particular emotional state through landscape, his later poem Maud took the form of a “monodrama” (in Tennyson’s own words), in which a speaker tells his story in a sequence of short lyrics in varying meters. In addition, whereas his later works considered themes from mythology, history, or personal memory, Tennyson’s later poetry dealt with issues of current national concern. As Poet Laureate, Tennyson represented the literary voice of the nation and, as such, made occasional pronouncements on political affairs. For example, in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854), he depicted a disastrous battle in the Crimean War and praised the heroism of the British soldiers. In 1859, Tennyson published the first four Idylls of the King, a group of twelve blank verse narrative poems tracing the story of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This collection, dedicated to Prince Albert, enjoyed much popularity among the royal family, who saw Arthur’s lengthy reign as a representation of Queen Victoria’s 64-year rule (1837-1901).
Tennyson said that as a child he was haunted by “the passion of the past.” In what ways can Tennyson be considered a poet of the past?
Most of Tennyson’s best poems ponder the past. “The Lady of Shalott” and the poems within Idylls of the King take place in medieval England and capture a world of knights in shining armor and their damsels in distress. In addition to treating the history of his nation, Tennyson also explores the mythological past, as articulated in classical works of Homer, Virgil, and Dante. His “Ulysses” and “The Lotos- Eaters” draw upon actual incidents in Homer’s Odyssey . Likewise, his ode “To Virgil” abounds with allusions to incidents in the great poet’s Aeneid , especially the fall of Troy. Tennyson thus looked both to historical and mythological pasts as repositories for his poetry. Tennyson’s personal past, too, figures prominently in his work. The sudden death of his closest friend Arthur Henry Hallam when Tennyson was just 24 dealt a great emotional blow to the young poet, who spent the next ten years writing over a hundred poems dedicated to his departed friend, later collected and published as “In Memoriam” in 1850. This lengthy work describes Tennyson’s memories of the time he spent with Hallam, including their days at Cambridge University. “In Memoriam” also reflects Tennyson’s struggle with the Victorians’ growing awareness of another sort of past: the vast expanse of geological time and evolutionary history. His treatment of the important scientific issues of his day represents an attempt to come to terms with the evolutionary past history of our species and our world. Tennyson can thus be considered a poet of the historical, mythological, personal, and evolutionary past.
How did Tennyson respond to the scientific advances of his day?
Tennyson lived through many important discoveries and developments in the fields of biology, astronomy, and geology. In 1830-33, Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology extended the history of the earth back millions of years and reduced the stature of the human race in time. Astronomers presented a map of the sky overwhelming in its vastness. Robert Chambers’s Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844) and Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) made humans just another species within the animal kingdom. The new discoveries implied a view of humanity that much distressed many Victorians, including Tennyson. In Maud, for example, he describes the stars as “cold fires, yet with power to burn and brand / His nothingness into man”; unlike the Romantics, he possessed a painful awareness of the brutality and indifference of “Nature red in tooth and claw.” Although Tennyson associated evolution with progress, he also worried that the notion seemed to contradict the biblical story of creation and long-held assumptions about man’s place in the world. Nonetheless, in “In Memoriam,” he insists that we must keep our faith despite the latest discoveries of science: he writes, “Strong Son of God, immortal Love / Whom we, that have not seen they face, / By faith, and faith alone, embrace / Believing where we cannot prove.” At the end of the poem, he concludes that God’s eternal plan includes purposive biological development; thus he reassures his Victorian readers that the new science does not mean the end of the old faith. Tennyson thus provided the Victorians with a way of reconciling the new discoveries of science with their personal and religious convictions about man’s place and purpose.
1. In what ways was Tennyson an heir to the Romantic generation? In what ways did he differ from his predecessors?
2. How did the death of Arthur Henry Hallam impact Tennyson’s poetry?
3. How does the refrain change in the various stanzas of “Mariana”? Do these changes indicate any sort of development or progression in the poem?
4. “The Lady of Shalott” has most commonly been interpreted as a poem about the relationship between art and life. How can the Lady’s story be interpreted in these terms? Do you find this interpretation compelling?
5. Several of Tennyson’s poems have mythological as well as autobiographical origins. How do these origins come into play in a poem such as “Ulysses” or “The Epic”?
6. Compare the different ways in which Tennyson chooses a classical theme or figure to symbolically discuss the notion of departing from life’s natural course? Consider specifically the poems “Tithonus,” “Ulysses,” and “The Lotos-Eaters.”
7. Tennyson uses several Christian images in his poetry, including the three Christmases that structure time in “In Memoriam” and the image of the Pilot in “Crossing the Bar.” What other such images does Tennyson employ? Is Tennyson making a statement about Christianity in these references? What might he be saying?
This essay provides a close reading of Tennyson. (Look for it towards the end of the essay.) I wrote this in my first year at uni.
Good luck, and follow the blog too!
5 out of 8 people found this helpful
Part IV is 6 stanzas in length (not 5 stanzas as stated here) and the "Shalott/Camelot" rhyme is deviated from twice in Part III - 'Lancelot' is the first B rhyme of the first stanza and the second B rhyme of the fourth stanza. It's all about the detail!
This time, we got the following crossword puzzle clue : Nature, red in tooth and claw Tennyson that also known as Nature, red in tooth and claw Tennyson 3 letters . First, we gonna look for more hints to the Nature, red in tooth and claw Tennyson crossword puzzle . Then we will collect all the require information and for solving Nature, red in tooth and claw Tennyson crossword . In the final, we get all the possible answers for the this crossword puzzle definition.
Here are other similar crossword definitions:
Nevertheless,... Read more→
3 out of 11 people found this helpful