The poem combines private feeling with a confusion over the future of Christianity, which was a feeling many of Tennyson's age group shared. Although Tennyson was now settled and prosperous, his next book, Maud and Other Poems , is notable for another study in sadness. Tennyson described the poem as a "little Hamlet," a reference to the play written by William Shakespeare — It almost certainly expresses some of the author's youthful anxieties as recollected in his middle age.
Of the other poems in the volume, the best-known are "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "The Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington," perhaps the greatest of the poems written by Tennyson in his capacity as poet laureate. Between and Tennyson's principal concern was the composition of a series of narrative poems about King Arthur and the Round Table. He worked on this project for more than twenty years. One section was written as early as Another part was not published until As published in , The Idylls of the King consisted of twelve blank-verse unrhymed iambic pentameter [lines of five poetic feet] narratives the idylls that dealt with Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, and other figures in the court.
The individual narratives are linked by a common theme: the destructive effect of incorrect passion on an honorable society. The Round Table is brought down in ruins by the unlawful love of Lancelot and Guinevere. Some of Tennyson's peers regretted that he had expended so much attention on the legendary past. However, it is clear that this poetic myth of a dying society expressed some of his fears for nineteenth-century England.
Tennyson had a long and immensely productive literary career. A chronology list of works by date shows that he did ambitious work until late in his life. In his sixties he wrote a series of historical verse plays—"Queen Mary" , "Harold" , and "Becket" —on the "making of England. Tennyson's last years were crowned with many honors. In Tennyson was awarded a peerage rights of nobility. Tennyson died in Haslemere, England, on October 6, He was buried in Westminster Abbey after a great funeral.
The choir sang a musical setting for "Crossing the Bar," Tennyson's poem that is placed at the end of all collections of his work.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, Lang, Cecil Y. Shannon, eds. The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson. New York: Oxford University Press, Ricks, Christopher. Berkeley: University of California Press, Shaw, W. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they toured Europe together in and again in Hallam's sudden death in greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of Tennyson's other poems are tributes to Hallam.
In , Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in he published a second volume entitled simply Poems. Some reviewers condemned these books as "affected" and "obscure.
In , he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost his inheritance on a bad investment in , Sellwood's family called off the engagement.
In , however, Tennyson's Poems in two volumes was a tremendous critical and popular success. In , with the publication of In Memoriam , Tennyson became one of Britain's most popular poets. He was selected Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth. In that same year, he married Emily Sellwood. They had two sons, Hallam and Lionel. At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era.
The money from his poetry at times exceeding 10, pounds per year allowed him to purchase a house in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His appearance—a large and bearded man, he regularly wore a cloak and a broad brimmed hat—enhanced his notoriety. He read his poetry with a booming voice, often compared to that of Dylan Thomas.
In , Tennyson published the first poems of Idylls of the Kings , which sold more than 10, copies in one month. In , he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson died on October 6, , and was buried in Westminster Abbey. National Poetry Month. On a visit to Somersby, Hallam met and later became engaged to Emily Tennyson, and the two friends looked forward to a life-long companionship.
Hallam's death from illness in he was only 22 shocked Tennyson profoundly, and his grief lead to most of his best poetry, including In Memoriam , "The Passing of Arthur," " Ulysses ," and " Tithonus. Since Tennyson was always sensitive to criticism, the mixed reception of his Poems hurt him greatly.
Critics in those days delighted in the harshness of their reviews: the Quarterly Review was known as the "Hang, draw, and quarterly. Late in the s Tennyson grew concerned about his mental health and visited a sanitarium run by Dr. Matthew Allen, with whom he later invested his inheritance his grandfather had died in and some of his family's money.
When Dr. Allen's scheme for mass-producing wood carvings using steam power went bankrupt, Tennyson, who did not have enough money to marry, ended his engagement to Emily Sellwood, whom he had met at his brother Charles's wedding to her sister Louisa. By now Tennyson, only 41, had written some of his greatest poetry, but he continued to write and to gain in popularity.
In , as the Tennysons were moving into their new house on the Isle of Wight, Prince Albert dropped in unannounced.
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