Alfred Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson

? 1. Introduction: His Life

? 2. Major Works

? 3. Analysis of the poem

? 4. Artistic Features

? 5. Comment on T ennyson

Alfred Tennyson, (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892), much better known as "Alfred, Lord Tennyson," was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen V ictoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language.

Tennyson, Browning and Arnold are generally called “The Big Three” of Victorian poets. Among them, Tennyson was the most popular and gained the title of “poet of the people”. His reputation remained high until his death, declined in the early 20th century, and its rightly very high today.

Introduction: His Life

Alfred Tennyson was born and bred in a country clergyman’s family and educated at Cambridge University. His early volumes of poems, published in 1830 and 1833, went unnoticed by the reading public, and he only achieved some fame with his two volumes of poetry in 1842. He received a pension from the government, and in 1850 he was made poet laureate to succeed Wordsworth. From that time till he was created a baron and became Lord Tennyson in 1884, he wrote more openly as a court poet.

Tennyson died on October 6, 1892 and was buried in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Tennyson - Timeline

1809-- Born at Somersby rectory, Lincolnshire, fourth son of the rector.

1827 -- Poems by Two Brothers with Charles and Edward.

-- Enters Trinity College, Cambridge.

1829 -- Friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam. -- Member of the "Apostles," a group of young men, at Cambridge.

-- Receives chancellor's Gold Medal for prize poem "Timbuctoo".

1830 -- Poems Chiefly Lyrical published. 1831 -- Father dies.

-- Hallam reviews of Poems Chiefly Lyrical. 1832-- Poems published. -- His brother Edward goes insane.

1833 -- Hallam dies.

1838 -- Engaged to Emily Sellwood.

1840 -- Engagement broken off.

-- Family moves to Tunbridge Wells.

1842 -- Poems revised; his fame established. 1843 -- Entire fortune, 3500 pounds, lost on a project to make wood

carvings by steam, and his brothers and sisters lose an additional

8,000 pounds.

1844 -- Has an emotional breakdown.

1845-- Receives Civil List pension of 200 pounds/year.

1847 -- "The Princess" published.

1849 -- Renews correspondence with Emily 1850-- In Memoriam published anonymously.

-- Marries Emily Sellwood.

-- Appointed Poet Laureate.

1852 -- Son Hallam born.

1853 -- Moves to Farringford, Isle of Wight. 1854 -- Son Lionel born.

1855 -- Maud; a Monodrama published. 1859 -- Idylls of the King published.

1862 -- New edition of Idylls dedicated to the memory of Prince Albert.

-- Has first audience with Queen V ictoria. 1869-- The Holy Grail and Other Poems published.

1872 -- V erse novelettes Gareth and Lynette published.

1875 -- Queen Mary, a play, published. 1880 -- Ballads and Other Poems published. 1881-- The Cup produced, starring Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

1883 -- Accepts barony.

1885 -- Tiresias and Other Poems published. 1886-- Locksley Hall Sixty Y ears After published.

-- Son Lionel dies.

1892 -- Dies.

Major Works

1. Poems by Two Brothers (the 1st collection of poems, 1827)《两兄弟诗集》

2. Poems (his 1st important work, a collection of his early poems;1833)《诗集》

3. two volumes of Poems (secured his position as the leading poet of his time, 1842; includes The Lady of Shalott, The Lotus Eaters,Ulysses is included) 《诗集》（第二卷）

4. The Princess (1847)《公主》

5. In Memoriam H.H.(1850; succeeded Wordsworth as poet Laureate) 《悼念》

6. Maud

7. Idylls of the King(1859)《国王诗歌集》

8. Crossing the Bar 《过沙洲》

9. Break, Break, Break 《浪花拍，拍，拍》

Analysis of the poem

“The Lady of Shallot”

◆This was a dreamlike poem based on the Arthurian legends.

◆This poem included the V ictorian views on women.

◆It shows how the women were in a way isolated and set back from the men.

Ulysses

◆This poem was written in the year 1842

◆Tennyson wrote this poem after he learned of his 22 year old friend, Arthur's death.

Ulysses was a reflection his feelings towards Arthur's death and "the need for going forward, and braving the struggle of life.”(V ictorian web Jan. 5, 2005)

◆Tennyson wrote Ulysses as a way to grieve and move on, after the death of his friend, in a

creative way.

In Memoriam

◆Tennyson’s greatest poem

◆Represents his struggle with Hallam’s death and with the new developments in

astronomy, biology, and geology that were diminishing man’s stature in the universe.

◆After publication of this poem, Tennyson was named Poet Laureate.

Break, Break, Break

◆"Break, Break, Break" is a lyric poem that Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was believed to have completed in 1834. It centers on Tennyson's grief over the death of his best friend, Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet. Lyrical poetry presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation. A lyric poem often has a pleasing musical quality. The word lyric derives from the Greek word for lyre, a stringed instrument in use since ancient times.

◆ Summary

The narrator grieves the loss of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, a promising poet and essayist who had been engaged to Tennyson's sister, Emily. Hallam died of a stroke in 1833 when he was only 22. Nature, of course, does not stop to mourn the loss of anyone. Cold and indifferent, it carries on; the waves of the ocean breaking against rocks along the seashore without pausing even for a moment. The rest of the world carries on as well: the fisherman's boy happily playing with his sister, the sailor merrily singing, the ship busily plying（经营生意）the waters of commerce. The poet’s own feelings of sadness are contrasted with the carefree, innocent joys of the children and the unfeeling movement of the ship and the sea waves. Downcast（情绪低落的）, isolated by his grief, the narrator yearns to touch the hand of his friend once more, to hear the sound of his voice. But, no, Hallam is gone forever; his "tender grace" will never again return.

The Eagle

◆Style

"The Eagle: A Fragment" is written in two stanzas of three lines each and utilizes the iambic-tetrameter form of meter. Iambic meter is structured in units of two syllables where the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed. If the stresses are identified, the first line appears as follows:

He clasps / the crag / with crook/ed hands

This poem is just a simple poem about an eagle.

Eagle -- An isolated, powerful figure, ready to drop down and seize its prey.

In the first stanza the eagle sits perched up on some high mountain crag in some deserted area, and in the second stanza he suddenly swoops down in flight. That's really all there is to it as far a subject matter goes. However, the significance of the poem is the interesting way Tennyson communicates that experience of the eagle through the poetic devices: crooked hands, ring'd with the azure world, wrinkled sea, like a thunderbolt, etc. Notice the interesting contrast between the two stanzas: in the first the eagle is sitting still, and in the second one he is in flight.

The poem, consisting of only two stanzas, is one of pure imagery. The first description is of an eagle sitting of the side of a mountain, while digging its talons into the rock. The eagle, a bird of prey, of strength, size, gracefulness, keen vision and power of flight, is pictured as lonely. The bird, also known for his power and strength seems rather small against its surroundings. Although the eagle is alone and small against nature, its majestic stereotype is maintained by the placement of the bird at great height or as the poem states, "Close to the sun." The second depiction is a comparison of the eagle to a thunderbolt falling from the mountain.

◆The eagle, at its great height, is a representation of a man at the peak of his life, clinging on desperately. The mountain represents the universe. Similar to the eagle's smallness as compared to the mountain, is man's as compared to the universe. The man is lonely in that he must enter and leave the world alone. Just as the eagle is a part or fragment of the mountain, the man is a part of the universe and they both leave when they "fall off."Both are encircled by their "worlds" and must stand or endure. The sea delineates life and the return to it after death because of the theory that states such. The thunderbolt characterizes death in that both are sudden, effective, and momentary. A thunderbolt is loud and it disappears just as quickly as it appears. Man was supposedly born water, and returns to his origins after death. Thus the water below the cliff maintains that idea as the eagle presumably falls in. In addition, the last words of each stanza, "stands" and "falls," are opposite to each other in definition. "Falls" is often used to convey death, while "stands" is used to convey endurance. Thus, falls and the suddenness of the thunderbolt, together convey death.

Artistic Features

?Tennyson is a great V ictorian poet conscious of the situation of his own age. He is the first

major writer to express the awareness of the vast extent of geological time that has haunted human consciousness since Victorian scientists exposed the history of the earth’s crust.

?Tennyson is a real artist. He has the natural power of linking visual pictures with musical

expressions, and these two with the feelings. He has perfect control of the sound of English, and a sensitive ear, an excellent choice and taste of words. His poetry is rich in

poetic images and melodious language, and noted for its lyrical beauty and metrical charm.

?Tennyson is a moralist. He is closer to Pope and Gray than to, say, Browning. He is a

classical scholar with highly polished style, delicate tunes and faultless verbal rhythms.

Although he attacks the evils of his time, especially money-worship, his attacks are most those of a moralist than of a radical reformer. His poetry is full of didacticism. He has made poetry the description of a beautiful and antique world, as if deliberately he is closing his eyes to the ugly industrialis m of his own century. His own past, his country’s past, the past of mankind and the past of the world are the theme of his poetry.

?Tennyson is a great poet of nature. He sees nature as the setting for performances and

spectacles as intense and transitory as the emotions which sweep across the mind.

Comment on Tennyson

?Tennyson is the most representative poet of Victorian age. He has perfect control of the

sound of English. His works are not only the products of the creative imagination of a poetic genius but also products of a long and rich English heritage.

?Tennyson was severely criticized by Imagist poets in the early twentieth century for his

affectation and wordiness.

08 英语3班李小莉（200803101310）