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Alfred Lord Tennyson [1809-1892] ENG
Ranked #16 in the top 380 poets
Votes 77%: 3102 up, 905 down

Melancholia, sadness, sorrow.

As source material for his poetry, Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter ranging from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature. The influence of John Keats and other Romantic poets published before and during his childhood is evident from the richness of his imagery and descriptive writing. He also handled rhythm masterfully. Tennyson's use of the musical qualities of words to emphasise his rhythms and meanings is sensitive.

He reflects the Victorian period of his maturity in his feeling for order and his tendency towards moralising. He also reflects a concern common among Victorian writers in being troubled by the conflict between religious faith and expanding scientific knowledge.

English author often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850; he was appointed by Queen Victoria and served 42 years. Tennyson`s works were melancholic, and reflected the moral and intellectual values of his time, which made them especially vulnerable for later critic.Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. His father, George Clayton Tennyson, a clergyman and rector, suffered from depression and was notoriously absentminded. Alfred began to write poetry at an early age in the style of Lord Byron. After spending four unhappy years in school he was tutored at home. Tennyson then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the literary club `The Apostles` and met Arthur Hallam, who became his closest friend. The undergraduate society discussed contemporary social, religious, scientific, and literary issues. Encouraged by `The Apostles`, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical in 1830, which included the popular Mariana. He travelled with Hallam on the Continent. By 1830, Hallam had become engaged to Tennyson`s sister Emily. After his father`s death in 1831 Tennyson returned to Somersby without a degree. 

His next book, Poems(1833), received unfavourable reviews, and Tennyson ceased to publish for nearly ten years. Hallam died suddenly on the same year in Vienna. It was a heavy blow to Tennyson. He began to write Im Memorian for his lost friend - the work took seventeen years. A revised volume of Poems, included the The Lady of Shalott and The Lotus-eaters. Morte d`Arthur and Ulysses appeared in 1842 in the two-volume Poems, and established his reputation as a writer. In Ulysses Tennyson portrayed the Greek after his travels, longing past days: "How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!" 

Among Tennyson`s major poetic achievements is the elegy mourning the death of his friend Arthur Hallam, In Memoriam (1850). He was born in the same year as Darwin, but his view about natural history, however, was based on catastrophe theory, not evolution. The patriotic poem Charge of the Light Brigade, published in Maud (1855), is one of Tennyson`s best known works, although at first Maud was found obscure or morbid by critics ranging from George Eliot to Gladstone. Later the poem about the Light Brigade inspired Michael Curtiz`s film from 1936, starring Errol Flynn. Historically the fight during the Crimean war brought to light the incompetent organization of the English army. However, the stupid mistake described in the poem honoured the soldier`s courage and heroic action.  

In the 1870s Tennyson wrote several plays, among them poetic dramas Queen Mary (1875) and Harold (1876). In 1884 he was created a baron. Tennyson died at Aldwort on October 6, 1892 and was buried in the Poets` Corner in Westminster Abbey. Soon he became the favourite target of attacks of many English and American poets who saw him as a representative of narrow patriotism and sentimentality. Later critics have praised again Tennyson. T.S. Eliot has called him `the great master of metric as well as of melancholia` and that he possessed the finest ear of any English poet since Milton.

(bibliography: The Literature Network)

Bipolar disorder, Didactism, Fantasy, Laureate, Romanticism, Spasmodic, Victorian, War

YearsCountryPoetInteraction
1265-1321
ITA
Dante Alighieri
→ influenced Alfred Lord Tennyson
1621-1695
WEL
Henry Vaughan
→ influenced Alfred Lord Tennyson
1793-1835
ENG
Felicia Dorothea Hemans
→ influenced Alfred Lord Tennyson
1795-1821
ENG
John Keats
→ influenced Alfred Lord Tennyson
1812-1888
ENG
Edward Lear
→ illustrated Alfred Lord Tennyson
1828-1882
ENG
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
→ illustrated Alfred Lord Tennyson
1834-1896
ENG
William Morris
→ praised Alfred Lord Tennyson
1835-1913
ENG
Alfred Austin
→ attacked Alfred Lord Tennyson
1874-1958
CAN
Robert W Service
→ read Alfred Lord Tennyson
1888-1965
USA/ENG
Thomas Stearns Eliot
→ liked Alfred Lord Tennyson
1907-1973
ENG/USA
W H Auden
→ disliked Alfred Lord Tennyson
1552-1599
ENG
Edmund Spenser
← praised by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1823-1896
ENG
Coventry Patmore
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1837-1909
ENG
Algernon Charles Swinburne
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1849-1916
USA
James Whitcomb Riley
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1861-1907
ENG
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
← friend of Alfred Lord Tennyson
1888-1935
POR
Fernando Pessoa
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1892-1950
USA
Edna St. Vincent Millay
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1911-1979
USA
Elizabeth Bishop
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson
1929-2012
USA
Adrienne Rich
← influenced by Alfred Lord Tennyson


WorkLangRating
The Splendour Falls
eng
91
Crossing the Bar
eng
76
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
eng
53
The Lady of Shalott
eng
40
All Things will Die
eng
36
Ulysses
eng
31
The Eagle
eng
24
A Farewell
eng
20
Flower in the Crannied Wall
eng
18
Boadicea
eng
14
Break, break, break
eng
14
Lilian
eng
14
Maud
eng
12
The Brook
eng
11
Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
eng
10
The Poet`s Song
eng
10
Ask Me No More
eng
9
Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere
eng
9
Blow, Bugle, Blow
eng
8
The Death of the Old Year
eng
8
Early Spring
eng
7
Ode to Memory
eng
7
In Memoriam 16: I envy not in any moods
eng
6
The Flower
eng
6
Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead
eng
5
In Memoriam A. H. H. 116
eng
5
Ring Out , Wild Bells
eng
5
Sweet And Low
eng
5
The Princess (part 7)
eng
5
Balin and Balan
eng
4
Claribel
eng
4
After-Though
eng
3
Gigantic daughter of the West,
eng
3
In Memoriam 82: I Wage Not Any Feud With Death
eng
3
Locksley Hall
eng
3
Summer Night
eng
3
Amphion
eng
2
Beautiful City
eng
2
Come not when I am dead
eng
2
Fatima
eng
2
Hendecasylla
eng
2
How Thought You That This Thing Could Captivate?
eng
2
Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur (excerpt)
eng
2
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 78
eng
2
Tears, Idle Tears
eng
2
The Miller`s Daughter
eng
2
The Princess: A Medley: Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
eng
2
The Princess: A Medley: Tears, Idle Tears
eng
2
The Skipping-Rop
eng
2
Œnone
eng
2
‘And ask ye why these sad tears stream?’
eng
2
Battle Of Brunanburgh
eng
1
CXV: Spring
eng
1
Dedication
eng
1
Enoch Arden
eng
1
Far-Far-Away
eng
1
Freedom
eng
1
Guinevere
eng
1
In Memoriam 3: O Sorrow, Cruel Fellowship
eng
1
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 16
eng
1
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 5.
eng
1
In The Valley Of Cautertz
eng
1
Lady Clare
eng
1
Lancelot And Elaine
eng
1
Late, Late, So Late
eng
1
Lucretius
eng
1
LXXXIII: Spring
eng
1
Marriage Morning
eng
1
Milton (Alcaics)
eng
1
Northern Farmer: Old Style
eng
1
Recollection
eng
1
Sir Galahad
eng
1
The Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava
eng
1
The Higher Pantheism
eng
1
The Lotos-eaters
eng
1
The Owl
eng
1
The Passing Of Arthur
eng
1
The Princess (prologue)
eng
1
The Princess: A Medley: As thro` the land
eng
1
The Princess: A Medley: O Swallow
eng
1
The War
eng
1
Tithonus
eng
1
Audley Court
eng
0
By an Evolutionist
eng
0
Come down, O Maid
eng
0
Cradle Song
eng
0
Demeter and Persephone
eng
0
Duet
eng
0
from `The Princess`
eng
0
Gareth And Lynette
eng
0
Geraint And Enid
eng
0
Hands All Round
eng
0
Idylls Of The King: Song From The Marriage Of Geraint
eng
0
Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament (excerpt)
eng
0
In Memoriam 131: O Living Will That Shalt Endure
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H. 7
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H. Obiit MDCCCXXXIII
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H. Obiit: 124.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 105.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 11.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 118.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 121.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 126.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 131
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 15.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 2
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 22
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 39
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 44
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 45
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 54.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 55
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 56
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 6.
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 67
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 72
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 82
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 83
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 95
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 96
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 99
eng
0
In Memoriam A. H. H.: Preface
eng
0
In Memoriam XV
eng
0
In Memoriam XXX
eng
0
In The Garden At Swainston
eng
0
Mariana in the Moated Grange
eng
0
Mariana In The South
eng
0
Maud II
eng
0
Merlin And Vivien
eng
0
Minnie and Winnie
eng
0
Morte D`Arthur
eng
0
Move Eastward, Happy Earth
eng
0
Northern Farmer: New Style
eng
0
O Beauty, Passing Beauty!
eng
0
O true and tried
eng
0
O, Were I Loved As I Desire To Be!
eng
0
OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII (Entire)
eng
0
Pelleas And Ettarre
eng
0
Politics
eng
0
Requiescat
eng
0
Sea Dreams
eng
0
Spring
eng
0
St. Agnes` Eve
eng
0
The Coming Of Arthur
eng
0
The Defence of Lucknow
eng
0
The Deserted House
eng
0
The Grandmother
eng
0
The Holy Grail
eng
0
The Kraken
eng
0
The Last Tournament
eng
0
The Letters
eng
0
The Lord of Burleigh
eng
0
The Marriage Of Geraint
eng
0
The Mermaid
eng
0
The Oak
eng
0
The Palace of Art
eng
0
The Princess (part 1)
eng
0
The Princess (part 2)
eng
0
The Princess (part 3)
eng
0
The Princess (part 4)
eng
0
The Princess (part 5)
eng
0
The Princess (part 6)
eng
0
The Princess (The Conclusion)
eng
0
The Princess: A Medley: Ask me no more
eng
0
The Princess: A Medley: Come down, O Maid
eng
0
The Princess: A Medley: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead
eng
0
The Princess: A Medley: Our Enemies have Fall`n
eng
0
The Princess: A Medley: Thy Voice is Heard
eng
0
The Progress of Spring
eng
0
The Revenge - A Ballad of the Fleet
eng
0
The Ringlet
eng
0
The Talking Oak
eng
0
To E. Fitzgerald: Tiresias
eng
0
To Edward Lear: on His Travels in Greece
eng
0
To J. S.
eng
0
To The Queen
eng
0
To Virgil
eng
0
Will
eng
0
You Ask Me, Why, Tho` Ill at Ease
eng
0

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