Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
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Alfred Tennyson, one
of the most famous Victorian poets, was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire on
the 6th of August in 1809. Even in his early lifetime he felt
worried about a lack of money and his illness. His intense friendship to
Arthur Hallow, another poet, and his death were of major influence on the
poet. The loss of a good friend was a typical theme in the "Age of Transition".
Tennyson became a master of lyrical-elegaic writing to get over the pain of separation from his friend. By rhythm and sound he influenced the meaning and effect on his readers.
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The Lotus-Eater
Here are cool mosses deep
And thro’ the moss the ivies creep,
And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep,
And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.
Anaphoras, a rhyme 4 times repeated and verses with a falling intonation, make his poetry seem to stand still in time and movement. Thus he transmits his departure from a restless time of suffering.
In one of his other poems, "Tears, idle tears" his relationship to Romanticism becomes obvious:
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Each of the following stanzas ends with ".. the days that are no more", which points at the importance of the middle ages to the younger Romantics. He is also talking about "happy Autumn-fields" which could be referred to Romantic poets. In the time of Industrialization the people were yearning for going back to nature and living in harmony with it. Another stanza ends with
"O death in life, the days that are no more." Thus he wants to make clear that the past is dead, but still exists in the memories of the people.
Tennyson sees his poetry as the remedy against the accelerating modern times.
But Tennyson wasn’t as radical as Swinburne. He just wanted to conform to the popular taste and that is why his poems were easily understandable and enjoyable.
Alfred Tennyson died of heart failure on the 6th of October in 1892 and was by far the most popular poet of the Victorian era.
Literatur:
Englische Literaturgeschichte; Publisher: Hans Ulrich Seeber, J. B. Metzlersche Buchhandlung; Stuttgart 1991
Hauptwerke der englischen Literatur; Publisher: Manfred Pfister; Kindler Verlag GmbH; München 1975 Deutsche und europäische Romantik, 2. Auflage; Gerhart Hoffmeister; J. B.Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung; Stuttgart 1990
Insight 3 Analyses of English and American Poetry; Reinhold Schiffer, Hermann J. Weiand;Hirschgraben-Verlag; Frankfurt/M
Literary history of England in the nineteenth century and after; publisher: Albert C. Baugh; Samuel C. Chew, Richard D. Altick; Routledge& Kegan Paul LTD, London
Geschichte der englischen Literatur, Ifor Evans; Beck’sche Elementarbücher; Verlag C. H. Beck, München 1983
www.landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/tennyson/kincaid/ch3.html#irony www.classiclit.about.com/arts/classiclit/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fcharon.sfsu.edu%2FTENNYSON%2Ftennyson.html- www.zdf.de/wissen/history/38378