Life
1. He was born in Lincolnshire in 1809.
2. His father, Rev. George Clayton, was a scholarly clergyman.
3. He hated school life for its rough ways.
4. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge.
5. He had some brilliant friends among than Arthur Henry Hallam, on whose death later in 1833, he wrote his "In Memoriam".
6. He left the university in 1831 without taking his degree.
7. In 1850, he became poet-laureate to succeed Wordsworth.
Works
1. His first work was "Poems by Two Brothers" which appeared in 1827.
2. He got the Chancellor's Medal for his "Timbuctoo" at university.
3. His first signed work "Poems Chiefly Lyrical" appeared in 1830.
4. In 1842 appeared his most significant volume under the name "Poems".
5. This volume contained such wonderful poems as:
(i) In Memoriam
(ii) Idylls of the King (iii) Ulysses
(iv) Morte d' Arthur
(v) Dora--(an idyll much appreciated even by Wordsworth).
(vi) The Gardener's Daughter.
(vii) Locksley Hall
(viii) Sir Galahad, etc., This volume made him immensely popular.
Some of Tennyson's other works are:
1. (i) The Princess, a Medley (1847):
(a) It is a long poem in blank verse.
(b) In it Tennyson expresses his (Victorian) views of woman's rights and duties.
(ii) In totality, the poem cannot be considered upto the mark except for some exquisite songs, such as:
(a) Tears, Idle Tears
(b) Sweet and Low (c) Bugle Song
2. Maud (1855):
(i) It is a monodrama on the vagrant life of a lover who passes through several stages till his final recovery.
(ii) It contains the famous lyric "Come Into the Garden, Maud."
(iii) However, on the whole, it cannot be considered among Tennyson's best works as it is melodramatic in setting and laborious in style.
Remarks and Comments:
1. Tennyson is more of an artist than a mere poet.
2. His lines move smoothly and melodiously to impress and the average reader.
3. He is extensively didactic, like Wordsworth.
4. He aims through his poetry at:
(a) establishment of the reign of order and moral and spiritual discipline.
(b) expression of divine love and benediction.
(c) expression of his belief in the inevitability of change to which man should adapt himself meekly.
(d) a hope for peace and glory in the world.
(e) expression of faith as opposed to the violent ways of science.
5. His women are pure and chaste and true Victorian models as represented by Queen Victorian herself.
6. Here are a few extracts from some of his poems for study.
1. From "In Memoriam"
Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out a thousand wars of
old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the
kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land. Ring in the Christ that is to be.
(From 'In Memoriam "-- by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
2. From 'The Lady of Shalott'
(i) On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot.
(A minute, concrete description in a highly lyrical language)
(ii) There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down on camelot.
3. From 'Maud'
(i) Come into the garden, Maud
For the black bat, night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud.
(ii) For a breeze of morning moves,
And the planet of Love is on high....
4. From The Lotos-Eaters (Choric Song)
(i) There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass
(ii) Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be?
(iii) Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil....
5. From Tears, Idle Tears
(i) Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean.
(ii) Dear as remember'd kisses after death.
6. From Ulysses
(i) ....I will drink Life to the lees.
(ii) How dull it is the pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
(iii) ....this grey spirit yearning in desire
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
7. From "Morte D'Arthur"
(i) So all day long the noise of battle roll'd
Among the mountain by the winter sea.
(ii) 'The sequel of today's unsolders all
The goodlist fellowship of famous knights....'
(iii) The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
Lost one good custom should corrupt the world.
8. From "Crossing the Bar"
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
9. From 'The Brook'
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
Home with her maiden posy,
For her feet have touch'd the meadows
And left the daisies rosy."
--From Morte D 'Arthur
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