Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than to never have loved at all. from In Memoriam stanza 27, lines 13-16

2. About the Artist • Recognized as greatest poet of Victorian England for more than fifty years • Intensely private and introspective • Personal and subjective moods and states of mind in poetry • Known for division between public and private selves • Educated his children at home; disturbed and terrified them with his emotional instability • Father was an educated but depressed Reverend • Grew up sensitive, well-read, but melancholy • Loved brothers and sisters, but spent much time alone • Began writing and publishing poetry anonymously before he was ten

3. About the Artist, cont’d • Studies at Cambridge University in 1827 • Poetry draws attention of a group of intellectuals called the “Apostles” who offer encouragement • Meets best friend Arthur Henry Hallam, whose social wit and charm offset his awkwardness and shyness • Hallam becomes engaged to Tennyson’s sister, Emily in 1830; publishes first work under his name entitled Poems, Chiefly Lyrical the same year • Hallam dies in 1833; begins his “ten years silence” • Does not publish anything during this time; secretly revises his published poetry • Later tells son: “in silence, obscurity, and solitude he perfected his art”

4. About the Artist, cont’d Returns to public notice in 1842 with publication of Poems; begins fifty year period as major poetic figure Publishes In Memoriam in 1850, an elegy recalling Hallam’s death; made poet laureate the same year and marries Emily Sellwood Made a Lord in 1883 Dies in 1892; reputation exceeds that of Lord Byron “I am a part of all that I have met” met” f From Ulysses, Line 18 Line

5. Appearance and Behavior • Huge man with a great mane and shaggy beard • Often dressed in picturesque fashion • Read poems in public with resounding voice and rough manners of the country • Earned considerable money for his poetry • Often read privately to Queen Victoria • Wrote lyrics, dramatic monologues, plays, long poetic narratives, elegies, and poems commenting on specific occasions • Fulfilled Victorian Idea of what a poet should be, which is...

6. Characteristics of Poetry Mastery of sounds and rhythm “The shallop flitteth silken sailed” (“The Lady of Shalott”) “The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came” (“The Lotus Eaters”) “The moan of doves in immemorial elms and murmuring of innumerable bees.” (The Princess)

7. Characteristics of Poetry, cont’d • Genius for evoking moods and states of mind: a sense of nostalgia, wistful longing for the past or for remote experiences; master at linking this with nature “ With blackest moss the flower-plots Were thickly crusted, one and all; The rusted nails fell from the knots That held the pear to the gable wall. The broken sheds looked sad and strange; Unlifted was the clinking latch Weeded and worn the ancient thatch Upon the lonely moated grange.” From “Mariana”

8. Characteristics of Poetry, cont’d Engages political, religious, and scientific issues of his day; responsive and honest, not philosophical or intellectual “Are God and Nature then at strife, That Nature lends such evil dreams? So careful of the type she seems So careless of the single life...” From In Memoriam, stanza 55, lines 5-8

9. Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus (19th Century) by J. M. W. Turner

10. Background Information Ulysses is the hero of Homer’s ancient Greek Epic poem The Odyssey; Homer tells of Ulysses’ adventures on his way home to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars. Tennyson’s poem picks up long after Ulysses has returned; the aging hero has grown restless and is preparing to set out with a band of his followers on his legendary last voyage. After an exciting life of both marvels and horrors, the old king may rest; here however, Ulysses wants to leave home yet again and embark on a final journey. He knows lost youth cannot be regained, but he seeks something else. Tennyson said of the poem: “Ulysses’ was written soon after Arthur Hallam’s death, and gave my feeling about the need of vv going forward, and braving the struggle of life perhaps more simply...”

11. Background Information, cont’d • The poem is a dramatic monologue, also known as a persona poem • Shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue: an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voice—a character, a fictional identity, or a persona. • Because a dramatic monologue is by definition one person’s speech, it is offered without overt analysis or commentary, placing emphasis on subjective qualities that are left to the audience to interpret. • Poem is connotative, or contains more than the literal (denotative) meaning, emotions, and associations of its words and phrases

12. Guided Reading Questions 1. How would you summarize Ulysses’ complaint in the first five lines? 2. What is the basic theme expressed in line 18? 3. In lines 22-28, how does Ulysses think life should be lived? 4. What is your interpretation of lines 22-32? Paraphrase and explain. 5. How is Telemachus like or unlike his father?

13. Guided Reading Questions, cont’d 6. What will Telemachus’s work be (lines 33-43)? 7. What can Ulysses gain in his old age? 8. How do lines 58-61 suggest the central theme of the poem? 9. State the theme of “Ulysses” as expressed in the final five lines of the poem. 10. Cite three passages that support the central theme of the poem.