Tennyson's Life and Literature
Tennyson had an easy - going life . There was nothing in it to be designated as dramatic by any biographer . He came of a middle class family , quite prosperous and affluent for an easygoing life . His life had nothing sensational to strike . He did never starve in a garret . He did never run off with a woman . He was never rebuffed by a publisher .
Tennyson was born in a village in Lincolnshire in the year 1809. He was the son of a rector and a responsible student . He was drawn to verse quite early and tried to develop his poetic talent . While a young boy , he wrote and published a book with his brother Charles , under the title Poems by Two brothers . He read at Trinity College , Cambridge . As a serious and sober student , he even won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for his Timbuctoo . He started his full poetic career in 1830 and became the master - poet of his age .
Tennyson was all through methodical and prudent . He did not marry in a hurry and waited for ten years until he could afford to marry . He lived in a comfortable country home with various books to spend his time . He was quite congenial and friendly and had a large number of friends , and was acquainted with a good many interesting people of his time . He was immensely popular in the Queen's court and a special favourite of the Queen herself .
Tennyson kept away from any controversial matter . Naturally much of the conflict and confrontation of the age could well be avoided by him . He was much concerned with man and nature and naturally , he found easier scope to cultivate his poetic craft .
Tennyson's poetic success was rewarded in 1850 when he was made the Poet Laureate .
Tennyson died in 1892 , at the ripe old age of eighty three .
Tennyson's Poetry
Tennyson had both enough leisure and a proper background for an active intellectual life . His poetry , written through the long span of his testifies to this . The poet in Tennyson is no prophet for humanity . On the other hand , the topics and preoccupations of his age are revealed pretty well in his poetry .Indeed , Tennyson is the representative poet of the Victorian era . He is a representative not of the melody , wisdom , or passion , or other phases of the era only , but of the era itself as a whole , with its diverse elements , in a harmonious way . In the opinion of a critic , " He has imbibed the spirit of our complex modern civilization with all its refinement and culture , its discriminating art and criticism , its humanity and sensitiveness , its self - consciousness and introspective self - analysis , its exaltation of women and play of sentiment and affection as also its eager spirit of search and enquiry and consequent unsettled and restless position in philosophy and religion . " Tennyson began his poetic career with an arduous effort to find out the style and the measures in which his poetic talent could be best expressed . He won the Chancellor's prize at Cambridge in 1829 with his Timbuctoo and published , in 1830 , his Poems , Chiefly Lyrical . His works , however , hardly drew attention , and were subjected to harsh criticism by some reviewers in the early stage .
But Tennyson proved his worth , as a poet , with the publication of his two volumes of poetry under the title , Poems by Alfred Tennyson , in 1842. The publication of In Memoriam in 1850 raised his stature , as a poet , further and won for him a unique place in the world of Victorian poetry . His further remarkable works to add to his poetic achievements include Maud and Other Poems , Idylls of the King , Enoch Arden , Ballads and Other Poems , and so on . He also attempted to write some plays , such as Queen Mary , The Cup and Becket , which could not have , however , any enduring success .
Tennyson , the most representative Victorian , was also the most popular poet of his age . Of course , with the progress of time , his poetic reputation has definitely subsided much . Yet , the glory of his poetry is undeniable and acknowledged by all the lovers of English poetry .
In his craftsmanship , Tennyson , indeed , is as good as any English poet who ever lived . One reason , perhaps , why he is one of the most popular English poets is that he is usually so easy to follow . His sense and style draw attention and this is because the poet in Tennyson is an unremitting master of his craft . Of the many merits of his poetic art a few need be noted in particular .
The first of these features is his simplicity of thought and sincerity of feeling . There is something universal in his poetry that has an appeal to all hearts - ancient or modern . The choric song of the drugged crew in The Lotos - eaters , the dying vision of King Arthur and the rare sacrifice of Enoch Arden touch the inmost chord of all hearts , and this is because his thought is so simple and feeling , so sincere and universal .
The second feature of Tennyson's poetry is his philosophy of faith and hope . His poetry echoes his faith in God and his trust that somehow good will be the final goal of evil . He is an optimist definitely , with a firm conviction that present evil will only lead to future good . At the same time , he does not disown the possibility of the new order in God's strange plan : " The old order changeth yielding place to the new .
" But , as an artist in verse and in the matter of technical excellence , Tennyson's place is with the greatest of his race . His genius is essentially artistic . He is an artist first and a poet next . As an artist , he is worthy to be ranked with Keats , Milton and Shakespeare . His unrivalled power of drawing pictures with the magic of his words is , indeed , a great pleasure to every genuine lover of poetry . His melody rings with an unsurpassable appeal . His technical artistry is the greatest element in his poetry , in which imagery and melody are finely fused .
" In the stormy east - wind straining
The pale yellow woods were waning .
The broad stream in his banks complaining .
Heavily the low sky raining ....... " ( The Lady of Shalott )
" Tennyson has Shakespeare's echoes , but not Shakespeare's universality ;
Wordsworth's love of Nature but not Wordsworth's spititual insight ; Keats's worship of Beauty , but not Keats's identification of Beauty with Truth ; Milton's stateliness but not Milton's sublimity . He has not the revolutionary sentiment of Byron or Shelley , nor the profound optimism of Browning . " This is the just tribute . Masculine vigour and strength form no part of his narrative gifts . Again , his imagination is delicate , and not robust . Yet , with all this , Tennyson remains a force in English literature , and his poetry breathes everywhere the spirit of purity , honour and high morality . This shows the high seriousness as well as sensuousness , simplicity as also sonority of the poetry . These are the marks of great poetry .
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