Tennyson as a poet
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medalat Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Tennyson also excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears", and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classicalmythological themes, such as "Ulysses", although "In Memoriam A.H.H." was written to commemorate his friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and student at Trinity College, Cambridge, after he died of a stroke at the age of 22. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including "Ulysses", and "Tithonus". During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success.
A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplace in the English language, including ,
"Nature, red in tooth and claw" and "'Tis better to have loved and lost . Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure", "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".
Famous poem by Tennyson:
Break, Break, Break" is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson written during early 1835 and published in 1842. The poem is an elegy that describes Tennyson's feelings of loss after Arthur Henry Hallam died and his feelings of isolation while at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.
The poem describes feelings of loss. He is standing on the rocky sea shore and writing this poem. It has a strong biographical connection, containing Tennyson's feelings of melancholy and nostalgia.Tennyson captures his strong emotions in other poems, including "Tithonus", and "Ulysses".The suffering felt within the poem is connected to the suffering described in Tennyson's In Memorium , in that they both describe longing for Tennyson's deceased friend Hallam. This longing is voiced in the third stanza of "Break, Break, Break".
"Break, Break, Break" can be classified as an elegyon the subject of Tennyson's feelings about Hallam. Like "On a Mourner," written a year before, both poems use a very simple style and describe a scene in minimalistic terms. This technique is later used in later elegies written by Tennyson, including "Crossing the Bar", "In the Garden at Swainston", and "To the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava". In several of his works, including "On a Mourner", Tennyson uses a myth to illustrate themes of the poem. However, this technique and other decorative aspects are dropped in "Break, Break, Break." This distinguishes the poem from other poems Tennyson wrote around the same time, such as "Tithonus" and "Ulysses".
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