Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1869 Carbon print by Julia Margaret Cameron Born 6 August 1809 Somersby, Lincolnshire, England United Kingdom 6 October 1892 (aged83) [1] Aldworth, Sussex, England United Kingdom
Died
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.[2] Tennyson 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 classical mythological themes, such as Ulysses, although In Memoriam A.H.H. was written to commemorate his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and fellow student at Trinity College, Cambridge, who was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died from a brain haemorrhage before they could marry. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including Idylls of the King, "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 commonplaces of the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw", "'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". He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.[3]
Early life
Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, a rector's son and fourth of 12 children.[4] He derived from a middle-class line of Tennysons, but also had a noble and royal ancestry.[5] His father, George Clayton Tennyson (17781831), was rector of Somersby (18071831), also rector of Benniworth and Bag Enderby, and vicar of Grimsby (1815). Rev. George Clayton Tennyson raised a large family and "was a man of superior abilities and varied attainments, who tried his hand with fair success in architecture, painting, music, and poetry. He was comfortably well off for a country clergyman and his shrewd money management enabled the family to spend summers at Mablethorpe and Skegness, on the eastern coast of England."[5] Alfred Tennyson's mother, Elizabeth Fytche (17811865), was the daughter of Stephen Fytche (17341799), vicar of St. James Church, Louth (1764) and rector of Withcall (1780), a small village between Horncastle and Louth. Tennyson's father "carefully attended to the education and training of his children."
Tennyson and two of his elder brothers were writing poetry in their teens, and a collection of poems by all three were published locally when Alfred was only 17. One of those brothers, Charles Tennyson Turner later married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's future wife; the other was Frederick Tennyson. Another of Tennyson's brothers, Edward Tennyson, was institutionalised at a private asylum, where he was deemed dead.
"The Garden at Somersby Rectory" by W. E. F. Britten, from the 1901 book, The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Tennyson with his wife Emily (18131896) and his sons Hallam (18521928) and Lionel (18541886).
Tennyson and his family were allowed to stay in the rectory for some time, but later moved to High Beach, Essex about 1837, leaving in 1840.[10] An unwise investment in an ecclesiastical wood-carving enterprise soon led to the loss of much of the family fortune. Tennyson then moved to London, and lived for a time at Chapel House, Twickenham.
Third publication
In 1842, while living modestly in London, Tennyson published two volumes of Poems, of which the first included works already published and the second was made up almost entirely of new poems. They met with immediate success. Poems from this collection, such as Locksley Hall, "Tithonus", and "Ulysses" have met enduring fame. The Princess: A Medley, a satire on women's education, which came out in 1847, was also popular for its lyrics. W. S. Gilbert later adapted and parodied the piece twice: in The Princess (1870) and in Princess Ida (1884). It was in 1850 that Tennyson reached the pinnacle of his career, finally publishing his masterpiece, In Memoriam A.H.H., dedicated to Hallam. Later the same year he was appointed Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth. In the same year (on 13 June), Tennyson married Emily Sellwood, whom he had known since childhood, in the village of Shiplake. They had two sons, Hallam Tennyson (b. 11 August 1852) named after his friend and Lionel (b. 16 March 1854). Tennyson rented Farringford House on the Isle of Wight in 1853, and then bought it in 1856.[11] He eventually found that there were too many starstruck tourists who pestered him in Farringford, so he moved to "Aldworth", in West Sussex in 1869.[12] However, he retained Farringford, and regularly returned there to spend the winters.
Poet Laureate
After Wordsworth's death in 1850, and Samuel Rogers' refusal, Tennyson was appointed to the position of Poet Laureate, which he held until his own death in 1892, by far the longest tenure of any laureate before or since. He fulfilled the requirements of this position by turning out appropriate but often uninspired verse, such as a poem of greeting to Alexandra of Denmark when she arrived in Britain to marry the future King Edward VII. In 1855, Tennyson produced one of his best known works, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", a dramatic tribute to the British cavalrymen involved in an ill-advised charge on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War. Other esteemed works written in the post of Poet Laureate include Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington and Ode Sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition.
Lord Tennyson.
Queen Victoria was an ardent admirer of Tennyson's work, and in 1884 created him Baron Tennyson, of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. Tennyson initially declined a baronetcy in 1865 and 1868 (when tendered by Disraeli), finally accepting a peerage in 1883 at Gladstone's earnest solicitation. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 March 1884.[5] His title can cause some confusion, as later in his life he had, and chose to use, different titles. His name was very well known long before he Farringford Lord Tennyson's residence on the Isle of Wight was made a peer, and it may be for that reason that he adopted the now relatively unusual style of Alfred, Lord Tennyson to ensure that his readers and admirers were aware that the new baron was indeed the same Alfred Tennyson they had previously known.[13] Tennyson also wrote a substantial quantity of non-official political verse, from the bellicose "Form, Riflemen, Form", on the French crisis of 1859, to "Steersman, be not precipitate in thine act/of steering", deploring Gladstone's Home Rule Bill.
5 Virginia Woolf wrote a play called Freshwater, showing Tennyson as host to his friends Julia Margaret Cameron and G.F.Watts.[14] Tennyson was the first to be raised to a British Peerage for his writing. A passionate man with some peculiarities of nature, he was never particularly comfortable as a peer, and it is widely held that he took the peerage in order to secure a future for his son Hallam. Thomas Edison made sound recordings of Tennyson reading his own poetry, late in his life. They include recordings of The Charge of the Light Brigade, and excerpts from "The splendour falls" (from The Princess), "Come into the garden" (from Maud), "Ask me no more", "Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington", "Charge of the Light Brigade", and "Lancelot and Elaine"; the sound quality is as poor as wax cylinder recordings usually are.
Towards the end of his life Tennyson revealed that his "religious beliefs also defied convention, leaning towards agnosticism and pandeism":[15] Famously, he wrote in In Memoriam: "There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." [The context directly contradicts the apparent meaning of this quote.] In Maud, 1855, he wrote: "The churches have killed their Christ." In "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After," Tennyson wrote: "Christian love among the churches look'd the twin of heathen hate." In his play, Becket, he wrote: "We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, Yea, even when we know not, mix our spites and private hates with our defence of Heaven." Tennyson recorded in his Diary (p.127): "I believe in Pantheism of a sort." His son's biography confirms that Tennyson was not an orthodox Christian, noting that Tennyson praised Giordano Bruno and Spinoza on his deathbed, saying of Bruno, "His view of God is in some ways mine," in 1892.[16]
Sketch of Alfred Tennyson published one year after his death in 1892, seated in his favourite arbour at his Farringford House home in the village of Freshwater, Isle of Wight.
Tennyson continued writing into his eighties. He died on 6 October 1892 at Aldworth, aged 83. He was buried at Westminster Abbey. A memorial was erected in All Saints' Church, Freshwater. His last words were; "Oh that press will have me now!".[17] He was succeeded as 2nd Baron Tennyson by his son, Hallam, who produced an authorised biography of his father in 1897, and was later the second Governor-General of Australia.
Stained glass at Ottawa Public Library features Charles Dickens, Archibald Lampman, Duncan Campbell Scott, Lord Byron, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, William Shakespeare, Thomas Moore
Homoerotic imagery
The poem In Memoriam about a mans love for another man includes sexual imagery; for example, the poet compares his sorrow to the sorrow of a loving widower who misses his late wife in bed. Tears of the widower, when he sees A late-lost form that sleep reveals, And moves his doubtful arms, and feels Her place is empty, fall like these;[20] This is not a unique example and material that can be interpreted as homoerotic is widespread in Tennysons work. There has been speculation that Tennyson may have experienced homosexual feelings for his friend, though there is no question that he was strongly attracted to women. If Tennyson had bisexual feelings there is no firm evidence that he acted on them.[21]
References
[1] "British Listed Buildings - Aldworth House, Lurgashall" (http:/ / www. britishlistedbuildings. co. uk/ en-410472-aldworth-house-lurgashall-west-sussex). British Listed Buildings Online. . Retrieved 5 November 2012. [2] "Ten of the greatest: British poets" (http:/ / www. dailymail. co. uk/ home/ moslive/ article-1302117/ Ten-greatest-British-poets. html). Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 6 November 2012 [3] The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. 1999. [4] Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Brief Biography, Glenn Everett, Associate Professor of English, University of Tennessee at Martin (http:/ / www. victorianweb. org/ authors/ tennyson/ tennybio. html) [5] Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Eugene Parsons (Introduction). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1900. [6] Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (19221958). " Tennyson, Alfred (http:/ / venn. lib. cam. ac. uk/ cgi-bin/ search. pl?sur=& suro=c& fir=& firo=c& cit=& cito=c& c=all& tex=TNY827A& sye=& eye=& col=all& maxcount=50)". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press. [7] Friedlander, Ed. " Enjoying "Timbuctoo" by Alfred Tennyson (http:/ / www. pathguy. com/ timbuc. htm)" [8] " Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809 1892 (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ lincolnshire/ asop/ people/ alfred_tennyson. shtml)". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 27 October 2007. [9] H. Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, New York, MacMillan, 1897. [10] "History of Holy Innocents Church" (http:/ / highbeachchurch. org/ WhosWhoatHolyInnocents. aspx), Highbeachchurch.org. Retrieved 27 April 2012 [11] The Home of Tennyson (http:/ / www. farringford. co. uk/ history. php), Rebecca FitzGerald, Farringford: The Home of Tennyson (http:/ / www. farringford. co. uk/ index. php) official website [12] British Listed Buildings: Aldworth House, Lurgashall (http:/ / www. britishlistedbuildings. co. uk/ en-410472-aldworth-house-lurgashall-west-sussex) [13] http:/ / boards. straightdope. com/ sdmb/ archive/ index. php/ t-306058. html The Straight Dope The "Lord" in "Alfred Lord Tennyson" [14] Primaveraproductions.com (http:/ / www. primaveraproductions. com/ index. php?area=productions& subarea=single& id=21) [15] Cambridge Book and Print Gallery (http:/ / www. cambridgeprints. com/ newacquisitionsbooks. htm) [16] Freethought of the Day, 6 August 2006, Alfred Tennyson (http:/ / ffrf. org/ day/ ?day=6& month=8) [17] Andrew Motion, BBC Radio 4, "Great Lives: Alfred, Lord Tennyson", broadcast on 4 August 2009 [18] David G. Riede, "Tennyson's Poetics of Melancholy and the Imperial Imagination, Studies in English Literature 40:4 (2000) 659-78. [19] T. S. Eliot, Selected Prose of T. S. Eliot. Ed. Frank Kermode. New York: Harcourt, 1975. P. 246. [20] http:/ / www. online-literature. com/ tennyson/ 718/ [21] http:/ / www. glbtq. com/ literature/ tennyson_al. html [22] Vision of Sin (http:/ / tennysonpoetry. home. att. net/ vs. htm) [23] Poetryloverspage.com (http:/ / www. poetryloverspage. com/ poets/ tennyson/ tennyson_ind. html) [24] Alfred Lord Tennyson (1899). Hallam Tennyson. ed. The life and works of Alfred Lord Tennyson (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=CbQCAAAAIAAJ& lpg=PA261& ots=SAkl2mGbQ5& dq=Alfred Lord Tennyson "Kapiolani& pg=PA261). 8. Macmillan. pp.261263. .
External links
Leslie, Stephen (1898). "Life of Tennyson". Studies of a Biographer. 2. London: Duckworth and Co.. pp.196240. "Tennyson", a poem by Florence Earle Coates Tennyson's Grave, Westminster Abbey (http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/tennyson.htm) Poems by Alfred Tennyson (http://www.blackcatpoems.com/t/alfred_tennyson.html) Tennyson index entry at Poets' Corner (http://theotherpages.org/poems/poem-st.html#tennyson) Biography & Works (http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/) (public domain) Online copy of Locksley Hall (http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/2161.html) Selected Poems of A. Tennyson (http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/british_poets/alfred_tennyson/ library/) The Twickenham Museum Alfred Lord Tennyson in Twickenham (http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/ detail.asp?ContentID=38) Farringford Holiday Cottages and Restaurant, Home of Tennyson, Isle of Wight (http://www.farringford.co. uk) Tennyson in Twickenham (http://www.tellingtrails.co.uk/pages/twickenham.html#tennyson)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson Works by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Alfred+Lord+Tennyson) at Project Gutenberg Complete Biography & Works (http://tennysonpoetry.home.att.net/index.htm) Illustrations of Tennyson's poetry by the Dutch artist Anja Cazemier (http://www.anjalucy.com) Settings of Alfred Tennyson's poetry in the Choral Public Domain Library (http://www.choralwiki.org/wiki/ index.php/Alfred_Tennyson) The Louverture Project: Anacaona poem by Alfred Tennyson (http://thelouvertureproject.org/index. php?title=Anacaona_-_poem_by_Alfred_Tennyson) Poem about the Tano queen. Works by or about Alfred, Lord Tennyson (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-142936) in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Selected Works at Poetry Index (http://www.poetry-index.net/AlfredTennyson.html) Sweet and Low (http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Sweet_and_low_(Joseph_Barnby)) Recording of Tennyson reciting "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (http://www.poetryarchive.org/ poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1570) Anonymous (1873). Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day (http://en.wikisource.org/ wiki/Cartoon_portraits_and_biographical_sketches_of_men_of_the_day/Alfred_Tennyson). Illustrated by Frederick Waddy. London: Tinsley Brothers. pp.7884. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
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