Tennyson
ACHIEVEMENTS: Poet Laureate
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: August 6, 1809, Somersby, England
DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: October 6,1892, Aldworth, England. Aged 82
DISCIPLINE: Poet
FIELD: Literature
LANGUAGE: English
EDUCATION: At home; Louth Grammar School; Trinity College, Cambridge
MAJOR WORK: "In Memoriam"
LIFE AND TIMES:
Tennyson already had a reputation among his university colleagues as a poet and in 1829, he won the chancellor's gold medal for his poem "Timbuctoo". In 1830, he
published a volume called "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical." In 1831 his father died, leaving debts, and Tennyson had to leave University without a degree. At the end of 1832, he published a volume of poems which were coldly received by the "Quarterly Review", the main critical forum of the day. In 1833, while still mourning the death of his friend Hallam, Tennyson wrote the first draft of "Morte d'Arthur", lyrics that were later part of the poem "Maud", and some of the poems that were later included in "In Memoriam", his memorial to Hallam. In 1836 he fell in love with Emily Sellwood.
In London, he began to meet regularly with Thackeray*, the novelist. He called onGladstone*, a close friend of Hallam's at Eton; and he renewed his friendship withMonckton Milnes*, who asked him to contribute to a volume of poetry. John Sterling had formed a club where Tennyson met Walter Savage Landor, the poet, and the writersE.M. Forster* andCarlyle*.The Sellwood’s did not welcome Alfred’s attentions to Emily. They considered him a profligate, addicted to port and tobacco, frowned on his bohemian lifestyle and disapproved of "the latitude of his religious views". In 1841, the relationship was broken off (they were to marry in 1850.) That same year, the Tennyson family moved to Boxley, near Maidstone, Kent, where Tennyson made new contacts, including Lear*, the artist, and William Thomson, later LordKelvin*.
Tennyson lost all his savings in 1841, having made an unwise investment. To try to recoup his losses, Tennyson decided to publish again, encouraged by Charles Stearns Wheeler, a tutor at Harvard, and a friend of Emerson*. Wheeler, Emerson and others in America were enthusiastic about Tennyson's work but were unable to find copies of it.In 1842, Tennyson published "Poems" in two volumes, one a revision of earlier work and one containing new poems including "Morte d"Arthur". But in England, it was coolly received, although the novelist Dickens* greatly admired Tennyson's work and introduced him to the American poet Longfellow*. In 1845, Tennyson was introduced to the Poet Laureate, Wordsworth*, whom Tennyson found rather cold.
Tennyson's literary reputation began to grow, but his poems reaped little profit. He eventually accepted a pension from the Civil List, authorized by Peel*, then Prime Minister. In 1847, Tennyson began to become more and more dependent on alcohol, drinking at least a bottle of port a day. He became a patient of Gully* in Malvern, who treated Tennyson in his clinic for about three months in 1848 and drastically curtailed Tennyson's drinking.
In 1850 he anonymously published "In Memoriam": a collection of elegies about Arthur Hallam. Tennyson used the poems as a vehicle to expound his views of life and death and the struggle to reconcile traditional religious belief in immortality with the emerging theories of evolution and modern geology. It was received with acclaim by reviewers and the public alike. Queen Victoria* loved the poems, sent for him, and the two became fast friends.That year she made him Poet Laureate after Wordsworth died. Tennyson and Emily, who had recently miscarried their first child, travelled to Italy and became entranced by it. On the way, in Paris, they met poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning* and her husband Robert Browning*, who were returning to England from Italy.
In 1853, the Tennyson’s, with their two sons, moved to Farringford, Isle of Wight, where Tennyson wrote "Maud", an extraordinary melodrama about social injustice which created shock waves but was always Tennyson's favorite poem. In 1854, after reading the news about the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade* at Balaclava where the British and French were fighting the Russians in the Crimea, Tennyson wrote a poem about the event. It attained an immediate and immense popularity, but was vehemently criticized because it left the impression the British army was flawed. The poem appeared again in July, 1855, this time to almost universal criticism. Though dejected by this reception, Tennyson was heartened to hear that an edition of his works was going to be illustrated by some respected young artists, including Hunt* and Millais*.
In 1859, Tennyson had a huge success with "Idylls of the King", 12 poems about legend of King Arthur. In 1858 Tennyson traveled to Portugal, Spain and North Africa. Though appreciating the fine port in Portugal, Tennyson didn't much care for the country and resented being recognized. In 1861, "The Golden Treasury", one of the best-known and loved anthologies was published. Since Tennyson refused to have any of his poems included, it was decided to leave out all living authors. In 1862, Queen Victoria received Tennyson at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Prince Albert had recently died and she took comfort from "In Memoriam". In 1864, Garibaldi* visited Tennyson.
Tennyson began to take an interest in theater, and after seeing Henry Irving* in the play "Richelieu" and "Hamlet", wrote "Queen Mary", an immensely long work, which was staged at the Lyceum, where Irving was the manager, in 1876. Henry James*, the American novelist, hated it, and said as much, but the two met amicably in 1877 at a dinner given by Monkton Milnes, where Gladstone was also present. In 1884, Tennyson accepted a peerage. In 1889 he wrote one of his most famous short poems, "Crossing the Bar", during his crossing to the Isle of Wight. He died in 1892.
ASSESSMENT: The epitome of the Victorian poet.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Besant Sir W*?
He wrote an ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington*
Sir C Stanford* set his work to music
Physician Richard Bright* treated him
Painter Burne-Jones* was a fan.
Encouraged novelist Thomas Hardy* to write.
Was a member of the Society for Psychic Research, as were authors Carroll*, Conan Doyle*, evolutionist Wallace*, and physicists Crookes*, Lodge* and JJ Thomson*
Gave author Meredith* good reviews.
His work was negatively critiqued by Leavis*
His work was set to music by Sullivan*
He met Ellen Terry*
He was influenced by the work of Sit Thomas Malory*
ONELINER: Alfred Lord Tennyson, great Victorian poet
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Martin, Robert Bernard,Tennyson, The Unquiet Heart, Faber & Faber, London, 1983
PARENTS: Alfred, clergyman; Elizabeth Fytche
SIBLINGS: Frederick, Charles, Edward, Septimus, Emily, Cecilia
SPOUSE: Emily Sellwood
CHILDREN: sons, Hallam and Lionel