ALFRED TENNYSON Birth Date August 06 1809 Death

ALFRED TENNYSON Birth Date: August 06, 1809 Death Date: October 06, 1892 Place of Birth: Somersby, united kingdom. Place of Death: Aldworth, united kingdom. Nick Name: The lord Tennyson

* Arthur Hallam * Emily Sellwood * His Works: - Chiefly lyrical • - Poems • - I dylls of the kings • - Ulysses •

Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in man and brute; Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou. Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours, to make them thine. Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be: They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they

And yet we trust it comes from thee, A beam in darkness: let it grow. Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell; That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before, But vaster. We are fools and slight; We mock thee when we do not fear: But help thy foolish ones to bear; Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light. Forgive what seem'd my sin in me; What seem'd my worth since I began; For merit lives from man to man, And not from man, O Lord, to thee. Forgive my grief for one removed, Thy creature, whom I found so fair. I trust he lives in thee, and there I find him worthier to be loved. Forgive these wild and wandering cries, Confusions of a wasted youth; Forgive them where they fail in truth, And in thy wisdom make me wise

Quotes When Arthur Henry Hallam, Tennyson's beloved friend, suddenly died in Vienna at the age of twenty-two years, Tennyson composed in his honor one of the great elegies in the English language. He begins his work with a prologue addressed to Love, “the son of God. We have not seen Love face to face”; we accept its existence on faith alone, believing something that we cannot prove. In this passage Tennyson is echoing the conclusion of the gospel of John (20: 24– 29): the disciple Thomas said that he would not believe that Christ had risen from the dead until he had put his finger into the print of the nails in Christ's hands and thrust his hand into the wound in his side. Christ invites him to do what he demanded and then said, "Thomas, “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed”. " Tennyson, following Christ, is saying in different form that belief grounded on proof is inferior in merit to the accepting of what cannot be proved, which is true faith

The poet, having recovered much of his balance after suffering extreme shock from the death of his friend, Arthur Hallam, looks back upon his protracted grief and sees that it was excessive. He had fallen into the common human error of trusting too much in the things of the earth and neglecting to maintain faith in God. Those who trust only in people and things are left helpless when friends and possessions are taken from them. Men should look not to earth, but to eternity, and must never forget that everything in human life is made by God, and will last only a short time. «Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be; They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they"

Analysis These lines are taken from Alfred Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”. It was written in the nineteenth century Victorian era. He was best known for being Qeen Victori’s poet laureate. This poem represents a Victorian era in many ways. First, there is an enormous use of skepticism, for example, “Forgive these wild and wandering cries, / Confusions of a wasted youth” (41 -42). Second, there is a sense of realism, for example, “Thin are these orbs of light and shade, /Thou maddest life in man and brute” (5 -8). Third, there is a growing of consciousness, for example, “And in thy wisdom make me wise”(44).

Some of the notable literary elements in the poem "In Memoriam" by Lord Alfred Tennyson include : - The use of Rhyme, and especially end-rhyme: we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, - Employing Stanzas as part of the structure of the poem Employing a Rhyme Scheme: In this poem, Lord Alfred Tennyson employs the "abba" rhyme scheme. The first and fourth line of a stanza rhyme; the second and third line of a stanza rhyme. - The use of Internal Rhyme: Tennyson uses rhyme within a single line. . . for example. . . "Forgive these ld and wandering. The "wi" in wild and the 'cri" in cries are internal rhyme. - The use of a Caesura: This causes a pause within a line for a pronounced effect. . . the Caesura is between the words sailor and while. . . Thy sailor, —while thy head is bow'd, - The use of Imagery: Tennyson employs auditory and visual imagery in this poem: Auditory: "I hear the bell struck in the night: " Visual: "I see the cabin-window bright

Opinion In my view, Tennyson's poem is an elegy which deals with social and individual problems, in such away that he reaches the Victorian target of avoiding the excessive egotism of romantic poetry he approaches theme of nature in different way, using the comparison between human and nature time. In contrast to romantic vision , which reckoned nature as the muse of poetry and the source of imagination and poetry creativity.

Major Themes Most critics agree that In Memoriam can readily be divided into four sections marked by the three Christmas celebrations following Hallam's death. The mood progresses from despair, longing, doubt, and sorrow to hope, innerpeace, and faith. The poem considers death and the stages of bereavement as the narrator experiences intense grief, nostalgia, and disconsolation, as well as the contemplation of immortality with the desire for a future reunion with the dead. The eventual outcome of this renewed faith is tempered with knowledge of scientific advancement and is necessarily compatible with it. In Memoriam seeks to represent man's journey to understand suffering, love, and his own purpose.