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Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (/ ˈtɛnɪsən /; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892), was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria 's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu".
Mar 1, 2016 · Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived a long time, and wrote a great deal of poetry. The definitive edition of his Poems stretches to three large volumes. Nevertheless, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to choose ten of the best Tennyson poems, ranging from his narrative poems to lyrics and elegies and everything in between.
- Overview
- Early life and work
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was the leading Victorian poet in England. His poetry is remarkable for its metrical variety, rich imagery, and verbal melodies. It dealt often with the doubts and difficulties of an age in which traditional religious beliefs about human nature and destiny were increasingly called into question by science and modern progress.
What was the childhood of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, like?
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was the fourth of 12 children raised in a lonely rectory in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. Though home conditions were difficult, his father, the rector, managed to give him a wide literary education. The Lincolnshire countryside influenced his poetry, which he began composing before his teens.
Where was Alfred, Lord Tennyson, educated?
In 1827 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, entered Trinity College, Cambridge. There he made lasting friendships and his reputation as a poet increased. In 1831 Tennyson’s father died, and his grandfather discovered his father’s debts. As a result, he left Cambridge without taking a degree.
What did Alfred, Lord Tennyson, write?
Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children, born into an old Lincolnshire family, his father a rector. Alfred, with two of his brothers, Frederick and Charles, was sent in 1815 to Louth grammar school—where he was unhappy. He left in 1820, but, though home conditions were difficult, his father managed to give him a wide literary education. Alfred was precocious, and before his teens he had composed in the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton. To his youth also belongs The Devil and the Lady (a collection of previously unpublished poems published posthumously in 1930), which shows an astonishing understanding of Elizabethan dramatic verse. Lord Byron was a dominant influence on the young Tennyson.
At the lonely rectory in Somersby the children were thrown upon their own resources. All writers on Tennyson emphasize the influence of the Lincolnshire countryside on his poetry: the plain, the sea about his home, “the sand-built ridge of heaped hills that mound the sea,” and “the waste enormous marsh.”
In 1824 the health of Tennyson’s father began to break down, and he took refuge in drink. Alfred, though depressed by unhappiness at home, continued to write, collaborating with Frederick and Charles in Poems by Two Brothers (1826; dated 1827). His contributions (more than half the volume) are mostly in fashionable styles of the day.
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Poetry: First Lines
In 1827 Alfred and Charles joined Frederick at Trinity College, Cambridge. There Alfred made friends with Arthur Hallam, the gifted son of the historian Henry Hallam. This was the deepest friendship of Tennyson’s life. The friends became members of the Apostles, an exclusive undergraduate club of earnest intellectual interests. Tennyson’s reputation as a poet increased at Cambridge. In 1829 he won the chancellor’s gold medal with a poem called Timbuctoo. In 1830 Poems, Chiefly Lyrical was published; and in the same year Tennyson, Hallam, and other Apostles went to Spain to help in the unsuccessful revolution against Ferdinand VII. In the meantime, Hallam had become attached to Tennyson’s sister Emily but was forbidden by her father to correspond with her for a year.
1809—1892. Share. Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images. More than any other Victorian-era writer, Tennyson has seemed the embodiment of his age, both to his contemporaries and to modern readers.
Apr 2, 2014 · Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the most renowned poet of the Victorian era. His work includes 'In Memoriam,' 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and 'Idylls of the King.'
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I. Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death. Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death.
Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, Alfred, Lord Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, showed an early talent for writing. At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem.
