Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
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. His
father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in classical and modern
languages. In the 1820s, however, Tennyson's father began to suffer frequent
mental breakdowns that were exacerbated by alcoholism. One of Tennyson's
brothers had violent quarrels with his father, a second was later confined to
an insane asylum, and another became an opium addict.
Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to
attend Trinity College, Cambridge. In that same year, he and his brother
Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the poems in the book were
mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the "Apostles," an
undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. The "Apostles"
provided Tennyson, who was tremendously shy, with much needed friendship and
confidence as a poet. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they
toured Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. Hallam's sudden death in 1833
greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of
Tennyson's other poems are tributes to Hallam.
In 1830, Tennyson published Poems,
Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he published a second volume entitled simply Poems.
Some reviewers condemned these books as "affected" and
"obscure." Tennyson, stung by the reviews, would not publish another
book for nine years. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost
his inheritance on a bad investment in 1840, Sellwood's family called off the
engagement. In 1842, however, Tennyson's Poems in two volumes was a tremendous
critical and popular success. In 1850, with the publication of in Memoriam,
Tennyson became one of Britain's most popular poets. He was selected Poet
Laureate in succession to Wordsworth. In that same year, he married Emily
Sellwood. They had two sons, Hallam and Lionel.
At the age of 41, Tennyson had
established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era. The money
from his poetry (at times exceeding 10,000 pounds per year) allowed him to
purchase a house in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His
appearance—a large and bearded man, he regularly wore a cloak and a broad
brimmed hat—enhanced his notoriety. He read his poetry with a booming voice,
often compared to that of Dylan Thomas. In 1859, Tennyson published the first
poems of Idylls of the Kings, which sold more than 10,000 copies in one month.
In 1884, he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson died on
October 6, 1892, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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