Part 1 Optimism and the Belief in Progress Queen Victoria in Her Coronation Robes, 1887. Chromolithograph. From a book celebrating the queen’s Golden Jubilee. “’Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.” —Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Lady Clara Vere de Vere” 921 The Art Archive/Dagli Orti 00921921 U5P1-845482.inddU5P1-845482.indd 921921 66/22/06/22/06 2:09:032:09:03 PMPM BEFORE YOU READ Tennyson’s Poetry MEET ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON ot an average child, Alfred Tennyson pro- duced a six-thousand-line epic poem by Nthe age of twelve. He also wrote poems in the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton before his teen years. Throughout his life, Tennyson would turn to poetry whenever he felt troubled. As he said in one of his poems, “for the unquiet heart and brain / A use in mea- death, Tennyson decided to pursue a career in sured language lies.” poetry rather than return to school. His early vol- umes of poetry drew mixed reviews, however, and Tennyson had great need of such solace. His father, Tennyson was hurt by some stinging criticism. a clergyman, had a long history of mental instabil- Then, in 1833, he learned that Arthur Hallam had ity. When Tennyson’s grandfather considered the died suddenly of a stroke. Tennyson fell into a clergyman unfit to take over the family dynasty— deep and long depression. Nearly a decade passed thereby virtually disinheriting him—Tennyson’s before he published any poetry. However, he wrote father turned to drugs and alcohol. He often took some of his most significant poems during this out his bitter disappointment on the family. period, perfecting his craft during what he later called his “ten years’ silence.” “I suffered what seemed to me to Literary Renown When he was thirty-two, Tennyson brought out a new book of poems. This shatter all my life so that I desired to time, almost all of the reviews were positive. Fame die rather than live.” came in 1850 with the publication of In Memoriam A. H. H., a long cycle of poems about his grief —Alfred, Lord Tennyson over the loss of Hallam. That same year, Queen Victoria appointed Tennyson to succeed William Wordsworth as poet laureate. Finally confident Early Struggles At age eighteen, Tennyson about his future, Tennyson married Emily joined his older brother at Cambridge University. Sellwood, his fiancée of fourteen years. Although he was painfully shy, his poetry brought For the rest of his life, Tennyson enjoyed remark- him to the attention of an elite group of students able prestige. His books could be found in the known as “The Apostles.” Thriving on their affec- home of nearly every English reader. To his con- tion and support, Tennyson gained confidence in temporaries, Tennyson was the great consoling his abilities. His closest friend was Arthur Henry voice of their age. Hallam, a brilliant and popular student who later became engaged to Tennyson’s sister. While at Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 and died Cambridge, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly in 1892. Lyrical, and he accompanied Hallam and other Apostles to Spain to support the unsuccessful revolt against Ferdinand VII. In 1831 Tennyson left Cambridge to be with his Author Search For more about father, whose health was failing. After his father’s Alfred, Lord Tennyson, go to www.glencoe.com. 922 UNIT 5 THE VICTORIAN AGE National Portrait Gallery of London 00922-0937922-0937 U5P1APP-845482.inddU5P1APP-845482.indd 922922 11/29/07/29/07 12:55:1712:55:17 PMPM LITERATURE PREVIEW READING PREVIEW Connecting to the Poems Reading Strategy Analyzing Mood Modern readers turn to Tennyson’s poetry for its heart- To analyze mood, identify the elements that work breaking beauty and haunting sense of the transitory together to create the emotional quality of a literary nature of life. Like all great artists, Tennyson pondered the work. These elements include diction, imagery, and fig- meaning of life and death. As you read, think about how urative language as well as rhythm, rhyme, repetition, one copes with the tragic loss of a relative or friend. and other sound devices. Building Background Reading Tip: Analyzing Mood As you read, use a In Memoriam A. H. H. Within a few days of Arthur diagram like the one below to help you identify the Hallam’s death in 1833, Tennyson wrote an elegy, or elements that create mood. poem of lament, about this loss. He continued writing elegies over the next seventeen years, eventually col- lecting them under the title In Memoriam A. H. H. Figurative Mood Language: “like a guilty Sound devices “Crossing the Bar” At eighty-one Tennyson wrote this thing I creep” poem, and just a few days before his death he asked that it be placed at the end of every edition of his Imagery Diction work. “Tears, Idle Tears” This lyric is from Tennyson’s first long narrative poem, The Princess, which explores the role of women in society. Tennyson wrote “Tears, Idle Vocabulary Tears” at Tintern Abbey, the setting of Wordsworth’s license (l¯ səns) n. freedom used irresponsibly; famous poem. p. 925 Jen often took license with her sister’s Setting Purposes for Reading belongings, “borrowing” them without asking. sloth (sloth ) n. inactivity; laziness; p. 925 Active Big Idea Optimism and the Belief and energetic, she resented her husband’s idleness in Progress and sloth. As you read, consider to what extent these poems diffusive (di fu¯ siv) adj. spread out or widely reflect the belief in optimism that characterized the scattered; p. 927 A diffusive energy surged through Victorian age. the stadium as the players ran onto the field. feigned (fa¯nd) adj. pretended; imagined; p. 929 Literary Element Rhythm Is your interest in this offer genuine or feigned? Rhythm refers to the pattern of beats created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in Vocabulary Tip: Analogies Analogies are compari- lines of verse. For example, in the following line from sons based on relationships between words and ideas. In Memoriam A. H. H., the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth syllables are stressed: A˘ ha’nd tha˘ t ca’n be˘ cla’sped no˘ mo’re— As you read these poems, notice the rhythm and con- sider its effect. Interactive Literary Elements Handbook To review or learn more about the literary elements, • See Literary Terms Handbook, p. R15. go to www.glencoe.com. OBJECTIVES In studying these selections, you will focus on the following: • understanding rhythm • analyzing literary periods • analyzing mood ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 923 00922-0937922-0937 U5P1APP-845482.inddU5P1APP-845482.indd 923923 11/9/07/9/07 2:02:232:02:23 PMPM London Twilight from the Adelphi. Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889–1946). Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 59 cm. Alfred, Lord Tennyson 7 Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely street,° 2 long unlovely street: Wimpole Street Doors, where my heart was used to beat in London, where Arthur Henry Hallam lived after he left Cambridge So quickly, waiting for a hand, 5 A hand that can be clasped no more— Behold me, for I cannot sleep, And like a guilty thing I creep At earliest morning to the door. 924 UNIT 5 THE VICTORIAN AGE Christie’s Images 0924-0929 U5P1SEL-845482.indd 924 1/29/07 12:58:29 PM He is not here; but far away 10 The noise of life begins again, And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day. 27 I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage, The linnet° born within the cage, 3 linnet: a small bird That never knew the summer woods; 5 I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time, Unfettered by the sense of crime, To whom a conscience never wakes; Nor, what may count itself as blest, 10 The heart that never plighted troth° 10 plighted troth: “pledged loyalty” or But stagnates in the weeds of sloth; “became engaged to marry” Nor any want-begotten rest.° 12 want-begotten rest: leisure that comes from a lack of commitment (as opposed to a rest that is earned through I hold it true, whate’er befall; struggle) I feel it, when I sorrow most; 15 ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. 54 O, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, 3– 4 These two lines specify four types Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;° of ills: pangs of nature (physical pain), sins of will (moral transgressions), defects of doubt (spiritual shortcomings), and 5 That nothing walks with aimless feet; taints of blood (inherited flaws). That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete; Reading Strategy Analyzing Mood What feelings does the setting evoke in the speaker? Reading Strategy Analyzing Mood Why does the poet include this image? Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in Progress What Victorian belief do these lines reflect? Vocabulary license (l¯ səns) n. freedom used irresponsibly sloth (sloth ) n. inactivity; laziness ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 925 0924-0929 U5P1SEL-845482.indd 925 6/22/06 2:21:44 PM That not a worm is cloven° in vain; 9 cloven: split 10 That not a moth with vain desire Is shriveled in a fruitless fire, Or but subserves° another’s gain.