A. Tennyson’s in Memoriam: Stylistic Analysis

The tone of despair and loneliness is carried on to the proceeding stanzas, and is more evident in the last two. By saying that “Water limpid as the solitudes that flee

Now that you have read the poem and considered the meanings of the lines, answer the following questions in a Word doc or in your assignment window:

Both speakers ply nature as setting to express their emotion.the speaker in the poem “The Lonely Land”apply “cedar and jagged fir’s action” as setting to express the lonely environment of the poem and the negative attitude.

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

This is expressed by the multiple examples of old men whom regret certain aspects of their lives and defy death even when they know their time is up. The speaker is urging his father to fight against old age and death. The meaning and subject of the poem influence the tone and mood. The tone is one of frustration and insistence. Thomas is slightly angry and demanding. His words are not a request, they are an order. The mood of the poem is is serious and solemn due to the poem focusing mainly on the issue of death. This mood and tone is created by words such as “burn”(2), “Grieved”(11) and “rage”(3) along with phrases such as “crying how bright”(7), “forked no lightning”(5), “near death”(13) and “fierce tears”(17). The insistent feeling is also created by the repetition of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1), and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(3). The figurative language used also affect how the meaning, tone and mood are interpreted.

For almost all people, death can be an unpleasant event and leave people mournful over a loss of a loved one. Two poems that Dylan Thomas and Alfred Tennyson wrote, both refer about the topic of death. However, “Crossing the Bar” by Lord Alfred Tennyson, is about not only the inevitability of death, but also about accepting it. The other poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, is written to the author’s father, asking him to resist death and live. “Crossing the Bar” by Lord Alfred Tennyson, is about not only the inevitability of death, but also about accepting it. Although these two poems have the same subject that is expressed by metaphors, the two differences, mood and imagery,

Why did the poet put the poem in that specificate place in the book? It is about how love will servive death or what we perceive as love. The poem is about a man questioning love or questioning what will survive

Upon reading this poem for the first time last year in Ms. Barbakow’s class, I quickly skimmed through the lines without processing the title- providing me with a slightly skewed perception of this poem. I envisioned a scene with a character like Aron Ralston, the protagonist in 127 hours: a rugged outdoor enthusiast standing on the zenith of a canyon with confidence in both his solidarity and surroundings. However, upon my initial reading of this poem I also interpreted it as one of suicide and loss- literally interpreting Tennyson’s use of passive verbs. Upon more careful dissection, class discussion, and aid from Ms. Barbakow about anthropomorphism: I interpreted the poem as one telling of just the opposite.

Tennyson’s early hardships often appear in his works as themes such as “suicide, the lifelong quest for some compensatory relief for the loss and pain of childhood, and a fascination with the literature of a very distant past” (Bloom 12-13). These themes appeared because Tennyson wrote poetry to help deal with his emotional pain resulting from the hardships he faced as a child.

As stated previously, Tennyson is much more accepting of death than Thomas, who argues that one needs to fight death. Tennyson’s acceptance is demonstrated by his poetry when he writes, “And may there be no sadness of farewell” (Tennyson 11). Tennyson’s tone in this poem is very calm and accepting, where he emphasizes that there is no benefit to mourning loss, but that past lives should be celebrated for their accomplishments rather than seen with grief for the conclusion of life. This is implied through Tennyson’s placid acceptance of death, which leads one to infer that he places more value on the achievements of life, rather than the finality of death. The poet has a very satisfied outlook on life, as when he wrote this poem he was a mere three years away from his own passing, and had enjoyed many successes throughout his life.

Alfred Tennyson was a well-loved Victorian poet, who often wrote about the conflict within religious faith, love and scientific discoveries. Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England August 6, 1809, where he began writing as a child and first published one of his masterpieces in 1827, but it wasn’t until 1840 where Mr. Tennyson work began to get public recognition. Alfred wrote “Tithonus” in 1833 but never publish it until twenty-seven years later and wrote “In Memoriam” in 1850 containing the line “Tis better to loved and lost than never to have loved at all” (Memoriam 27-15) contributed to his legacy and reputation.

Concerning his poems, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s work relies on an extensive thematic scheme. In Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, a number of themes are present including heroism, honor, patriotism, and loyalty. Put together, Tennyson tells the story of a cavalry brigade facing their destiny head on.

From Tennyson’s perspective, proposing that we believe good eventually comes out of dying because the person is thought to have gone on to heaven was the idea for most of the people during that age, therefore a lot of people during the time liked reading Tennyson’s literary works because they had hope in their own religion and getting reassurance from Tennyson. In his stories and in his view’s he believes how nothing in the world is without a blessing from God. As his poems go on it seems he had changed his idea of that perspective. When Tennyson’s friend, Hallam, had died it occurred to him that it didn’t matter that he died at all. He thought humans had no distinct place in the universe as a whole; he just thought it was a mistake by creation.

Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson are celebrated authors and poets in the field of field of literature. A deeper analysis of some of their works displays particular similarities and distinct differences that make each one of them unique. For instance, Browning’s My Last Duchess and Tennyson’s Ulysses show similarities in the overall theme, death, but each brings it out in different styles. This essay explains the comparison of the two poems in detail and the respective significance of use of stylistic devices.

As the title, “The Consolations of Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam,” suggests, this dissertation aimed to clarify the various modes of consolation that were experienced by Alfred Tennyson, depicted in the text of In Memoriam, following the poignant and untimely death of Arthur Henry Hallam. The richness of the poem as a monument to grief is partly because of its outstanding length and newly invented rhyme scheme, but also because the long time period over which it was composed. In order to understand the consolations in the poem, the text was analyzed from several perspectives.