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Lord Alfred Tennyson Research Paper

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Alfred Tennyson got most of his ideas for poems from things in his life such as relationships and family trouble. “I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.” (Tennyson 1). Tennyson was regarded as “Chief Representative” of the Victorian age because of his influence through his works (Southam 1219). Lord Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6, 1809 as the fourth of twelve children. The first school Tennyson attended was Louth Grammar School at the age of six, with two of his brothers. He was very unhappy there and left in 1820 at the age of eleven. Conditions at home were not great but his father still managed to successfully give him a wide literary education. Tennyson’s father, George Clayton Tennyson, was the rector of Somersby, Lincolnshire, England where Tennyson grew up. George regularly took out his …show more content…

At the age of twenty seven Tennyson became seriously involved with Emily Sellwood, who was four years younger than him (Poetry 6). By the following year they were considered engaged. Most of the correspondence between them has been destroyed but from what remains it’s clear she was very in love with him, yet he seemed somewhat reserved despite his affection for her. He was also afraid to marry, knowing there was a chance he could pass on things such as epilepsy to his children (Poetry 6). The summer of 1840 Alfred broke off his relations with Emily. In the meantime, Tennyson released two more versions of “Poems” (collections of various poems written by himself). Tennyson’s luck seemed to be looking up, he was getting many of his works published and was no longer suffering from bouts of epilepsy. Close to the end of the 1849 he re-contacted Emily (Poetry 8). Two weeks into June 1850 he and Emily were married (Poetry 8). Three sons were born, only two- Hallam and Lionel- survived (Poetry 8). Tennyson began to become extremely famous for his work and began to write plays (Poetry

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