Tennyson's In Memoriam
In Memoriam is an elegy to Tennyson's friend Arthur Hallam, but bears the hallmark of its mid nineteenth century context, 'the locus classicus of the science-and-religion debate.'Upon reflection, Hallam's tragic death has proved to be an event that provoked Tennyson's embarkation upon a much more ambitious poetic project than conventional Miltonian elegy, involving meditation upon the profoundest questions faced by mankind. Scientific advancements, most notably in the fields of geology and biology, challenged the beliefs that form the foundation of Christianity: the belief in a beneficent God responsible for creation and ensuing superintendence and the belief in man's immortal soul. By the mid
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They are Tennyson?s trip through Hades. By personifying Nature and placing ?her? in opposition to God as a distinct power, Tennyson seems to imply a polytheistic belief that two, not one, seats of power exist. In these passages it seems that Tennyson perceives Nature to have greater influence over Earth and mankind. At the close of LV, God appears as distant and hidden in darkness, leaving man in a state analogous with that of a child ? weak, vulnerable and desirous of care: he falls ?upon the great world?s altar stairs That slope thro? darkness up to God,? (lines 14-15). Metaphorically darkness represents the secrecy surrounding God and the answers that he holds, a motif that is reprised at the close of LVI: ?behind the veil, behind the veil.? The repetition of the clause emphasises Tennyson?s frustrations. Indeed God seems so distant and hidden that Tennyson?s faith in his existence is weakened and he is only able to ?feel? and ?faintly trust,? not resolutely know. The lack of conviction conveyed here through Tennyson?s semantic choices illustrates an emergence of disillusion with eutheistic belief. The existence of the Christian conception of a loving god is called into question, and it is implicitly asserted that the conception of Nature conveyed in these passages may be the true, ditheistic, conception of God. That ?of fifty seeds she often brings but one to bear? (LV line 7-8) envisages a large picture of organic existence, despairing of
As she passes the ruins she recreates the pleasant things that had been there. Despite the reasonable arguments that her goods belonged to God and whatever God does is just, there is in the poem an undercurrent of regret that the loss is not fully compensated for by the hope of the treasure that lies above. (84)
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson "The charge of the light brigade" by Tennyson was written about a
The title “Myth” seems to be appealing to the Greek tradition of storytelling, and the poem itself seems to be motivated by or at least influenced by Erebus, a Greek deity, who is the personification of darkness and shadows. In Greek mythology, Erebus, is referred to as the limbo the dead have to pass to reach Hades, who rules the underworld of death. In her poem, Trethewey uses Erebus’s as dream like “Rift” between sleeping and waking in which the speaker is able to see the lost loved one is alive and well. In the poem Trethewey references the Erebus in the beginning of stanza two and end of stanza five. Of course, this is easy to relate to Trethewey
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two poets who are puritans. They are able to use writing and language to portray their ideas on G-d and religion. Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 by Bradstreet and Huswifery by Taylor are similar in the sense that G-d is always a part of their poems, whether it’s direct or through the use of complex writing. Through the use of language and metaphors, Bradstreet conveys that a connection with G-d could be strengthened through destruction while Taylor reveals that a connection can be reinforced through creation.
In this paper, I will discuss how three influential scholars in this order: Augustine, Aquinas, Galileo, delimit science or the bible and the ways their beliefs overlapped or didn’t.
Marilynne Robinson is a Pulitzer-winning novelist who has graced us with her essays found in The Death of Adam. Robinson gives the read the feeling of being much more educated than he or she really is. These essays provide readers with different ways of discussing history, religion and society. They, although difficult to comprehend at times, are flawlessly argued and, throughout, are grounded in universal human experience. When reading them, it is hard not to be persuaded, especially if reading them with an open mind.
The battle between the relationship of science and religion has always been a controversial topic in society. It has been a subject of study since the classical era from scientists, theologists, philosophers, and regular citizens. It is understandable that the perspective on culture and religion are unquestionably varied due to different geographical regions, but why are there so many heated debates regarding the global discussion and what is it that causes those controversies? Is it possible that there is more than two outlooks and theories? Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.Lee contrasts the two perspectives in Inherit the Wind by bringing back an historical and legendary trial. Matthew Harrison Brady, an established lawyer in America demonstrates his ideology in God. Addition to Mr. Brady, his arch nemesis, Henry Drummond, defends his morals by expressing his vision that evolution is where human come from.
“The image suggests a ruin in a classical landscape painting, a symbol of a broken-down system of belief” (Bloom 61). The “hollow men” do not have the faith to be judged and move on to “death’s other Kingdom.”
When dwelling into the explorations about science and religion, one can find it quite amusing. "If science and religion are to continue to coexist it seems opposed to the conditions of modern thought to admit that this result can be brought about by the so-called
I pictured darkness that the men were in, fighting death. The more they fought, the more light shined, and eventually it was going to be fully lit and death would be gone.
Tennyson is more ambiguous when talking about nature. Considering the poem is made up of133 ‘sections’, there are only a few instances where he specifically and clearly discusses nature versus God and faith. Tennyson expresses his feelings that nature is careless and indiscriminate when it comes to life….caring more for the survival of a species than the preciousness of a single person’s life, as in stanza 56 (LVI),
Finally in the third stanza there is the semantic field of nature: ‘mountain’, ‘rivers’, ‘seas’. Nature has the role of judge. It decides whether she has to be punished or not. Nature is represented as a sort of divine entity deciding of her fate because she has decided of someone else’s right to live. Again the water is represented several times with ‘rivers’ (line 17) and ‘seas’ (line 18 and 19) it gives the impression that she thinks
Ben Jonson lived in the English Renaissance period when childhood mortality was very high due to health problems, diseases, lack of medicines and unhygienic life conditions. He got married to Anne Lewis in the early 1590s. Their first daughter, Mary was born in 1593 who died only six months later. Jonson wrote his poem On My First Daughter upon her death. His first son, Benjamin, born 1596, died of the plague in 1603 at age seven and Jonson wrote the poem On My First Son shortly after his death1.
A resistant reading of the poem uncovers the idea that religion, specifically the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, is intrinsically harmful and retrogressive in nature. If the ‘snake’ is interpreted as a synecdoche for Judaeo-Christian religious tradition as a whole, a profoundly negative opinion of such an ideology is formed throughout the poem. Without the ‘snake’ that is this religion, there would be no “pain and suffering”. The poem asks, “what could bear such a weight”, interrogating the conscience of religion, implying guilt on its behalf. Furthermore, the imagery suggested in the second stanza surrounding the snake’s “shadow” evokes negative ideas concerning the nature of the religion, which is further bolstered by its ability to “separate itself” from this shadow, and to “move on
“That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes--.” It has a very heavy feeling derived from the word Heft as well as Cathedral Tunes. The Cathedral is considered sacred yet it is such as somber sound that it could easily affect a person’s mood. The use of paradoxes in the poem creates a sense of confusion about the true feelings about the revelation. “Heavenly Hurt” is both wonderful and horrible and suggests that the pain comes from the heavens. This suggestion is support in various situations throughout the poem. “Cathedral Tunes” and “Sent us of the Air” are the prime examples. It shows that this new realization may have been from a divine being therefore the reader is confused on it’s significance because it perhaps a type of gift. “Landscapes Listen Shadows—hold their breathe” is the personification used in the poem. This personification in the work shows that a divine being has arranged for this revelation to occur therefore, all of nature will halt to the being who has been selected to find this new piece of themselves. She also uses a bit of irony as well as parallel structure to set the scene in the poem. The revelation is brought out in the light of an wintery afternoon, this is the parallel yet it oppressive and dark which is ironic because the light brought with it such darkness.