Alfred, Lord Tennyson

1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809 - 1892

2. Beginnings • Born in 1809 • Wanted to be a poet since a young boy • Father was a clergyman and supported his poetry • Attended Cambridge University and was very successful, but only for a short time • When he was 22, his father died and left him with no funds to continue college

3. Period of Silence • That same year he publishes his first book of poems, but critics mock him for being too “melancholy” • Next year his best friend dies • He becomes engaged two years later but can’t marry because he has no money (marriage postponed for 14 years) • 10 year period of silence

4. Finally…Success! • At age 40, he finally finds success • He publishes a book of poems, Memoriam, an elegy to his friend who died, about his own recovery of faith in the immortality of the soul and the harmony of creation – despite the unsettling discoveries of science • Sells like crazy!

5. Finally…Success! • He is named Poet Laureate of England • (After Wordsworth) • Government pays him to write poems • Finally is able to get married! • In the next 40 years he sells dozens of volumes of poetry • Makes him rich

6. Melancholy Tones • He keeps the same sad, melancholy tones throughout all his writing • Uses beautiful language and writes about the fragility and sadness of life • He assured readers that “his own experience of sadness and disorder had taught him that everything was part of a benevolent plan in which all losses would be made good.”