Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson Poems

HALF a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
...

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
...

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
...

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.
...

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
...

All Things will Die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing
...

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
...

'And ask ye why these sad tears stream?'

‘Te somnia nostra reducunt.’
OVID.
...

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
...

Once in a golden hour
I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
The people said, a weed.
...

Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
‘She must weep or she will die.’
...

Beautiful city

Beautiful city, the centre and crater of European confusion,
O you with your passionate shriek for the rights of an equal
...

PART I
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
...

Come not, when I am dead,
To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
...

Ask me no more: the moon may draw the sea;
The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape,
With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape;
But O too fond, when have I answer'd thee?
...

What does little birdie say
In her nest at peep of day?
Let me fly, says little birdie,
Mother, let me fly away.
...

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
...

THE splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story:
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
...

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
...

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
...

Alfred Lord Tennyson Biography

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language. Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "In the Valley of Cauteretz", "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears" and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes, such as Ulysses, although In Memoriam A.H.H. was written to commemorate his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and fellow student at Trinity College, Cambridge, who was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died from a brain haemorrhage before they could marry. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including Idylls of the King, "Ulysses," and "Tithonus." During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success. A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplaces of the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw", "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new". He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Early Life Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, a rector's son and fourth of 12 children. He derived from a middle-class line of Tennysons, but also had noble and royal ancestry. His father, George Clayton Tennyson (1778–1831), was rector of Somersby (1807–1831), also rector of Benniworth and Bag Enderby, and vicar of Grimsby (1815). The rector was the elder of two sons, but was disinherited at an early age by his father, the landowner George Tennyson (1750–1835) (owner of Bayons Manor and Usselby Hall), in favour of his younger brother Charles, who later took the name Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt. Rev. George Clayton Tennyson raised a large family and "was a man of superior abilities and varied attainments, who tried his hand with fair success in architecture, painting, music, and poetry. He was comfortably well off for a country clergyman and his shrewd money management enabled the family to spend summers at Mablethorpe and Skegness, on the eastern coast of England." Alfred Tennyson's mother, Elizabeth Fytche (1781–1865), was the daughter of Stephen Fytche (1734–1799), vicar of St. James Church, Louth (1764) and rector of Withcall (1780), a small village between Horncastle and Louth. Tennyson's father "carefully attended to the education and training of his children." Tennyson and two of his elder brothers were writing poetry in their teens, and a collection of poems by all three were published locally when Alfred was only 17. One of those brothers, Charles Tennyson Turner later married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's future wife; the other was Frederick Tennyson. Another of Tennyson's brothers, Edward Tennyson, was institutionalised at a private asylum, where he died. Education and First Publication Tennyson was first a student of Louth Grammar School for four years (1816–1820) and then attended Scaitcliffe School, Englefield Green and King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1827,[4] where he joined a secret society called the Cambridge Apostles. At Cambridge Tennyson met Arthur Henry Hallam, who became his closest friend. His first publication was a collection of "his boyish rhymes and those of his elder brother Charles" entitled Poems by Two Brothers published in 1827. In 1829 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuctoo." Reportedly, "it was thought to be no slight honour for a young man of twenty to win the chancellor's gold medal."He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which later took their place among Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Return to Lincolnshire and Second Publication In the spring of 1831 Tennyson's father died, requiring him to leave Cambridge before taking his degree. He returned to the rectory, where he was permitted to live for another six years, and shared responsibility for his widowed mother and the family. Arthur Hallam came to stay with his family during the summer and became engaged to Tennyson's sister, Emilia Tennyson. In 1833, Tennyson published his second book of poetry, which included his well-known poem, The Lady of Shalott. The volume met heavy criticism, which so discouraged Tennyson that he did not publish again for 10 years, although he continued to write. That same year, Hallam died suddenly and unexpectedly after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage while on vacation in Vienna. Hallam's sudden and unexpected death in 1833 had a profound impact on Tennyson, and inspired several masterpieces, including "In the Valley of Cauteretz" and In Memoriam A.H.H., a long poem detailing the 'Way of the Soul'. Tennyson and his family were allowed to stay in the rectory for some time, but later moved to High Beach, Essex in 1837. An unwise investment in an ecclesiastical wood-carving enterprise soon led to the loss of much of the family fortune. Tennyson then moved to London, and lived for a time at Chapel House, Twickenham. Third Publication In 1842, while living modestly in London, Tennyson published two volumes of Poems, of which the first included works already published and the second was made up almost entirely of new poems. They met with immediate success. Poems from this collection, such as Locksley Hall, "Tithonus", and "Ulysses" have met enduring fame. The Princess: A Medley, a satire on women's education, which came out in 1847, was also popular for its lyrics. W. S. Gilbert later adapted and parodied the piece twice: in The Princess (1870) and in Princess Ida (1884). It was in 1850 that Tennyson reached the pinnacle of his career, finally publishing his masterpiece, In Memoriam A.H.H., dedicated to Hallam. Later the same year he was appointed Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth . In the same year (on 13 June), Tennyson married Emily Sellwood, whom he had known since childhood, in the village of Shiplake. They had two sons, Hallam Tennyson (b. 11 August 1852) – named after his friend – and Lionel (b. 16 March 1854). Poet Laureate After Wordsworth's death in 1850, and Samuel Rogers' refusal, Tennyson was appointed to the position of Poet Laureate, which he held until his own death in 1892, by far the longest tenure of any laureate before or since. He fulfilled the requirements of this position by turning out appropriate but often uninspired verse, such as a poem of greeting to Alexandra of Denmark when she arrived in Britain to marry the future King Edward VII. In 1855, Tennyson produced one of his best known works, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", a dramatic tribute to the British cavalrymen involved in an ill-advised charge on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War. Other esteemed works written in the post of Poet Laureate include Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington and Ode Sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition. Queen Victoria was an ardent admirer of Tennyson's work, and in 1884 created him Baron Tennyson, of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. Tennyson initially declined a baronetcy in 1865 and 1868 (when tendered by Disraeli), finally accepting a peerage in 1883 at Gladstone's earnest solicitation. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 March 1884. Tennyson also wrote a substantial quantity of non-official political verse, from the bellicose "Form, Riflemen, Form", on the French crisis of 1859, to "Steersman, be not precipitate in thine act/of steering", deploring Gladstone's Home Rule Bill. Tennyson was the first to be raised to a British Peerage for his writing. A passionate man with some peculiarities of nature, he was never particularly comfortable as a peer, and it is widely held that he took the peerage in order to secure a future for his son Hallam. Thomas Edison made sound recordings of Tennyson reading his own poetry, late in his life. They include recordings of The Charge of the Light Brigade, and excerpts from "The splendour falls" (from The Princess), "Come into the garden" (from Maud), "Ask me no more", "Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington", "Charge of the Heavy Brigade", and "Lancelot and Elaine"; the sound quality is as poor as wax cylinder recordings usually are. Towards the end of his life Tennyson revealed that his "religious beliefs also defied convention, leaning towards agnosticism and pandeism": Famously, he wrote in In Memoriam: "There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." [The context directly contradicts the apparent meaning of this quote.] In Maud, 1855, he wrote: "The churches have killed their Christ." In "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After," Tennyson wrote: "Christian love among the churches look'd the twin of heathen hate." In his play, Becket, he wrote: "We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, Yea, even when we know not, mix our spites and private hates with our defence of Heaven." Tennyson recorded in his Diary (p. 127): "I believe in Pantheism of a sort." His son's biography confirms that Tennyson was not an orthodox Christian, noting that Tennyson praised Giordano Bruno and Spinoza on his deathbed, saying of Bruno, "His view of God is in some ways mine," in 1892. Tennyson continued writing into his eighties. He died on 6 October 1892 at Aldworth, aged 83. He was buried at Westminster Abbey. A memorial was erected in All Saints' Church, Freshwater. His last words were; "Oh that press will have me now!". He was succeeded as 2nd Baron Tennyson by his son, Hallam, who produced an authorised biography of his father in 1897, and was later the second Governor-General of Australia. The art of Tennyson's Poetry Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter, ranging from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature, as source material for his poetry. The influence of John Keats and other Romantic poets published before and during his childhood is evident from the richness of his imagery and descriptive writing. He also handled rhythm masterfully. The insistent beat of Break, Break, Break emphasises the relentless sadness of the subject matter. Tennyson's use of the musical qualities of words to emphasise his rhythms and meanings is sensitive. The language of "I come from haunts of coot and hern" lilts and ripples like the brook in the poem and the last two lines of "Come down O maid from yonder mountain height" illustrate his telling combination of onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance: The moan of doves in immemorial elms And murmuring of innumerable bees. Tennyson was a craftsman who polished and revised his manuscripts extensively. Few poets have used such a variety of styles with such an exact understanding of metre; like many Victorian poets, he experimented in adapting the quantitative metres of Greek and Latin poetry to English. He reflects the Victorian period of his maturity in his feeling for order and his tendency towards moralising and self-indulgent melancholy. He also reflects a concern common among Victorian writers in being troubled by the conflict between religious faith and expanding scientific knowledge. Like many writers who write a great deal over a long time, he can be pompous or banal, but his personality rings throughout all his works – work that reflects a grand and special variability in its quality. Tennyson possessed the strongest poetic power; he put great length into many works, most famous of which are Maud and Idylls of the King, the latter one of literature's treatments of the legend of King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table.)

The Best Poem Of Alfred Lord Tennyson

Charge Of The Light Brigade

HALF a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns! ' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade! '
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
.

Alfred Lord Tennyson Comments

Bernie Tennyson 26 June 2013

I recently looked into my Family Tree as sadly my Father passed away January last gone at 56yrs young! ! My mam sadly passed 5yrs before at the age of 52yrs young. I myself is 33 years of age. I have discovered that Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of my Ancestors. My father used to write poems as a hobbie but he was great at it. I now cant stop reading his work and think its fantastic. Could anyone suggest a poem to me that i can dedicate to both my parents please. I miss them so much and would like to get it printed and framed. I have yet to read loads more, any suggestions? ? Thank you for taking the time to read this comment.

218 111 Reply
Julia Sawyer 26 June 2013

There was a poem called To Julia on Her birthday unpublished by Alfred Lord Tennyson, I took it to Sotheby's to be sold in the70's along with other poems written by Tennysons own hand they said that it was not valuable enough, but they wouldn't return it to me, over the years I have requested it back but have had no reply from them, has anyone heard of it I believe he is referring to Julia Cameron who was the famous photographer during Tennyson's time

118 152 Reply
Qadr Amir 21 December 2013

To Bernie Tennyson: I feel honored to talk with you as Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of my favorite poets. I recommend you IN MEMORIAM as it kind a fits with your situation. It is a requiem for the poet's beloved Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833.

133 102 Reply
Woofwoof Ray 18 April 2013

His poems are fantastic. My favourites are Break break break, Now sleeps the crimson petal (great version of this set to music in the film Vanity fair with Reese Witherspoon) , Come into the garden maud, The lady of Shallott, Crossing the bar

130 95 Reply
Ulysses J 05 November 2012

In Memoriam is pure beauty And I guess it's evident that I'm a fan of Ulysses, heh, mostly because I can relate well to Ulysses, flaws and all I respect the character in that poem so much, in fact it's hard to express and i get all teary when i try; _;

119 101 Reply
Geeta Ram Nautiyal 09 July 2021

I read this poem again after 55years, my school days.

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Moo mom 08 April 2021

I read this to my kids. they are so bored by it they fall asleep so they won't hear it. i rather like it.

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Odoh Ndubuisi Christopher 17 December 2020

His poems are my inspirations when it comes to writing poems.

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Ron Leonard 28 May 2019

Foot note; Lady Elaine (Elayne) Astolat died of a broken heart because of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot, according to Arthurian legend. Astolat is also known as Ascolat in the Winchester Manuscript and Escalon in the French Arthurian romances. La Dame Elayne de Escalon

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Ron Leonard 28 May 2019

Beyond Grace (The unwritten verse) by Ron C Leonard. Tribute to Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot Our lady now is still driven The curse is broke she forgiven; Her sad eyes reflecting heaven Return’d to stars as was given; Beyond tower’d wall’d Camelot; One last web shield not yet started Reserve’d for her soul departed; Go where hearts need not be parted, The Lady of Shalott.

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Alfred Lord Tennyson Quotes

“Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.”

“Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering it will be happier...”

“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some devine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.”

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”

“Once in a golden hour I cast to earth a seed. Up there came a flower, The people said, a weed.”

“Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?”

“The words far, far away had always a strange charm.”

“Come friends, its not too late to seek a newer world.”

“Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die”

“There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.”

“No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not work those who who work with him. Dont knock your friends. Dont knock your enemies. Dont knock yourself.”

“I hold it true, whateer befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.”

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

“Sweet is true love that is given in vain, and sweet is death that takes away pain.”

“I am half-sick of shadows, said The Lady of Shalott.”

“The shell must break before the bird can fly.”

“The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;" And the white rose weeps, "She is late;" The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;" And the lily whispers, "I wait.”

“So runs my dream, but what am I? An infant crying in the night An infant crying for the light And with no language but a cry.”

“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

“My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset and the baths of all the Western stars until I die.”

“O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.”

So sad, so fresh the days that are no more.”

“So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be.”

“Life is brief but love is LONG .”

“For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul within.”

“I hold it true, whateer befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.”

“The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but on the mastery of his passions.”

“So I find every pleasant spot In which we two were wont to meet, The field, the chamber, and the street, For all is dark where thou art not”

“So now I have sworn to bury All this dead body of hate I feel so free and so clear By the loss of that dead weight”

“A man had given all other bliss, And all his worldly worth for this To waste his whole heart in one kiss Upon her perfect lips.”

“Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die.”

“For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.”

“The city is built To music, therefore never built at all, And therefore built forever.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson Popularity

Alfred Lord Tennyson Popularity

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