English 12 / Unit 5: The Victorian Era
5.4 Tennyson and Victorian Poetry
Notes
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 to 1892) was Poet Laureate and a master of musical language.
- "Ulysses" (1842) is a dramatic monologue in blank verse. The aging hero refuses to rest: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
- "In Memoriam A.H.H." mourns his friend Arthur Hallam: "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all." It also deals with doubt, describing nature as "red in tooth and claw."
- Common Victorian themes: duty, grief, faith and doubt, progress.
Practice
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" expresses:
Ulysses refuses to stop exploring despite age.
Nature described as "red in tooth and claw" reflects which Victorian concern?
The phrase highlights nature's violence, troubling traditional faith.
"'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all" is best understood as:
The speaker says love is worth the sorrow of losing it.
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