British Culture - User contributions [en]

Robert Browning

2010-12-23T21:50:28Z

Meike: /* Robert Browning */

7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889. English poet during Queen [Victoria]’s reign.

== Life ==
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England, in 1812 to Robert Browning Sr., employed as a clerk in the Bank of England, and Sarah Anna Woedemann Browning, who was part Scotch and part German. He had one younger sister, Sarianna, who was born in 1814.
By the age of five Browning was sent to a local dame school but as he was being superior to his class mates (he could already read and write) he had to leave the school after a short time. He then studied at home until he was sent to the lower school at Peckham by the age of seven. When he was ten he began studying writing, arithmetic, English, history, Latin and Greek. Between the age of fourteen to sixteen he was educated at home, mainly in musid, drawing, dancing and horsemanship. As he was not a mamber of the Church of England he could not attend Oxford or Cambridge so he attended the University of London for about a year until he departed in 1829. In December 1840 Browning and his familiy moved from Camberwell to New Cross Hatcham in Surrey.
In 1846 Browning was introduced to Elizabeth Barrett whom he married in the same year gaianst the wishes of her father and with whom he spent sixteen years in marriage until she died in 1861. In March 1849 their only son Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, also known as “Pen”, was born. Most of the time Browning and his wife lived in Florence but they also made trips to France, Italy and England. Browning did not only have to experience the loss of his wife but as well the loss of his mother, his father and his sister-in-law Arabella Barrett.
In 1862 Browning bought a house in London in which he lived until 1887 when he bought a new house because he was told that a railroad was going to run in front of the house, which actually was a false information.
In 1868 Browning received an honorary M.A. from Oxford as well as an honorary fellowhip at Balliol College. In 1881 the Browning Society was founded which he sympathized but did not cooperate with as he was afraid of ridicule.
After 1883 his physical strenght began to decline. A few years later a series of attacks of bronchitis culminated in pneuminia which led to his death in December 1889 in his son’s house in Venice. He was buried on 31 December in Westminster Abbey int the Poet’s Corner.

== Browning as a poet ==
It is believed that Browning was already a competent reader and writer when he was five years old and that he was encourageed to read because his father had library with over 6000 books, including works in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, Italian and Spanish. Brownings sudden departure of London University could indicate his decision to totally turn his attention to poetry. Browning already wrote ''Incondita'', a volume of Byronic verse, by the age of twelve. Between the ages of thirteen and twenty he seems to have written no poetry nut in 1832 he composed the poem ''Pauline'', his first major published work which was anonymously published in 1833. The poem is over 1,000 lines long and consists of three parts. In the first and last part the speaker addresses the imaginary Pauline and complains that he is unable to be productive poetically since he is in a stat of deep depression and sadness. In the second part of the poem the speaker tries to understand the course of this development.
With his next published work, the poem ''Paracelsus'', Browning turned to more dramatic forms. The poem consists of over 4,000 lines and is divided into five sections which seem to function as scenes, each of them provided with a specific time, cast of characters and dialogue. While the ideas in ''Pauline'' are unclear, irresolute and incomplete because the reader does not know whether or not the personal problems of the speaker have been solved, Paracelsus offers clear, certain and complete ideas and even solutions in Canto V because Paracelsus understands that imperfection is the law of live.
Browning’s next work was ''Strafford'', a historical play which was first performed in 1837. But the play could not engage its audience because “while Browning was able to deal skillfully with the internal conflicts of human beings, he was unable to represent on the stage the public, external drama of men acting and conflicting in the world of politics and business” (Fredeman, 73).
In Browning’s next published work, the poem ''Sordello'', the poet Sordello recognizes “that poets must always temper their idealism with an understanding of reality” (Fredeman, 73) and that language can never appropriately express the poet’s vision.
After having moved to Surrey with his family, Browning set the focus on the publication of a series of pamphlets named ''Bells and Pomegranates'', which contained ''Pippa Passes'' (1841), ''Luria'' (1846), ''A Soul’s Tragedy'' (1846) – which are closet dramas -, ''King Victor and King Charles'' (1842), ''The Return of the Druses'' (1843), ''A Blot in the ‘Scutcheon'' (1843), ''Colombe’s Birthday'' (1844) – which are plays written expressely for the stage – ''Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) and ''Romances and Lyrics'' (1845). The poem collection Dramatic Lyrics contained Browning’s poem ''My Last Duchess'' which “has been much discussed as an example of Browning’s ability to concentrate and distill experience in the brief dramatic-lyric form” (Fredeman, 76). The Duke of Ferrar, the speaker of the poem, is explaining the subject of a painting which is his recently deceased wife whom he had ordered to be executed as she did not recignize his superiority in even the most trivling matters. The poem represents an important aspect of Browning’s technique for writing a dramatic monologue, namely the effect that the reader is able to judge the duke’s odious bahavior while at the same time having a feeling of sympathy for the duke which allows the reader to understand the duke’s behaviour. The poem also represents other aspects of the dramatic monologue such as the fact that it has a single speaker who is not the poet and who is addressing an unspeaking audience or the fact that there is a psychological interplay between speaker and audience which influences the progression of the speaker’s thought patterns.
Between 1845 and 1852 Browning seems to have been writning no short poems. In 1855 ''Men and Women'' was published which is a collection of short poems and is one of his most highly regarded works although it had little impact at the time.
In 1868 ''The Ring and the Book'' was published which according to most critics represents the climax of his career. It “combines the most im portant of Browning’s thematic concerns – the nature of truth, the value and validity of human perception, the nature of poetry and poetic expression – with his greatest technical achievement in the extended monologue form” (Fredeman, 84).
In 1871 ''Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society'' was published, which is a long, complex interior monologue. The speaker is modeled on Napoleon III and the characterization is precise and complex and the style of the monologue is elliptical – which makes it difficult to understand and led to a negative public reaction which was characteristic for most of Browning’s writing during that period.
All in all, Browning’s career can roughly be divided into three parts. Until 1845 his poetry reflects his growing awareness of his ability as a poet, from 1845 onwards he wrote many poems for whom he still known today and "the last part of his career involved a falling off poetically and was a time of much less personal satsisfaction than the years of his marriage" (Fredeman, 86).

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: Victorian Poets Before 1850. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984. 68 – 88.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1964. 86 – 89.

Robert Browning

2010-12-23T21:50:06Z

Meike: Created page with '== Robert Browning == 7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889. English poet during Queen [Victoria]’s reign. == Life == Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England, in 1812 to Ro…'

== Robert Browning ==
7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889. English poet during Queen [Victoria]’s reign.

== Life ==
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England, in 1812 to Robert Browning Sr., employed as a clerk in the Bank of England, and Sarah Anna Woedemann Browning, who was part Scotch and part German. He had one younger sister, Sarianna, who was born in 1814.
By the age of five Browning was sent to a local dame school but as he was being superior to his class mates (he could already read and write) he had to leave the school after a short time. He then studied at home until he was sent to the lower school at Peckham by the age of seven. When he was ten he began studying writing, arithmetic, English, history, Latin and Greek. Between the age of fourteen to sixteen he was educated at home, mainly in musid, drawing, dancing and horsemanship. As he was not a mamber of the Church of England he could not attend Oxford or Cambridge so he attended the University of London for about a year until he departed in 1829. In December 1840 Browning and his familiy moved from Camberwell to New Cross Hatcham in Surrey.
In 1846 Browning was introduced to Elizabeth Barrett whom he married in the same year gaianst the wishes of her father and with whom he spent sixteen years in marriage until she died in 1861. In March 1849 their only son Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, also known as “Pen”, was born. Most of the time Browning and his wife lived in Florence but they also made trips to France, Italy and England. Browning did not only have to experience the loss of his wife but as well the loss of his mother, his father and his sister-in-law Arabella Barrett.
In 1862 Browning bought a house in London in which he lived until 1887 when he bought a new house because he was told that a railroad was going to run in front of the house, which actually was a false information.
In 1868 Browning received an honorary M.A. from Oxford as well as an honorary fellowhip at Balliol College. In 1881 the Browning Society was founded which he sympathized but did not cooperate with as he was afraid of ridicule.
After 1883 his physical strenght began to decline. A few years later a series of attacks of bronchitis culminated in pneuminia which led to his death in December 1889 in his son’s house in Venice. He was buried on 31 December in Westminster Abbey int the Poet’s Corner.

== Browning as a poet ==
It is believed that Browning was already a competent reader and writer when he was five years old and that he was encourageed to read because his father had library with over 6000 books, including works in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, Italian and Spanish. Brownings sudden departure of London University could indicate his decision to totally turn his attention to poetry. Browning already wrote ''Incondita'', a volume of Byronic verse, by the age of twelve. Between the ages of thirteen and twenty he seems to have written no poetry nut in 1832 he composed the poem ''Pauline'', his first major published work which was anonymously published in 1833. The poem is over 1,000 lines long and consists of three parts. In the first and last part the speaker addresses the imaginary Pauline and complains that he is unable to be productive poetically since he is in a stat of deep depression and sadness. In the second part of the poem the speaker tries to understand the course of this development.
With his next published work, the poem ''Paracelsus'', Browning turned to more dramatic forms. The poem consists of over 4,000 lines and is divided into five sections which seem to function as scenes, each of them provided with a specific time, cast of characters and dialogue. While the ideas in ''Pauline'' are unclear, irresolute and incomplete because the reader does not know whether or not the personal problems of the speaker have been solved, Paracelsus offers clear, certain and complete ideas and even solutions in Canto V because Paracelsus understands that imperfection is the law of live.
Browning’s next work was ''Strafford'', a historical play which was first performed in 1837. But the play could not engage its audience because “while Browning was able to deal skillfully with the internal conflicts of human beings, he was unable to represent on the stage the public, external drama of men acting and conflicting in the world of politics and business” (Fredeman, 73).
In Browning’s next published work, the poem ''Sordello'', the poet Sordello recognizes “that poets must always temper their idealism with an understanding of reality” (Fredeman, 73) and that language can never appropriately express the poet’s vision.
After having moved to Surrey with his family, Browning set the focus on the publication of a series of pamphlets named ''Bells and Pomegranates'', which contained ''Pippa Passes'' (1841), ''Luria'' (1846), ''A Soul’s Tragedy'' (1846) – which are closet dramas -, ''King Victor and King Charles'' (1842), ''The Return of the Druses'' (1843), ''A Blot in the ‘Scutcheon'' (1843), ''Colombe’s Birthday'' (1844) – which are plays written expressely for the stage – ''Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) and ''Romances and Lyrics'' (1845). The poem collection Dramatic Lyrics contained Browning’s poem ''My Last Duchess'' which “has been much discussed as an example of Browning’s ability to concentrate and distill experience in the brief dramatic-lyric form” (Fredeman, 76). The Duke of Ferrar, the speaker of the poem, is explaining the subject of a painting which is his recently deceased wife whom he had ordered to be executed as she did not recignize his superiority in even the most trivling matters. The poem represents an important aspect of Browning’s technique for writing a dramatic monologue, namely the effect that the reader is able to judge the duke’s odious bahavior while at the same time having a feeling of sympathy for the duke which allows the reader to understand the duke’s behaviour. The poem also represents other aspects of the dramatic monologue such as the fact that it has a single speaker who is not the poet and who is addressing an unspeaking audience or the fact that there is a psychological interplay between speaker and audience which influences the progression of the speaker’s thought patterns.
Between 1845 and 1852 Browning seems to have been writning no short poems. In 1855 ''Men and Women'' was published which is a collection of short poems and is one of his most highly regarded works although it had little impact at the time.
In 1868 ''The Ring and the Book'' was published which according to most critics represents the climax of his career. It “combines the most im portant of Browning’s thematic concerns – the nature of truth, the value and validity of human perception, the nature of poetry and poetic expression – with his greatest technical achievement in the extended monologue form” (Fredeman, 84).
In 1871 ''Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society'' was published, which is a long, complex interior monologue. The speaker is modeled on Napoleon III and the characterization is precise and complex and the style of the monologue is elliptical – which makes it difficult to understand and led to a negative public reaction which was characteristic for most of Browning’s writing during that period.
All in all, Browning’s career can roughly be divided into three parts. Until 1845 his poetry reflects his growing awareness of his ability as a poet, from 1845 onwards he wrote many poems for whom he still known today and "the last part of his career involved a falling off poetically and was a time of much less personal satsisfaction than the years of his marriage" (Fredeman, 86).

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: Victorian Poets Before 1850. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984. 68 – 88.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1964. 86 – 89.

Alfred Tennyson

2010-12-08T19:01:34Z

Meike: /* Tennyson as a poet */

6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892. [[Poet Laureate]] during much of [[Victoria]]'s reign.

== Life ==
Alfred Tennyson was born on the 6th of August 1809 to George Clayton Tennyson, rector of Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson, a vicar's daughter, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, as the fourth son of twelve children.
By the age of seven he attended the grammar school at Louth where he spent nearly four unhappy years. He returned to the family home at the age of eleven. There his father became his tutor until Alfred joined his elder brothers at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1828. Although he attended Trinity rather because he had the desire to escape from Somersby than due to the wish to do academic studies, the time at Cambridge was probably the happiest in his life because he escaped the problems and the atmosphere at home, caused by his father's abuse of alcohol and drugs and by a strain of epilepsy in the family heritage. Tennyson got to know Arthur Henry Hallam who was regarded as the most brilliant man of the current Cambridge generation who later also got engaged with Tennyson's sister Emily. In 1829 Tennyson and Hallam joined the "Apostles", a secret society who was regarded as the university's elite but Tennyson already left after a few sessions.

With the death of Tennyson's father in 1831 and Hallam's death in 1833 a hard time in Tennyson's life began which he himself expressed with the following words: "I suffered what seemed to me to shatter all my life so that I desired to die rather than to live" (Fredeman, 268). In the years after Hallam's death Tennyson had a flirtation with Rosa Baring but the relationship did not seem to have been serious. He first had a serious relationship in 1836 with Emily Sellwood, the sister of the woman who married Tennyson's brother Charles. They got engaged one year later but as members of Tennyson's family suffered from epilepsy he thought he would pass this disease by marriage to his children so he broke off with Emily in 1840. In 1843 Tennyson had his first of several stays in a "hydropathic" establishment [an institution that makes use of water for treating illnesses] for curing his melancholia. His last stay there was in 1848 although he was not completely cured of his illness. In 1850 Tennyson met Emily Sellwood again and on the 13th of June, 1850, the two of them married. Tennyson later said "The peace of God came into my life when I wedded her" (Kunitz, 611). The two of them had two children, Hallam and Lionel (a third son died at birth).

As William Wordsworth - who had been poet laureate at that time - died in 1850 Tennyson was offered the laureateship after Samuel Rogers refused it and Tennyson accepted. In 1853 Tennyson and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight where they lived a very isolated and calm life but they also built a second house, Aldworth, near Haslemere which became their frequent residence as well. In 1886 Tennyson's son Lionel died which put Tennyson into deep and lasting grief and sorrow which weakened him and led to rheumatic gout in 1888. This brought him near to dying. Although he got better he got the influenza in 1890. On the 6th of October, 1892, he died in his bed at Aldworth while being surrounded by his family.

== Tennyson as a poet ==
Tennyson was said to be one of the three most famous living persons during the Victorian age, next to Queen Victoria and Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]] and he also has been poet laureate since 1850.
He began writing poetry even before he went to school to escape the problems at home. His first volume of poetry, ''Poem by Two Brothers'', was published in 1827 when he was not quite 18 years old. As his close friend Hallam wrote poetry as well they wanted to publish their work together but Hallam's father forbade his son to include his poems. ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'' appeared in 1830 and although many of the poems might have been forgotten if written by another person, some of them, especially "Mariana", demonstrate Tennyson's ability to convey a state of strong emotion by the use of objects and landscape. In 1832 he published another volume of poetry, called ''Poems'' which included the first versions of some of his most popular works like "The Lady of Shalott" or "A Dream of Fair Women". What is remarkable about the volume are the opposed attractions of isolated poetic creativity and social involvement. - In the poem "The Lady of Shalott" this is expressed by describing the isolated Lady of Shalott who just sees shadows of the world through a mirror at first until she gets active in experiencing life when she sees Lord Lancelot in the mirror. This poem can be seen as a poetological one which demonstrates that art should be produced by experiencing life.
Although Hallam's death was a hard incident in Tennyson's life it was also an impulse for some of his greatest poems like "Ulysses" or "Tithonus". He also began writing elegies about Hallam's death, collected them and published them on the 1st of June, 1850. - ''In Memoriam'' is probably one of the greatest Victorian poems and made him the major living poet.
In 1847 "The Princess" was published which was his first attempt to write a long narrative poem.

The very isolations in his house on the Isle of Wight made Tennyson read many newspapers to stay in contact with world affairs which led him to write "Maud" which deals with the Crimean War. It is Tennyson's most experimental poem because it tells an entirely dramatic narrative in self-contained lyrics. Although Tennyson's contemporaries could not understand or love it "Maud" has become one of his most interesting poems to modern critics because of its experimental quality "for it tells a thouroughly dramatic narrative in self-contained lyrics" (Fredeman, 274) so that the reader has to fill in the gaps by making his own conclusions. Another poem dealing with the Crimean War is his poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade", published in 1854.
In 1859 ''Idylls of the King'' - dealing with King Arthur and the decay of the Round Table which seemed to have been an appropriate symbol of the decay of 19th-century England for Tennyson - was published which brought him widespread popularity as a poet laureate. It contained four of the eventual twelve idylls which were an assembly of poetry composed over a long time.
Despite his laureateship Tennyson also had the wish to speak more directly to the common people about emotions and affections he shared with them. The volume ''Enoch Arden'' of 1864 resulted out of his wish to be the people's poet and although it used magnificent language and imagery the sentiments seemed easy and secondhand [what does this mean? please explain and/or give an example]. With selling more than 40,000 copies immediately after the publication this volume had the largest sales of any during his lifetime.
As Tennyson had been compared to Shakespeare he also tried to write for the stage so he wrote his first play , ''Queen Mary'', in 1875 but it was withdrawn after 23 performances only. Other plays followed, like ''Harold'' (1876), ''Becket'' (1884), ''The Falcon'' (1884), ''The Cup'' (1884), ''The Promise of May'' (1886) and ''The Foresters'' (1892), which had all the attempt to follow Shakespeare but Tennyson failed.
In 1883 Tennyson was offered a peerage which was the climax of public recognition. It was the first time in history that a title was given for services in poetry.
All in all, although Tennyson may not seem quite the equal of Shakespeare he can be seen as one of the English poets which are still remembered today and as equal to [[William Wordsworth]] or [[John Keats]].

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: ''Victorian Poets Before 1850''. Detroit: Gale, 1984. 262-282.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: ''British Authors of the Nineteenth Century''. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1964. 610-613.

Alfred Tennyson

2010-12-08T18:41:33Z

Meike: /* Life */

6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892. [[Poet Laureate]] during much of [[Victoria]]'s reign.

== Life ==
Alfred Tennyson was born on the 6th of August 1809 to George Clayton Tennyson, rector of Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson, a vicar's daughter, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, as the fourth son of twelve children.
By the age of seven he attended the grammar school at Louth where he spent nearly four unhappy years. He returned to the family home at the age of eleven. There his father became his tutor until Alfred joined his elder brothers at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1828. Although he attended Trinity rather because he had the desire to escape from Somersby than due to the wish to do academic studies, the time at Cambridge was probably the happiest in his life because he escaped the problems and the atmosphere at home, caused by his father's abuse of alcohol and drugs and by a strain of epilepsy in the family heritage. Tennyson got to know Arthur Henry Hallam who was regarded as the most brilliant man of the current Cambridge generation who later also got engaged with Tennyson's sister Emily. In 1829 Tennyson and Hallam joined the "Apostles", a secret society who was regarded as the university's elite but Tennyson already left after a few sessions.

With the death of Tennyson's father in 1831 and Hallam's death in 1833 a hard time in Tennyson's life began which he himself expressed with the following words: "I suffered what seemed to me to shatter all my life so that I desired to die rather than to live" (Fredeman, 268). In the years after Hallam's death Tennyson had a flirtation with Rosa Baring but the relationship did not seem to have been serious. He first had a serious relationship in 1836 with Emily Sellwood, the sister of the woman who married Tennyson's brother Charles. They got engaged one year later but as members of Tennyson's family suffered from epilepsy he thought he would pass this disease by marriage to his children so he broke off with Emily in 1840. In 1843 Tennyson had his first of several stays in a "hydropathic" establishment [an institution that makes use of water for treating illnesses] for curing his melancholia. His last stay there was in 1848 although he was not completely cured of his illness. In 1850 Tennyson met Emily Sellwood again and on the 13th of June, 1850, the two of them married. Tennyson later said "The peace of God came into my life when I wedded her" (Kunitz, 611). The two of them had two children, Hallam and Lionel (a third son died at birth).

As William Wordsworth - who had been poet laureate at that time - died in 1850 Tennyson was offered the laureateship after Samuel Rogers refused it and Tennyson accepted. In 1853 Tennyson and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight where they lived a very isolated and calm life but they also built a second house, Aldworth, near Haslemere which became their frequent residence as well. In 1886 Tennyson's son Lionel died which put Tennyson into deep and lasting grief and sorrow which weakened him and led to rheumatic gout in 1888. This brought him near to dying. Although he got better he got the influenza in 1890. On the 6th of October, 1892, he died in his bed at Aldworth while being surrounded by his family.

== Tennyson as a poet ==
Tennyson was said to be one of the three most famous living persons during the Victorian age, next to Queen Victoria and Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]] and he also has been poet laureate since 1850.
He began writing poetry even before he went to school to escape the problems at home. His first volume of poetry, ''Poem by Two Brothers'', was published in 1827 when he was not quite 18 years old. As his close friend Hallam wrote poetry as well they wanted to publish their work together but Hallam's father forbade his son to include his poems. ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'' appeared in 1830 and although many of the poems might have been forgotten if written by another person, some of them, especially "Mariana", demonstrate Tennyson's ability to convey a state of strong emotion by the use of objects and landscape. In 1832 he published another volume of poetry, called ''Poems'' which included the first versions of some of his most popular works like "The Lady of Shalott" or "A Dream of Fair Women". What is remarkable about the volume are the opposed attractions of isolated poetic creativity and social involvement [what? please explain or give an example].
Although Hallam's death was a hard incident in Tennyson's life it was also an impulse for some of his greatest poems like "Ulysses" or "Tithonus". He also began writing elegies about Hallam's death, collected them and published them on the 1st of June, 1850. - ''In Memoriam'' is probably one of the greatest Victorian poems and made him the major living poet.
In 1847 "The Princess" was published which was his first attempt to write a long narrative poem.

The very isolations in his house on the Isle of Wight made Tennyson read many newspapers to stay in contact with world affairs which led him to write "Maud" which deals with the Crimean War. It is Tennyson's most experimental poem because it tells an entirely dramatic narrative in self-contained lyrics. Although Tennyson's contemporaries could not understand or love it "Maud" has become one of his most interesting poems to modern critics. [why? please elucidate and give some of the sources] [And speaking of the Crimean War: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" should at least be mentioned here]
In 1859 ''Idylls of the King'' - dealing with King Arthur and the decay of the Round Table which seemed to have been an appropriate symbol of the decay of 19th-century England for Tennyson - was published which brought him widespread popularity as a poet laureate. It contained four of the eventual twelve idylls which were an assembly of poetry composed over a long time.
Despite his laureateship Tennyson also had the wish to speak more directly to the common people about emotions and affections he shared with them. The volume ''Enoch Arden'' of 1864 resulted out of his wish to be the people's poet and although it used magnificent language and imagery the sentiments seemed easy and secondhand [what does this mean? please explain and/or give an example]. With selling more than 40,000 copies immediately after the publication this volume had the largest sales of any during his lifetime.
As Tennyson had been compared to Shakespeare he also tried to write for the stage so he wrote his first play , ''Queen Mary'', in 1875 but it was withdrawn after 23 performances only. Other plays followed, like ''Harold'' (1876), ''Becket'' (1884), ''The Falcon'' (1884), ''The Cup'' (1884), ''The Promise of May'' (1886) and ''The Foresters'' (1892), which had all the attempt to follow Shakespeare but Tennyson failed.
In 1883 Tennyson was offered a peerage which was the climax of public recognition. It was the first time in history that a title was given for services in poetry.
All in all, although Tennyson may not seem quite the equal of Shakespeare he can be seen as one of the half-dozen great English poets and as equal to [[William Wordsworth]] or [[John Keats]]. [according to which criteria? "greatness" is a very, very tricky label].

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: ''Victorian Poets Before 1850''. Detroit: Gale, 1984. 262-282.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: ''British Authors of the Nineteenth Century''. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1964. 610-613.

Alfred Tennyson

2010-11-21T14:17:08Z

Meike: /* Life */

6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892. [[Poet Laureate]] during much of [[Victoria]]'s reign.

== Life ==
Alfred Tennyson was born on the 6th of August 1809 to George Clayton Tennyson, rector of Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson, a vicar's daughter, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, as the fourth son of twelve children.
By the age of seven he attended the grammar school at Louth where he spent nearly four unhappy years. He returned to the family home at the age of eleven. There his father became his tutor until Alfred joined his elder brothers at the Trinity College in Cambridge in 1828. Although he attended the college rather beacuse he had the desire to escape from Somersby than due to the wish to do academic studies, the time at Trinity College was probably the happiest in his life because he escaped the problems and the atmosphere at home, caused by his father's abuse of alcohol and drugs and by a strain of epilepsy in the family heritage. At college Tenyson got to know Arthur Henry Hallam who was regarded as the most brilliant man of the current Cambridge generation who later also got engaged with Tennyson's sister Emily. In 1829 Tennyson and Hallam joined the ''Apostles'', a secret society who was regarded as the university's elite but Tennyson already left after a few sessions. With the death of Tennyson's father in 1831 and Hallam's death in 1833 a hard time in Tennyson's life began which he himself expressed with the following words: "I suffered what seemed to me to shatter all my life so that I desired to die rather than to live" (Fredeman, 268). In the years after Hallam's death Tennyson indeed had a fliratation with Rosa Baring but the relationship did not seem to have been something serious. He first had a serious relationship in 1836 with Emily Sellwood, the sister of the woman who married Tennyson's brother Charles. They got engaged one year later but as members of Tennyson's family suffered from epilepsy he thought he would pass this disease by marriage to his children so he broke off with Emily in 1840. In 1843 Tennyson had his first of several stays in a hydropathic establishment for curing his melancholia. His last stay there was in 1848 although he was not completely cured of his illness. In 1850 Tennyson met Emily Sellwood again and on the 13th of June, 1850, the two of them married whereat Tennyson later said "The peace of God came into my life when I wedded her" (Kunitz, 611). The two of them had two children, Hallam and Lionel (a third son died at birth). As William Wordsworth - who had been poet laureate at that time - died in 1850 Tennyson was offered the laureateship after Samuel Rogers refused it and Tennyson accepted. In 1853 Tennyson and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight where they lived a very isolated and calm life but they also built a second house, Aldworth, near Haslemere which became their frequent residence as well. In 1886 Tennyson's son Lionel died which put Tennyson into deep and lasting grief and sorrow which weakened him and led to rheumatic gout in 1888. This brought him near to dying. Although he got better he got the influenza in 1890. On the 6th of October, 1892, he died in his bed at Aldworth while being surrounded by his family.

== Tennyson as a poet ==
Tennyson was said to be one of the three nost famous living persons during the Victorian age, next to Queen Victoria and Gladstone and he also has been poet laureate since 1850.
He began writing poetry even before he went to school to escape the problems at home. His first volume of poetry, ''Poem by Two Brothers'', was published in 1827 when he was not quite 18 years old. As his close friend Hallam wrote poetry as well they wanted to publish their work together but Hallam's father forbade his son to include his poems. ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'' appeared in 1830 and although many of the poems might have been forgotten if written by another person, some of them, especially ''Mariana'', demonstrate Tennyson's ability to convey a state of strong emotion by the use of objects and landscape. In 1832 he published another volume of poetry, called ''Poems'' which included the first versions of some of his most popular works like ''The Lady of Shalott'' or ''A Dream of Fair Women''. What is remarkable about the volume are the opposed attractions of isolated poetic creativity and social involvement.
Although Hallam's death was a hard incident in Tennyson's life it was also an impulse for some of his greatest poems like ''Ulysses'' or ''Tithonus''. He also began writing elegies about Hallam's death, collected them and published them on the 1st of June, 1850. - ''In Memoriam'' is probably one of the greatest Victorain poems and made him the major living poet.
In 1847 ''The Princess'' was published which was his first attempt to write a long narrative poem. With the passing of the laureateship in 1850 there was a shift from the greatest of Romantic poets to the greatest of Victorian ones.
The very isolations in his house on the Isle of Wight made Tennyson read many newspapers to stay in contact with world affairs which led him to write ''Maud'' which deals with the Crimean War. It is Tennyson's most experimental poem because it tells an entirely dramatic narrative in self-contained lyrics. Although Tennyson's contemporaries could not understand or love it ''Maud'' has become one of his most interesting poems to modern critics.
In 1859 ''Idylls of the King'' - dealing with King Arthur and the decay of the Round Table which seemed to have been an appropriate symbol of the decay of 19th-Century England for Tennyson - was published which brought him widespread popularity as a poet laureate. It contained four of the eventual twelve idylls which were an assembly of poetry composed over a long time.
Despite his laureateship Tennyson also had the wish to speak more directly to the common people about emotions and affections he shared with them. The volume ''Enoch Arden'' of 1864 resulted out of his wish to be the people's poet and although it used magnificent language and imagery the sentiments seemed easy and secondhand. With selling more than 40,000 copies immediately after the publication this volume had the largest sales of any during his lifetime.
As Tennyson had been compared to Shakespeare he also tried to write for the stage so he wrote his first play , ''Queen Mary'', in 1875 but it was withdrawn after 23 performances only. Other plays followed, like ''Harold'' (1876), ''Becket'' (1884), ''The Falcon'' (1884), ''The Cup'' (1884), ''The Promise of May'' (1886) and ''The Foresters'' (1892), which had all the attempt to follow Shakespeare but Tennyson failed.
In 1883 Tennyson was offered a peearge which was the climax of public recognition. It was the first time in history that a title was given for services in poetry.
All in all, although Tennyson may not seem quite the equal of Shakespeare he can be seen as one of the half-dozen great English poets and as equal to [[William Wordsworth]] or John Keats.

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: ''Victorian Poets Before 1850''. Gale Research Company: Detroit, Michigan, 1984. 262-282.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: ''British Authours of the Nineteenth Century''. The H.W. Wilson Company: New York, 1964. 610-613.

Alfred Tennyson

2010-11-21T14:15:27Z

Meike:

6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892. [[Poet Laureate]] during much of [[Victoria]]'s reign.

== Life ==
Alfred Tennyson was born on the 6th of August 1809 to George Clayten Tennyson, rector of Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson, a vicar's daughter, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, as the fourth son of twelve children.
By the age of seven he attended the grammar school at Louth where he spent nearly four unhappy years. He returned to the family home at the age of eleven. There his father became his tutor until Alfred joined his elder brothers at the Trinity College in Cambridge in 1828. Although he attended the college rather beacuse he had the desire to escape from Somersby than due to the wish to do academic studies, the time at Trinity College was probably the happiest in his life because he escaped the problems and the atmosphere at home, caused by his father's abuse of alcohol and drugs and by a strain of epilepsy in the family heritage. At college Tenyson got to know Arthur Henry Hallam who was regarded as the most brilliant man of the current Cambridge generation who later also got engaged with Tennyson's sister Emily. In 1829 Tennyson and Hallam joined the ''Apostles'', a secret society who was regarded as the university's elite but Tennyson already left after a few sessions. With the death of Tennyson's father in 1831 and Hallam's death in 1833 a hard time in Tennyson's life began which he himself expressed with the following words: "I suffered what seemed to me to shatter all my life so that I desired to die rather than to live" (Fredeman, 268). In the years after Hallam's death Tennyson indeed had a fliratation with Rosa Baring but the relationship did not seem to have been something serious. He first had a serious relationship in 1836 with Emily Sellwood, the sister of the woman who married Tennyson's brother Charles. They got engaged one year later but as members of Tennyson's family suffered from epilepsy he thought he would pass this disease by marriage to his children so he broke off with Emily in 1840. In 1843 Tennyson had his first of several stays in a hydropathic establishment for curing his melancholia. His last stay there was in 1848 although he was not completely cured of his illness. In 1850 Tennyson met Emily Sellwood again and on the 13th of June, 1850, the two of them married whereat Tennyson later said "The peace of God came into my life when I wedded her" (Kunitz, 611). The two of them had two children, Hallam and Lionel (a third son died at birth). As William Wordsworth - who had been poet laureate at that time - died in 1850 Tennyson was offered the laureateship after Samuel Rogers refused it and Tennyson accepted. In 1853 Tennyson and his wife moved to the Isle of Wight where they lived a very isolated and calm life but they also built a second house, Aldworth, near Haslemere which became their frequent residence as well. In 1886 Tennyson's son Lionel died which put Tennyson into deep and lasting grief and sorrow which weakened him and led to rheumatic gout in 1888. This brought him near to dying. Although he got better he got the influenza in 1890. On the 6th of October, 1892, he died in his bed at Aldworth while being surrounded by his family.

== Tennyson as a poet ==
Tennyson was said to be one of the three nost famous living persons during the Victorian age, next to Queen Victoria and Gladstone and he also has been poet laureate since 1850.
He began writing poetry even before he went to school to escape the problems at home. His first volume of poetry, ''Poem by Two Brothers'', was published in 1827 when he was not quite 18 years old. As his close friend Hallam wrote poetry as well they wanted to publish their work together but Hallam's father forbade his son to include his poems. ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'' appeared in 1830 and although many of the poems might have been forgotten if written by another person, some of them, especially ''Mariana'', demonstrate Tennyson's ability to convey a state of strong emotion by the use of objects and landscape. In 1832 he published another volume of poetry, called ''Poems'' which included the first versions of some of his most popular works like ''The Lady of Shalott'' or ''A Dream of Fair Women''. What is remarkable about the volume are the opposed attractions of isolated poetic creativity and social involvement.
Although Hallam's death was a hard incident in Tennyson's life it was also an impulse for some of his greatest poems like ''Ulysses'' or ''Tithonus''. He also began writing elegies about Hallam's death, collected them and published them on the 1st of June, 1850. - ''In Memoriam'' is probably one of the greatest Victorain poems and made him the major living poet.
In 1847 ''The Princess'' was published which was his first attempt to write a long narrative poem. With the passing of the laureateship in 1850 there was a shift from the greatest of Romantic poets to the greatest of Victorian ones.
The very isolations in his house on the Isle of Wight made Tennyson read many newspapers to stay in contact with world affairs which led him to write ''Maud'' which deals with the Crimean War. It is Tennyson's most experimental poem because it tells an entirely dramatic narrative in self-contained lyrics. Although Tennyson's contemporaries could not understand or love it ''Maud'' has become one of his most interesting poems to modern critics.
In 1859 ''Idylls of the King'' - dealing with King Arthur and the decay of the Round Table which seemed to have been an appropriate symbol of the decay of 19th-Century England for Tennyson - was published which brought him widespread popularity as a poet laureate. It contained four of the eventual twelve idylls which were an assembly of poetry composed over a long time.
Despite his laureateship Tennyson also had the wish to speak more directly to the common people about emotions and affections he shared with them. The volume ''Enoch Arden'' of 1864 resulted out of his wish to be the people's poet and although it used magnificent language and imagery the sentiments seemed easy and secondhand. With selling more than 40,000 copies immediately after the publication this volume had the largest sales of any during his lifetime.
As Tennyson had been compared to Shakespeare he also tried to write for the stage so he wrote his first play , ''Queen Mary'', in 1875 but it was withdrawn after 23 performances only. Other plays followed, like ''Harold'' (1876), ''Becket'' (1884), ''The Falcon'' (1884), ''The Cup'' (1884), ''The Promise of May'' (1886) and ''The Foresters'' (1892), which had all the attempt to follow Shakespeare but Tennyson failed.
In 1883 Tennyson was offered a peearge which was the climax of public recognition. It was the first time in history that a title was given for services in poetry.
All in all, although Tennyson may not seem quite the equal of Shakespeare he can be seen as one of the half-dozen great English poets and as equal to [[William Wordsworth]] or John Keats.

== References ==
Fredeman, William E. / Nadel, Ira B.: ''Victorian Poets Before 1850''. Gale Research Company: Detroit, Michigan, 1984. 262-282.

Kunitz, Stanley J.: ''British Authours of the Nineteenth Century''. The H.W. Wilson Company: New York, 1964. 610-613.