Works of Lord Alfred tennyson in a nutshell

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) 

Tennyson was the most representative Victorian and was also the most popular poet of his age. He won the Chancellor’s prize at Cambridge in 1829 for a poem on Timbuctoo. In 1930 his Poems, Chiefly Lyrical was published. The publication of his two volumes of poetry under the title Poems in 1942 proved Tennyson’s worth. The collection consisted of poems like Locksley Hall, Break Break Break, Ulysses, and also a renewed version of The Lady of Shalott. In 1850 Tennyson’s In Memoriam raised his stature as a poet and won him a unique place in the world of Victorian poetry. Some of his memorable works include Maud and Other Poems, Idylls of the king, Enoch Arden, Ballads and Other Poems, The Lotos Eater, The Palace of Art, and Tithonus. 

The most striking feature of Tennyson’s poetry is his ability to create word pictures. His true merit lies in his genius as a craftsman. Metre, rhythm, and sound effects are all turned into the mood. He uses rhetorical devices such as assonance, onomatopoeia, and alliteration to intensify the sensuousness. In the Choric Song he uses long drawn-out vowel sounds like ‘soon’, ‘afternoon’, ‘swoon’, and ‘moon’.

Tennyson was drawn to legendary themes and nature, but from 1942 he seemed drawn towards social and political themes. In The Princess, he dealt with the higher education of women. Ulysses, the hero of his dramatic monologue Ulysses with his passion for exploring is often said to represent the Victorian thirst for knowledge and for going beyond boundaries known to man. Tennyson’s Locksley Hall is full of the free spirit of young England and its faith in science, commerce, and the progress of mankind.

Tennyson does not belong to the galaxy of the great, but when it comes to lyricism, artistry, and workmanship he is simply irreplaceable. Tennyson lacked originality and depth. He was content capturing feelings and aspirations of his time. His last poems contain harsher notes as if he had become disillusioned and discontent with the pleasant artifices that had graced his prime due to age.