Composed by Alfred Tennyson as a requiem for his college friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1833, «In Memoriam A. H. H.» is a poem written over a seventeen year period and completed in 1849. Widely considered as one of the greatest poems of the Victorian era it is a richly lyrical work which meditates on the search for hope in the wake of a great loss. The length of this work and the period of time in which Tennyson took to complete it speaks volumes as to...
Alfred Tennyson is one of the foremost poets of Victorian England and is studied today for his deeply intellectual and classic style. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1850 to his death in 1892. He was a favorite of Queen Victoria, and she even made him a baron out of respect for him and his works. Many of his poems focus on classical Greek, Roman, and Medieval mythology. One such poem is the Arthurian-inspired ballad «The Lady of Shallot.» The poem centers on a mysterious...
