IN MEMORIAM BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON :

INTRODUCTION :
In Memoriam, poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, written between the
years 1833 and 1850 and published anonymously in 1850. Consisting of
131 sections, a prologue, and an epilogue, this chiefly elegiac work
examines the different stages of Tennyson’s period of mourning over
the death of his close friend Arthur Henry Hallam. In Memoriam reflects
the Victorian struggle to reconcile traditional religious faith with the
emerging theories of evolution and modern geology. The verses show
the development over three years of the poet’s acceptance and
understanding of his friend’s death and conclude with an epilogue, a
happy marriage song on the occasion of the wedding of the poet’s
sister Cecilia.
ALFERED LORD TENNYSON :
Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, Alfred,
Lord Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. Tennyson,
the fourth of twelve children, showed an early talent for writing. At the
age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem. His father, the Reverend
George Tennyson, tutored his sons in classical and modern languages.
In the 1820s, however, Tennyson’s father began to suffer frequent
mental breakdowns that were exacerbated by alcoholism. One of
Tennyson’s brothers had violent quarrels with his father, a second was
later confined to an insane asylum, and another became an opium
addict.
Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to attend Trinity College, Cambridge.
In that same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two
Brothers. Although the poems in the book were mostly juvenilia, they
attracted the attention of the “Apostles,” an undergraduate literary
club led by Arthur Henry Hallam. The “Apostles” provided Tennyson,
who was tremendously shy, with much needed friendship and
confidence as a poet. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends;
they toured Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. Hallam’s
sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy
“In Memoriam” and many of Tennyson’s other poems are tributes to
Hallam.

In 1830, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he

published a second volume entitled simply Poems.
At the age of forty-one, Tennyson had established himself as the most
popular poet of the Victorian era. The money from his poetry (at times
exceeding ten thousand pounds per year) allowed him to purchase a
house in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His appearance
—a large and bearded man who regularly wore a cloak and a broad-
brimmed hat—enhanced his notoriety. He read his poetry with a
booming voice, a habit later adopted by Dylan Thomas. In 1859,
Tennyson published the first poems of “Idylls of the Kings,” which sold
more than ten thousand copies in one month. In 1884, he accepted a
peerage, becoming Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Tennyson died on October 6, 1892, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey.
THEMES:
MYSRERY OF DEATH :
After his friend Hallam’s death at a young age, the speaker of the poem
has more questions than answers. His faith gives him hope in an
afterlife. However, his reason reminds him he can’t know any truths
about eternity until he dies himself, since death “keeps the keys of all
the creeds.” The poem deals with two major questions about the
mystery of death: Is there life after death for humans? And can the
living still love and communicate with the dead?
The speaker believes death ends the life of Hallam’s physical body, but
not his soul, personality, or memories. Since memory creates a sense of
individuality, the speaker hopes the dead recall their earthly lives, a
hope he expresses in cantos 43 through 47. If he and Hallam reunite
someday he wants Hallam to remember him and the life they shared
together. Canto 64 compares Hallam to a great man looking back on his
humble beginnings, suggesting the dead may feel nostalgia for their life
on earth. The soul may, however, develop a broader perspective after
death. Canto 46 looks to the indefinite future and asks if the two
friends will see “the eternal landscape of the past” after they die. While
on earth humans can see only the past and present, in eternity they’ll
be able to see all of time at once.
GRIEF AS A FORM OF LOVE :
Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown’d” the speaker says in canto 1,
suggesting that without love, there would be no grief—love is essential
to grief. His deep sorrow at Hallam’s death proves his deep love for his
friend in life. The speaker’s grief often takes the form of singing and
music—both expressions of praise and deep emotion. Even though
their earthly friendship is over, the speaker’s love for Hallam grows
over the years of mourning.
By thinking of his poems as music, or “the songs I love to sing” the
speaker finds consolation and celebration through his sadness. Music is
often part of sacred rituals. The church bells and worshippers’ songs in
canto 57 become “eternal greetings to the dead.” Tennyson uses the
conventions of the pastoral elegy, where a shepherd sings songs of grief
in a peaceful, natural landscape, in cantos 21 through 25. The speaker
becomes a musician playing a pan pipe in a public mourning rite.
Through sorrow he recalls joyful times the friends spent together.
Comparing himself to a bird in canto 21, the speaker sings as a
necessary release of strong feelings. Birdsong returns as a metaphor for
the public articulation of grief; it's spontaneous, natural, and able to
combine joy and pain. Canto 48 describes the display of Sorrow as
“Short swallow flights of song, that dip / Their wings in tears.” Canto 88
again invokes a songbird as the speaker asks the nightingale to show
him the secret of expressing contradictory passions.
DOUBT STRENGTHENS RELIGIOUS FAITH :
Formerly a steadfast, but perhaps somewhat rote, believer in the
Christian religion, the speaker grapples with uncertainty. He can’t prove
his beliefs are true. He has no evidence of an afterlife where Hallam’s
soul will live in eternity. Although the speaker’s questions don’t lead to
answers, they give him a greater appreciation for his chosen beliefs.
The poem portrays doubt as an act of courage and a humble way of
accepting the unknowable.
From the beginning the speaker acknowledges humans struggle to find
purpose in their lives and their choices, even if they practice a religion.
When humans face the fact life is temporary the challenge grows
greater. In the prologue he says to God “Thou madest man, he knows
not why” but declares allegiance to God anyway. Canto 55 compares
the speaker’s journey to a climb up a darkened staircase where he must
“stretch lame hands of faith, and grope / and gather dust and chaff.” If
the speaker examines his doubt he runs the risk of losing his beliefs and
his sense of meaning in the universe. Yet the risk is what makes faith
meaningful. The speaker looks to Hallam in cantos 95 and 96 as an
example of someone who confronted his religious uncertainty. Hallam
was “bold to dwell / On doubts that drive the coward back,” bringing a
spirit of intellectual inquiry to his doubts and emerging with a more
robust faith.
While the speaker investigates many sources of his doubt, he admits
he’ll never know everything.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND THE UNIVERSE :
The poem explores the relationship between the individual and the
universe. Tennyson Contemplates the place of humanity in the cosmos
and he wonders how to find meaning in a vast and indifferent universe.
SYMBOLS :
Christmas :
Christmas represents new hope and new traditions after the life-
altering experience of grief. Christians believe the holiday marks the
birth of the biblical figure Jesus, born to secure eternal life for mankind.
A deeply religious person, Tennyson sees hope itself in Jesus, inviting in
“the light that shone when Hope was born.” The Christian holiday of
Christmas is celebrated on December 25, close to the New Year—
another symbolic switch from past to future.
Yew Tree:
The yew tree in the cemetery symbolizes the power of the natural
world to outlast humanity. Early in the poem the speaker associates the
yew tree with the timelessness of death, compared to impermanent,
fragile human life. He imagines the tree standing for a “thousand years
of gloom,” watching and guarding the graves. He knows the tree will
outlive human creations as well. Canto 76 describes how creative arts
like songs and poems, the “deepest lays” of human expression and
experience, grow “dumb / before the moldering [death and corruption]
of a yew.” The tree opens up a larger perspective that brings both
despair and awe.
Ship :
Ships symbolize departures, journeys, and the unknowable future. As
the speaker waits for a ship to bring Hallam’s body home he imagines
his friend returning to his native country—a homeward journey, though
not the one he expected. Canto 10 describes how ships can bring both
promise and uncertainty as family members wait for travelers on
dangerous trips. The speaker’s own worry for the ship’s safety
resembles “the wild unrest that lives in woe.” The seas are
unpredictable and can take travelers in strange directions, like grief
itself. Mourning is its own journey to an unknown horizon. In canto 12
the speaker imagines himself as a dove sailing to meet the ship,
wondering, “Is this the end?”

VICTORIAN AGE CHARACTERISTICS IN MEMORIAM :

In Memoriam A. H. H. by Tennyson is a vast work that reveals
characteristics of Victorian poetic theory in myriad ways. A small
sampling here that will give guidance as to Tennyson’s implementation
of Victorian poetics in In Memoriam is drawn from the early sections
from I to LXIII. To start with, two of the major characteristics of
Victorian poetry that are apparent within In Memoriam are the themes
of love and nature, shared with the preceding Romantic period but
given a different slant.Love isn’t necessarily idealized and
“romanticized” in the Victorian period; it may be shown with fangs and
claws as in Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess,”
while nature is revealed as having a dark side, not romanticized and
inspirational. In keeping with this dark side, emblematic nature is used,
especially by Tennyson, to symbolize emotions; melancholy and
Medieval Gothic allusions take precedence over heroism and Classical
allusions.Since the Victorian period was face-to-face with new and
unsettling science on all sides, Victorian poetry adds the new dimension
of psychological studies of poets and poetic personas and narrators.
Partly as a reaction to this science and partly as a reaction to the
unwelcome rise in immoral and criminal behavior accompanying the
rush of urban immigration, Queen Victoria emphasized a stringent
return to Christian morality.
CONCLUSION :
Thus, “In Memoriam” by Alfred Lord Tennyson was specifically
composed as a heartfelt lament for the untimely passing of his dear
friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem is undeniably an elegy, intended
to evoke a prevailing sense of mourning. However, some critics believe
that the elegiac quality of the poem is overshadowed by its religious
scientific, and philosophical aspects. It is also a reflection of the
intellectual and cultural climate of the Victorian age, which was marked
by both scientific advancement and religious crisis.