Preview

Tennyson’s Questioning of Faith

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
865 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Tennyson’s Questioning of Faith
Tennyson’s questioning of Faith I will not shut me from my kind,
And, lest I stiffen into stone,
I will not eat my heart alone,
Nor feed with sighs a passing wind:
What profit lies in barren faith,
And vacant yearning, tho’ with might
To scale the heaven’s highest height,
Or dive below the wells of Death?
What find I in the highest place,
But mine own phantom chanting hymns?
And on the depths of death there swims
The reflex of a human face.
I'll rather take what fruit may be
Of sorrow under human skies:
’Tis held that sorrow makes us wise,
Whatever wisdom sleep with thee. In In Memoriam, Lord Alfred Tennyson writes a series of poems that mourn the loss of his friend, Arthur Hallam. Tennyson presents the audience with a plethora of symbolic images and literary devices that display the mourning process which Tennyson undergoes. The mourning process is varied, since there are periods of despair or enlightenment of the world around him. In poem CVIII, Tennyson displays a moment of clarity that might lead to consolation. He denies faith and embraces the community around him. In poem CVIII, Tennyson suggests that he believes he must embrace community so that he may get over the death of Hallam. Tennyson states, “I will not shut me from my kind…I will not eat my heart alone” to conclude that he must turn to community to accept Hallam’s death (CVIII.1, 2). Tennyson suggests that he must not stray away from those around him, since he does not want to shut himself “from [his] kind.” Also by providing the image of not eating his heart alone Tennyson calls for an embrace of community. The thought of not being alone to “eat” his heart implies that Tennyson wants to achieve a greater sense of community. Tennyson uses the image of the “heart” as the main instrument in the mourning process, which a sense of community will lead to a conclusion. Along with embracing community, Tennyson openly denies faith, when he exclaims “what profit lies in barren faith”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    When deconstructing the text ‘W;t’, by Margaret Edson, a comparative study of the poetry of John Donne is necessary for a better conceptual understanding of the values and ideas presented in Edson’s ‘W;t’. Through this comparative study, the audience is able to develop an extended understanding of the ideas surrounding death. This is achieved through the use of the semi-colon in the dramas title, ‘W;t’. Edson also uses juxtapositions and the literary device, wit, to shape and reshape the meaning of the drama when studied in alliance to the poetry of John Donne. This alliance has been strengthened by the parallel of Vivian Bearing’s and Donne’s interpretation of life, death and eternal life. This enables the responder to recognise the higher concepts of death and its meaning.…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ‘Ulysses’ is written in the form of a dramatic monologue. This form strongly involves the reader with no sense of distancing. Instead, the reader feels as if they are one of his “mariners” in the story who have “toil’d, and wrought, and thought” with him.…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Grief is an artist of powers as various as the instruments upon which he plays his dirges for the dead, evoking from some the sharpest, shrillest notes, from others the low, grave chords that throb recurrent like the slow beating of a distant drum. Some natures it startles; some it stupefies. To one it comes like the stroke of an arrow, stinging…

    • 887 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tennyson tells the reminiscence of immortal lover ‘Tithonus’ in an elegiac fashion. The poem depicts the suffering of the immortal Tithonus who unfortunately despite having been granted immortal life was not blessed with immortal youth with it. As such, Tithonus is doomed to age and as he withers and wrinkles away, he is left to endure alone since his lover, the immortal goddess Aurora is tasked with carrying the rising sun at dawn. Tennyson’s narrative methods are effective at conveying Tithonus’s confused and regretful state of mind. Tennyson’s linguistic devices project the powerful emotions felt by Tithonus and his lingering memories of his youth adds a sense of nostalgia to Tithonus’s mindset. The use of a dramatic monologue structure is effective in giving a true insight into Tithonus’s thoughts.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Two of Simon Armitage's poems, 'Poem' and 'About His Person' are written about someone who has, for unspecified reasons, passed away or gone. One is in the style of a eulogy and looks back on the life of its persona, presenting contrasting views of it, while the other examines the articles found on a man after his death. Both give the readers some impression of the personas, but are somewhat ambiguous, inviting us to form our own mental pictures of the people and judge them for ourselves.…

    • 701 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Grief is an artist of powers as various as the instruments upon which he plays his dirges for the dead, evoking from some the sharpest, shrillest notes, from others the low, grave chords that throb recurrent like the slow beating of a distant drum.”…

    • 324 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Comparing the present feelings after a death in the poems ‘On my first Sonne’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Anne Hathaway’ by Duffy…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry Comparison

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A poem is an expression of emotion or ideas through literary work, often with a distinctive style and rhythm. Kenneth Slessor’s ‘Beach Burial’ and Bruce Dawe’s ‘Elegy for Drowned Children’ both present ideas on how individuals lament for the passed, through the major theme of death. Beach Burial follows the recurring events of the battle of El Alamein in WW2, whilst The Elegy for Drowned Children questions the fate of those unfortunate souls who have drowned. Although both poems incorporate drownin, they contrast in their interpretation of death and the ‘afterlife’. This idea of death is explored through the use of setting, language techniques and symbolism. The poet’s use these devices to emotionally connect with the reader, and each contribute to the specific meanings they are attempting to convey.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The next verses contain the same context as the first verses except for one statement. Alfred Tennyson writes this line:…

    • 1624 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I will discuss the effects of W. H. Auden’s poem ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ upon the tone, and the foreshadowing of plot line of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement. The poem and the novel are both elegiac- it is the contribution of the poem to Atonement at the crucial point before the deaths of the characters Robbie and Cecilia that begins to set the tone of elegy within the novel. This acknowledgement of death and mourning brings a sense of impending doom; the love expressed from Cecilia to Robbie by the inclusion of lines from ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ is matched by the element of tragic loss it also insinuates. The poem, set at a time of great impending disaster within Europe (Norton) brings this sense of inescapable tragedy to the novel.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Diction

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dealing with Death

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Death, an event that cannot be avoided is often paired with tragedy. Poem at Thirty-Nine by Alice Walker shows a daughter grieving for her dead father, Mother in a refugee camp tells the story of a mother’s care for her dying son, and Rosetti looks at a dying woman wanting her lover to forget her and move on in Remember. Death has been taken on by many poets from Thomas Hardy to Seamus Heaney, and whilst they explore death’s effect from different viewpoints, they all agree on the sorrow that it can bring.…

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, Mariana, follows the story of a jilted woman from Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.” The epigraph of the poem “Mariana in the moted grange” is taken from a reference of this play, and the narrative techniques within the poem combined with the context of the isolation of the character give us an insight into the melancholy that not only the character of Mariana feels, but perhaps also Tennyson himself.…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tennyson Close Analysis

    • 1611 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The poem Mariana by Alfred, Lord Tennyson was published in 1830 and is the text I have chosen to do closely analyze. The subject matter of the poem was taken from one of Shakespeare’s plays titled “Measure for Measure”, and the line: “Mariana in the moated grange,” gave Tennyson the inspiration to write of a young woman waiting for her lover. The two texts share a common theme of abandonment, as in Shakespeare’s play the young woman is also diligently awaiting the return of her lover Angelo after his desertion upon discovering her loss of dowry. Similarly to Shakespeare’s text, Marianna lacks action or any narrative movement, the entire poem serving as an extended depiction of the melancholy isolation a young woman experiences whilst pining for her vacant lover. The language, meter, format and tone of the poem contribute to the inherent themes of isolation, death and decay, which I will closely examine in this close reading exercise.…

    • 1611 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Facing with many hardships throughout his life, Tennyson used “Ulysses” to express his feelings about “going forward and braving the struggle of life” (Napierkowski 277). Tennyson’s father’s death in 1831 forced him to return home to take care of his family’s needs. During this time he struggled from poverty and his two brother’s mental illnesses. Although he faced these problems, Tennyson’s outlook on life improved as he adjusted to his new domestic duties, regained contact with friends, and even published his 1832 Book of Poems. News of the death of his close friend Hallam struck just as things seemed to get better. The domestic problems as well as the death of a close friend lead to the outburst of Tennyson’s emotions expressed in a previously created character, “Ulysses.”…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays