Tennyson and Browning
This blog is part of Assignment of Paper No.104 : Literature of The Victorians .
About Tennyson :
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England—died October 6, 1892, Aldworth, Surrey) was an English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in
poetry. He was raised to the peerage in 1884.
.jpeg)
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. Some reviewers condemned these books as “affected” and “obscure.” Tennyson, stung by the reviews, would not publish another book for nine years. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost his inheritance on a bad investment in 1840, Sellwood’s family called off the engagement. In 1842, however, Tennyson’s Poems in two volumes was a tremendous critical and popular success. In 1850, with the publication of “In Memoriam,” Tennyson became one of Britain’s most popular poets. He was selected as poet laureate in succession to William Wordsworth. In that same year, he married Emily Sellwood. They had two sons, Hallam and Lionel.
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.
- Justify Tennyson as the representative literary figure of the Victorian Era.
Alfred lord Tennyson ,is widely regarded as one of the most significant representative poet of Victorian England. his poetry encapsulates the spirit and sensibilities of the Victorian era, and his works mirror the social , culture , and moral values of the time . Tennyson's poetry resonated with the Victorians, and he became a Prominent figure in the literary landscape during the queen Victorian's reign. here are some key reasons why Tennyson is Considared a representative poet of Victorian England :
1. Reflecting Victorian value : Tennyson's poetry often dealt with themes that were central to the Victorian mindset ,such as duty , honor, and the pursuit of progress. his works captured the patriotism, and moral rectitude.
2. Embracing Romantic and Victorian Traits : Tennyson's Poetry bridges the gap between the romantic era and the victorian age. he infused his works with the emotional depth and nature - inspired imagery of the romantics while embracing the victorian focus on order, restraint , and social consciousness.
3. Capturing the Zeitgeist :tennyson's poetry captured the mood of the victorian period, which was characterized by both optimism and expored themes of progress and industrialization, as well as the impact of scientific advancements on society.
4. Reflecting the Struggle with Faith : The Victorian era witnessed a profound struggle between faith and doubt , influenced by scientific discoveries and shifting religious beliefs. Tennysons's poetry delved into this inner conflict, grappling with questions of faith and spirituality.
(click here )
- Pick a poem written by and discuss its thematic concerns.
About Robert Browning
Robert Browning (born May 7, 1812, London—died Dec. 12, 1889, Venice) was a major English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological portraiture. His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a Roman murder trial in 12 books.
Robert Browning's poetry / themes
Multiple Perspectives on Single Events
The dramatic monologue verse form allowed Browning to explore and probe the minds of specific characters in specific places struggling with specific sets of circumstances. In The Ring and the Book, Browning tells a suspenseful story of murder using multiple voices, which give multiple perspectives and multiple versions of the same story. Dramatic monologues allow readers to enter into the minds of various characters and to see an event from that character’s perspective. Understanding the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of a character not only gives readers a sense of sympathy for the characters but also helps readers understand the multiplicity of perspectives that make up the truth. In effect, Browning’s work reminds readers that the nature of truth or reality fluctuates, depending on one’s perspective or view of the situation. Multiple perspectives illustrate the idea that no one sensibility or perspective sees the whole story and no two people see the same events in the same way. Browning further illustrated this idea by writing poems that work together as companion pieces, such as “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Andrea del Sarto.” Poems such as these show how people with different characters respond differently to similar situations, as well as depict how a time, place, and scenario can cause people with similar personalities to develop or change quite dramatically.
The Purposes of Art
Browning wrote many poems about artists and poets, including such dramatic monologues as “Pictor Ignotus” (1855) and “Fra Lippo Lippi.” Frequently, Browning would begin by thinking about an artist, an artwork, or a type of art that he admired or disliked. Then he would speculate on the character or artistic philosophy that would lead to such a success or failure. His dramatic monologues about artists attempt to capture some of this philosophizing because his characters speculate on the purposes of art. For instance, the speaker of “Fra Lippo Lippi” proposes that art heightens our powers of observation and helps us notice things about our own lives. According to some of these characters and poems, painting idealizes the beauty found in the real world, such as the radiance of a beloved’s smile. Sculpture and architecture can memorialize famous or important people, as in “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church” (1845) and “The Statue and the Bust” (1855). But art also helps its creators to make a living, and it thus has a purpose as pecuniary as creative, an idea explored in “Andrea del Sarto.”
The Relationship Between Art and Morality
Throughout his work, Browning tried to answer questions about an artist’s responsibilities and to describe the relationship between art and morality. He questioned whether artists had an obligation to be moral and whether artists should pass judgment on their characters and creations. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Browning populated his poems with evil people, who commit crimes and sins ranging from hatred to murder. The dramatic monologue format allowed Browning to maintain a great distance between himself and his creations: by channeling the voice of a character, Browning could explore evil without actually being evil himself. His characters served as personae that let him adopt different traits and tell stories about horrible situations. In “My Last Duchess,” the speaker gets away with his wife’s murder since neither his audience (in the poem) nor his creator judges or criticizes him. Instead, the responsibility of judging the character’s morality is left to readers, who find the duke of Ferrara a vicious, repugnant person even as he takes us on a tour of his art gallery.
.jpeg)
Comments
Post a Comment