apr 6, 1850 - 'In Memoriam', Alfred Tennyson

Description:

elegy written after the death of his friend. Written in iambic tetrameter, consists of 133 short poems, with a cyclical structure, the same subjects, ideas and scenes recurring with changes. Each lyric presents a mediation on providence, death, belief and doubt. The poem wonders how hope can survive in a world where all things die, and comes to the conclusion that the 'anxiety of the heart' will find relief through 'Faith in a God of Love'. The movement is therefore from dejection to the acceptance of transience and decay.
The blend of moving intimate feelings with more general social preoccupations is typically victorian

T's poetry is rarely commited to a social cause; often set in a medieval past, describes emotional states
His dreamy, introspective characters offer a reflection on major victorian concerns such as love, loss, faith and doubt. T reflects upon the nature of reality or truth, the place of religion in a scientific age and the function of the poet