Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1809 - 1892
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born the fourth son of a rector in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England in 1809. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was first published in 1830. He continued to write despite early criticism of being too sentimental; many of his early poems, including The Lady of Shalott, were revised and freshly published in the volume Poems in 1842. By 1850 he was sufficiently established to succeed Wordsworth as Poet Laureate. He died in 1892.
His reputation has ebbed and flowed ever since and he has many critics who consider that he represents nothing more than Victorianism. It is true that, for example, the subject of women's education was treated in a comic fashion within The Princess. Nonetheless, he could be a powerful poet as In Memoriam amply demonstrates.
There is a reasonable selection here of the poet's prodigious output and I commend especially In Memoriam.
If you like these then why not add to your library through Amazon:
The
Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson
(Wordsworth Poetry Library)
USA or UK