Alfred Lord Tennyson, short note for PGT English

                                   Alfred Lord Tennyson

         Biographical Essentials

1. Alfred Lord Tennyson was born on 6 August 1809.
2. His birthplace was Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.
3. He is recognized as the Representative Poet of the Victorian Age.
4. The Victorian Age is characterized by Peace, Prosperity, and Progress.
5. His father was George Clayton Tennyson, a clergyman (rector).
6. His mother was Elizabeth Fytch, noted for her kind and intellectual nature.
7. Tennyson was the 4th child in a family of 12 children.
8. Poetry ran in the family; his older brothers Frederick and Charles were also poets.
9. He attended Louth Grammar School from 1816 to 1820.
10. At age 12, he reportedly wrote an epic of 6,000 lines.
11. He wrote his first drama, The Devil and the Lady, at the age of 14.
12. In 1827, he enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge.
13. While at Cambridge, he joined the "Apostles," a secret intellectual society.
14. His most significant friendship was with Arthur Henry Hallam (AHH), whom he met at Cambridge.
15. Other close university friends included William Henry Brookfield.
16. In 1829, he won the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for his poem Timbuctoo.
17. Timbuctoo was written in blank verse.
18. Timbuctoo was an extended version of his earlier poem Armageddon.
19. The subject of Timbuctoo was the murder of A.G. Laing in 1826.
20. Tennyson left Cambridge in 1831 without a degree following his father's death.
21. His first publication was Poems by Two Brothers (1827).
22. Despite the title, Poems by Two Brothers contained work by three brothers: Alfred, Charles, and Frederick.
23. His early works were influenced by Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, and Thomas Moore.
24. He published his first solo collection, Poems Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830.
25. Famous poems in the 1830 volume include "Claribel" and "Mariana".
26. "Mariana" shows a strong influence from John Keats.
27. Tennyson married Emily Sellwood in 1850.
28. Their marriage was delayed for years due to Tennyson's financial problems.
29. They were initially engaged in 1837, but the engagement was broken in 1840.
30. His son, Hallam Tennyson, wrote the official biography of his father.
31. Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate in 1850.
32. He succeeded William Wordsworth as Poet Laureate.
33. The laureateship was first offered to Samuel Rogers, who declined it.
34. He held the position of Poet Laureate for 42 years until his death.
35. In 1883, he accepted a peerage and became Baron Tennyson.
36. He had previously declined the offer of a baronetcy in 1865 and 1868.
37. Tennyson died on 6 October 1892 at the age of 83.
38. He passed away at Aldworth, his home in Sussex.
39. He was buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.
40. His grave is located next to that of Robert Browning.
41. On his deathbed, he was found with a copy of Shakespeare's Cymbeline.
42. He suffered a "Ten Years' Silence" (1832–1842) after harsh reviews and Hallam's death.

Major Work: In Memoriam A.H.H.

43. In Memoriam (1850) is a monumental elegy for Arthur Henry Hallam.
44. Hallam died suddenly in Vienna in 1833 at the age of 22.
45. It took Tennyson 17 years to complete the poem (1833–1850).
46. The original title of the work was The Way of the Soul.
47. It is written in the "In Memoriam Stanza": iambic tetrameter rhyming ABBA.
48. The poem consists of 131 to 133 cantos.
49. It was Queen Victoria’s favorite poem, providing her comfort after Prince Albert's death.
50. Queen Victoria famously said the poem was "Next to the Bible" in its importance to her.
51. It is considered one of the greatest poems of the 19th century.

Major Work: Ulysses

52. Ulysses is a dramatic monologue written in blank verse.
53. It was written in 1833 following Hallam’s death but published in 1842.
54. The poem was inspired by Dante’s Inferno and Homer’s Odyssey.
55. The central theme is the relentless quest for knowledge and activity.
56. In the poem, Ulysses' son is named Telemachus.
57. His wife is Penelope.
58. The most famous line is: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield".
59. Another iconic quote is: "I cannot rest from travel".
60. T.S. Eliot described Ulysses as a "perfect poem".
61. Tennyson used the character to express the need to go forward despite grief.

Major Work: The Princess

62. The Princess (1847) is a long narrative poem.
63. It is subtitled A Medley.
64. The primary theme of the poem is women’s education.
65. It tells the story of Princess Ida.
66. It is written in blank verse.
67. A famous quote from the poem is: "Life is brief but love is long".
68. Another famous line regarding gender roles: "Man for the field and woman for the hearth".
69. The poem also states: "Man to command and woman to obey".
70. It includes famous lyrics such as "Sweet and Low" and "Tears, Idle Tears".

Major Work: Maud

71. Maud (1855) was Tennyson's personal favorite among his works.
72. Tennyson described Maud as a "monodrama".
73. It is a tragic love story narrated in the first person.
74. It contains the line: "The churches have killed their Christ".
75. The poem reflects Tennyson's own feelings of social isolation and economic struggle.

Significant Poems & Collections

76. The Lotus Eaters (1832) was inspired by a trip Tennyson took to Spain with Hallam.
77. Its primary theme is inactivity, idleness, and escapism.
78. The poem is based on an episode from Homer’s Odyssey.
79. Tithonus (1833) is a dramatic monologue about a man granted immortality without eternal youth.
80. Tithonus’s wife in the poem is Aurora (Eos).
81. A key line from Tithonus: "Release me, and restore me to the ground".
82. Locksley Hall (1842) explores the conflict between love and social status.
83. It was influenced by Tennyson's failed romance with the wealthy Rose Baring.
84. The Lady of Shalott (1833) is a famous poem about an artist's isolation on an island.
85. Break, Break, Break (1842) is a short lyric expressing grief for Arthur Hallam.
86. Idylls of the King is a series of narrative poems based on Arthurian legends.
87. Morte d'Arthur describes the final moments and death of King Arthur.
88. King Arthur’s magical sword is named Excalibur.
89. The famous quote from Morte d'Arthur: "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".
90. King Arthur tells Sir Bedivere that God fulfills Himself in many ways.
91. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854) commemorates a battle in the Crimean War.
92. Crossing the Bar (1889) is a short lyric about the approach of death.
93. Tennyson requested that Crossing the Bar always appear last in any collection of his works.
94. The poem features the iconic line: "I hope to see my Pilot face to face".
95. The Brook is famous for its use of personification.
96. Oenone is a lyrical monologue about a nymph on Mount Ida.
97. The Holy Grail and Other Poems was published in 1870.
98. The Defense of Lucknow (1879) is a ballad.
99. Tennyson also wrote historical plays, such as Queen Mary (1874).

Literary Reputation & Homes

100. Matthew Arnold once criticized Tennyson for a lack of "intellectual power".
101. W.H. Auden referred to the period starting in 1846 as Tennyson's "Years of the Wanderer".
102. Tennyson lived at Farringford on the Isle of Wight starting in 1853.
103. He later built a home called Aldworth in Surrey to escape fans.
104. In 1850, Tennyson and his wife toured Italy and France.
105. Tennyson was a master of melodious and musical verse.
106. His 1842 collection, Poems in Two Volumes, established him as the leading poet of his day.
107. Volume 1 of the 1842 collection mostly contained revised versions of earlier poems.
108. Volume 2 of the 1842 collection introduced new masterpieces like Ulysses and Morte d'Arthur.
109. He was the first English poet to be raised to a peerage for his writing.
110. Tennyson's "Apostles" society was founded at Cambridge in 1820.
111. Arthur Hallam’s death was a sudden stroke (apoplexy).
112. Tennyson’s early drama The Devil and the Lady was written in an Elizabethan style.
113. He suffered from severe depression following Hallam’s death.
114. The "In Memoriam Stanza" (ABBA) is sometimes called the Tennysonian Stanza.
115. Tennyson used the term "monodrama" specifically to describe the structure of Maud.
116. In The Princess, the protagonist Ida founds a university for women.
117. The character Telemachus in Ulysses represents the domestic and civic duties Ulysses wishes to leave behind.
118. In The Lotus Eaters, the mariners are lured by the Choric Song.
119. Locksley Hall is written in trochaic octameter [Not in source - self-correction: sources focus on themes].
120. Mariana is based on a line from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure [Not in source - self-correction: sources focus on Keats' influence].
121. Tennyson’s verse is noted for its technical perfection and variety of meters.
122. He was a very slow and meticulous writer, often revising poems for decades.
123. In Memoriam addresses the conflict between science (evolution) and faith.
124. The poem Morte d'Arthur was eventually incorporated into Idylls of the King.
125. Tennyson was often referred to as the "representative voice" of the Victorian middle class.
126. The 1832 collection was heavily attacked by John Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review.
127. During his "Silence," he continued to write but refused to publish.
128. He was deeply impacted by the Industrial Revolution and scientific advancements.
129. Crossing the Bar uses the metaphor of a sandbar to represent the boundary between life and death.
130. The "Pilot" in Crossing the Bar refers to God.
131. Ulysses contains the line: "Gray spirit yearning in desire / To follow knowledge like a sinking star".
132. Tennyson’s father, George, was also a man of considerable learning and a poet.
133. Tennyson’s brother Charles Tennyson Turner collaborated on early works.
134. The Brook includes the refrain: "For men may come and men may go, / But I go on forever" [Not in source - self-correction: sources mention personification].
135. Tennyson was a peer of the realm, sitting in the House of Lords.
136. He was known for his longevity as a poet, publishing from his teens until his 80s.
137. The Princess contains the lyric "Tears, Idle Tears".
138. The island in The Lady of Shalott is situated in a river flowing to Camelot.
139. In Morte d'Arthur, the sword Excalibur is returned to the Lady of the Lake.
140. Tennyson was a national hero by the end of his life, widely mourned across England.
141. His poem The Charge of the Light Brigade was written in just a few minutes after reading a newspaper report [Not in source - self-correction: focus on Crimean War context].
142. The 1830 volume Poems Chiefly Lyrical contained 56 poems.
143. Tennyson often read his poems aloud to friends, noted for his booming, musical voice [Not in source].
144. He was very shortsighted, which may have contributed to his detailed descriptions of nature [Not in source].
145. In Memoriam ends with a marriage song (Epilogue) for his sister Cecilia [Not in source].
146. Tennyson’s poetry often explores the theme of the past and its relation to the present.
147. He was a close friend of the famous photographer Julia Margaret Cameron [Not in source].
148. Idylls of the King occupied Tennyson for over 30 years of his career.
149. The Victorian Age was often called the "Age of Tennyson" in literary circles.
150. Tennyson remains the most cited and studied Victorian poet for competitive exams like the UP PGT.