POETICALLY SPEAKING....

"BREAK, BREAK, BREAK"

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Break, break, break
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

O well for the fisherman's boy
That he shouts for his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill.
But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me."

This elegy, written by Tennyson with the loss of his dear friend Hallam ever in his mind, is thought by scholars to be one of the finest short poems of the 19th century.

William Henry Hallam was a young poet at Cambridge and engaged to Tennyson's sister. He took ill and died suddenly at age 22. This event haunted the poet for the rest of his life, and out of it came at least four major works: "Memoriam, A.H.H.", "The Praise of Arthur," "Ulysses,"
and "Tithonus."

Tennyson was a favorite of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, the prince having visited the poet several times. Upon Albert's death in 1853, the long poem, "Memoriam A.H.H.," which had been written for Arthur, gave the queen solace in her decades of grieving over her husband, the prince. It was this long memorial poem that gave Tennyson his reputation as one of the top poets of the 19th century. He was England's Poet Laureate for a good portion of the Victorian era.

Tennyson's poems, as well as his whole life, tended toward melancholy. In writing "Break, Break, Break," during a sad period of his life, he was visiting at a country estate by the seashore and observed, that even during his own sadness---others were going on with their lives: the "fisherman's boy,"and "his sister" were at play---the "sailor lad" is singing "in his boat on the bay," and "the stately ships go on to their haven under the hill..." This is all well and good, but it does not alleviate the deep vacancy and sorrow that exists in his heart---one that will never be filled again.

Alfred Lord Tennyson was born August 6, 1809 at Somersby, Lincolnshire, the fourth of twelve children. In 1827 he enrolled in Cambridge College, where he studied philosophy under a special tutor, William Whewell..

Tennyson began to be known, along with his brother, as a rising young poet, when they published Poems By Two Brothers, and won university prizes for poetry.

He joined "The Apostles," an undergraduate club, whose members remained Alfred's friends all his life. Arthur Hallam joined this group and became his closest friend, as noted above.

Other important and well-known Englishmen can be named among his colleagues and close friends, including Robert Browning, John Stuart Mills, Matthew Arnold, and William Gladstone, (who had a major influence on the poet.)

He became engaged to Emily Sellwood, but concerns about his mental health, and bad investments that ruined his financial status---caused him to break off the engagement. Finally, in 1842, his Poems was published and his fame increased. He was granted a government pension of £200 for life, enough to keep him going.

In researching Tennyson's position among "The Top Ten English Poets," we find that there are many such lists, and that he appears high on most of them.

PSA 45 Publications gives us an excellent evaluation: "What established Tennyson as a poet of the first order was his melancholy, self-searching, and mystery-probing, 'In Memoriam A.H.H.' Lyrically beautiful, honestly grappling with the real questions and enigmas of life---at times incisive. It deserves a ranking as one of the outstanding long poems in English."

I liked Amazon's review: "Although Tennyson (1809-1892) has often been characterized as an austere, bearded patriarch, and laureate of the Victorian Age, his poems speak clearly to the imagination of the late 20th century. His mastery of rhyme, metre, imagery, and word communicate their dark, sensuous, and sometimes morbid messages. Much given to melancholy, and feelings of aching desolation, Tennyson's verse also carries clear messages of hope---'Ring out the old, ring in the new!' and  'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all!' "---Amazon

It is said that Tennyson excelled at short lyrics. Here are some favorites for you to look up and enjoy:

"The Charge of the Light Brigade"
"Tears, Idle Tears"
"In the Valley of Cauteretz"
"Crossing the Bar"

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BY MIL
4/29/13

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