Editing Alfred, Lord Tennyson

{{short description|British Poet Laureate (1809–1892)}}
{{redirect2|Tennyson|Lord Tennyson|other uses|Tennyson (disambiguation)|and|Baron Tennyson}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Tennyson
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=UK|FRS|size=100%}}
| image               = Alfred, Lord Tennyson by Elliott & Fry - Original.jpg
| office1             = [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch1            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| term_start1         = 19 November 1850
| term_end1           = 6 October 1892
| predecessor1        = [[William Wordsworth]]
| successor1          = [[Alfred Austin]]
| office2             = Member of the [[House of Lords]]<br />[[Lord Temporal]]
| term_start2         = 11 March 1884
| term_end2           = 6 October 1892<br/>[[Hereditary Peerage]]
| successor2          = [[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson]]
| caption             = [[Carbon print]] by [[Elliott & Fry]], late 1860s
| birth_date          = 6 August 1809
| birth_place         = [[Somersby, Lincolnshire]], England
| alma_mater          = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] (no degree)
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1892|10|6|1809|8|6}}
| death_place         = [[Lurgashall]], Sussex, England<ref name="UKLB">{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-410472-aldworth-house-lurgashall-west-sussex|title=British Listed Buildings Aldworth House, Lurgashall|publisher=British Listed Buildings Online|access-date=5 November 2012}}</ref>
| occupation          = [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] (1850–1892)
| resting_place       = [[Westminster Abbey]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Emily Sellwood]]|13 June 1850}}
| children            = {{hlist|[[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson]]|Lionel}}
| website             = 
}}

'''Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson''' {{postnominals|country=UK|sep=,|FRS}} ({{IPAc-en|'|t|ɛ|n|ɪ|s|ən}}; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] during much of [[Queen Victoria]]'s reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the [[Chancellor's Gold Medal]] at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, ''[[Poems, Chiefly Lyrical]]'', in 1830. "[[Claribel (poem)|Claribel]]" and "[[Mariana (poem)|Mariana]]", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his poems ultimately proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]].

Tennyson also focused on short lyrics, such as "[[Break, Break, Break]]", "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]", "[[Tears, Idle Tears]]", and "[[Crossing the Bar]]". Much of his verse was based on [[Classical mythology|classical]] mythological themes, such as "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]" and "[[The Lotos-Eaters]]". "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]" was written to commemorate his friend [[Arthur Hallam]], a fellow poet and student at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], after he died of a stroke at the age of 22.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stern |first=Keith |title=Queers in History |publisher=Quistory Publishers |year=2007}}</ref> Tennyson also wrote notable [[blank verse]], including ''[[Idylls of the King]]'', "Ulysses", and "[[Tithonus (poem)|Tithonus]]". During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success.

A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplace in the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw" ("In Memoriam A.H.H."), "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure", "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new". He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in ''[[The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|edition=5th}}</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Tennyson was born on 6 August 1809 in [[Somersby, Lincolnshire]], England.<ref>Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Brief Biography, Glenn Everett, Associate Professor of English, the University of Tennessee at Martin.</ref> He was born into a successful middle-class family of minor landowning status distantly descended from [[John Savage, 2nd Earl Rivers]], and [[Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale]].<ref name=savagearmstrong>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MU5RKM6ekl4C&pg=PA51 |pages=50–52 |title=The Ancient and Noble Family of the Savages of the Ards, with Sketches of English and American Branches of the House of Savage: Comp. From Historical Documents and Family Papers |last=Savage-Armstrong |first=George Francis |year=1888}}</ref>[[File: W.E.F. Britten - The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson - The Garden at Somersby Rectory.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration by [[William Edward Frank Britten|W. E. F. Britten]] showing Somersby Rectory, where Tennyson was raised and began writing]] His father, George Clayton Tennyson (1778–1831), was an Anglican clergyman who served as rector of Somersby (1807–1831), also rector of [[Benniworth]] (1802–1831) and [[Bag Enderby]], and vicar of [[Grimsby]] (1815). He raised a large family and "was a man of superior abilities and varied attainments, who tried his hand with fair success in architecture, painting, music, and poetry. He was comfortably well off for a country clergyman, and his shrewd money management enabled the family to spend summers at [[Mablethorpe]] and [[Skegness]] on the eastern coast of England". George Clayton Tennyson was the elder son of attorney and [[Member of parliament|MP]] George Tennyson (1749/50–1835), [[Magistrate (England and Wales)|JP]], [[Deputy lieutenant|DL]], of [[Bayons Manor]] and [[Usselby]] Hall, who had also inherited the estates of his mother's family, the Claytons, and married Mary, daughter and heiress of John Turner, of [[Caistor]], Lincolnshire. George Clayton Tennyson was however pushed into a career in the church and passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother [[Charles Tennyson-d'Eyncourt|Charles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/tennyson-george-1750-1835 |title=TENNYSON, George (1750–1835), of Bayon's Manor, Lincs. &#124; History of Parliament Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lincolnshirewolds.info/tennyson/tennysonsfather.htm |title=George Tennyson}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raseheritage.org.uk/the-tennysons/ |title=Tennyson |date=11 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marketrasenheritagetour.co.uk/stories/tennysons |title=The Tennysons in Market Rasen :: Market Rasen, All Our Stories}}</ref><ref name=savagearmstrong/> Their mother, Elizabeth (1781–1865), was the daughter of Stephen Fytche (1734–1799),{{citation needed|date=April 2025|reason=Her maiden name appears to be Clayton; why isn't it Fytche?}} vicar of [[St. James Church, Louth]] (1764), and rector of [[Withcall]] (1780), a small village between [[Horncastle]] and [[Louth, Lincolnshire|Louth]]. Tennyson's father "carefully attended to the education and training of his children".

Tennyson, recalling the poetic influences of his youth, said, "as a boy I was an enormous admirer of [[Lord Byron|Byron]]."<ref>"Excerpts from Hallam Tennyson's Memoir" in "Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works" (Oxford World's Classics), p. 541.</ref> Tennyson and two of his elder brothers were writing poetry in their teens and a collection of poems by all three was published locally when Alfred was only 17. One of those brothers, [[Charles Tennyson Turner]], later married Louisa Sellwood, the younger sister of Alfred's [[Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson|future wife]]; the other was [[Frederick Tennyson]]. Another of Tennyson's brothers, Edward Tennyson, was institutionalised at a private asylum.

The noted psychologist [[William James]], in his book ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]'', quoted Tennyson concerning a type of experience with which Tennyson was familiar: <blockquote>"A kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has often come upon me through repeating my own name. All at once, as it were out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this was not a confused state but the clearest, the surest of the sure, utterly beyond words…"<ref>James, William. ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature''. Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books, p. 295. 1902/2012. ISBN 1614273154.</ref></blockquote>

===Education and first publication===
[[File:StatueOfTennyson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Statue of Lord Tennyson in the chapel of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]]]

Tennyson was a student of [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth]] from 1816 to 1820.<ref name="Parsons">''Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson.'' Eugene Parsons (Introduction). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1900.</ref> He entered [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1827, where he joined a secret society called the [[Cambridge Apostles]].<ref>{{acad|id=TNY827A|name=Tennyson, Alfred}}</ref> A portrait of Tennyson by [[George Frederic Watts]] is in Trinity's collection.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trinity College, University of Cambridge|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|publisher=BBC Your Paintings|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140511164255/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|archive-date=11 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

At Cambridge, Tennyson met [[Arthur Hallam]] and [[William Henry Brookfield]], who became his closest friends. His first publication was a collection of "his boyish rhymes and those of his elder brother Charles" entitled ''Poems by Two Brothers'', published in 1827.<ref name="Parsons"/>

In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the [[Chancellor's Gold Medal]] at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu".<ref>Friedlander, Ed. "[http://www.pathguy.com/timbuc.htm Enjoying "Timbuktu" by Alfred Tennyson]"</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/asop/people/alfred_tennyson.shtml|title= Lincolnshire People – Famous Yellowbellies – Alfred, Lord Tennyson|date=31 August 2005|publisher=BBC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831192254/http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/asop/people/alfred_tennyson.shtml|archive-date=31 August 2005|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref> Reportedly, "it was thought to be no slight honour for a young man of twenty to win the chancellor's gold medal".<ref name="Parsons"/> He published his first solo collection of poems, ''Poems Chiefly Lyrical'' in 1830. "[[Claribel (poem)|Claribel]]" and "[[Mariana (poem)|Mariana]]", which later took their place among Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

===Return to Lincolnshire, second publication, Epping Forest===
In the spring of 1831, Tennyson's father died, requiring him to leave [[Cambridge]] before taking his degree. He returned to the rectory, where he was permitted to live for another six years and shared responsibility for his widowed mother and the family. [[Arthur Hallam]] came to stay with his family during the summer and became engaged to Tennyson's sister, Emilia Tennyson.

[[File:John William Waterhouse - The Lady of Shalott - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[John William Waterhouse]]'s ''[[The Lady of Shalott (painting)|The Lady of Shalott]]'', 1888 ([[Tate Britain]], London)]]

{{Quote box |width=285px |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
 |quote =<poem>
'''''The May Queen'''''

YOU must wake and call me early, call me early, 
     mother dear;
To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad 
     new-year, –
Of all the glad new-year, mother, the maddest, 
     merriest day;
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

As I came up the valley, whom think ye should 
     I see
But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the 
     hazel-tree?
He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave 
     him yesterday, –
But I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

They say he's dying all for love, – but that can 
     never be;
They say his heart is breaking, mother, – what 
     is that to me?
There's many a bolder lad 'll woo me any sum-
     mer day;
And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to 
     be Queen o' the May.

If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my 
     resting-place;
Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look 
     upon your face;
Though I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken 
     what you say,
And be often, often with you when you think I'm 
     far away. 

So now I think my time is near; I trust it is. 
     I know
The blessed music went that way my soul will 
     have to go.
And for myself, indeed, I care not if I go to-day;
But Effie, you must comfort her when I am past 
     away.

And say to Robin a kind word, and tell him not 
     to fret;
There's many worthier than I, would make him 
     happy yet.
If I had lived – I cannot tell – I might have 
     been his wife;
But all these things have ceased to be, with my 
     desire of life.

Forever and forever, all in a blessed home,
And there to wait a little while till you and 
     Effie come, –
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your 
     breast, –
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
     weary are at rest.
</poem>|source = ''From "The May Queen" poem by Alfred Tennyson''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kXd4bRr71a4C&dq=Charles+Timothy+Brooks+ON+Alpine+heights&pg=PA239 ''A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by William Cullen Bryant''], New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, pp. 239–242.</ref>}}

In 1833 Tennyson published his second book of poetry, which notably included the first version of "[[The Lady of Shalott]]". The volume met heavy criticism, which so discouraged Tennyson that he did not publish again for ten years, although he did continue to write. That same year, Hallam died suddenly and unexpectedly after suffering a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] while on a holiday in [[Vienna]]. Hallam's death had a profound effect on Tennyson and inspired several poems, including "In the Valley of Cauteretz" and "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]", a long poem detailing the "Way of the Soul".<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897">H. Tennyson (1897). ''Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son'', New York: MacMillan.</ref>

Tennyson and his family were allowed to stay in the rectory for some time, but later moved to Beech Hill Park, [[High Beach]], deep within [[Epping Forest]], [[Essex]], about 1837. Tennyson's son recalled: "there was a pond in the park on which in winter my father might be seen skating, sailing about on the ice in his long blue cloak. He liked the nearness of London, whither he resorted to see his friends, but he could not stay in town even for a night, his mother being in such a nervous state that he did not like to leave her...".<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897"/> Tennyson befriended a Dr Allen, who ran a nearby asylum whose patients then included the poet [[John Clare]].<ref>[http://highbeachchurch.org/WhosWhoatHolyInnocents.aspx "History of Holy Innocents Church"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320145841/http://highbeachchurch.org/WhosWhoatHolyInnocents.aspx|date=20 March 2012 }}, Highbeachchurch.org. Retrieved 27 April 2012</ref> An unwise investment in Dr Allen's ecclesiastical wood-carving enterprise soon led to the loss of much of the family fortune, and led to a bout of serious depression.<ref name="H. Tennyson, 1897"/> According to Tennyson's grandson [[Sir Charles Tennyson]], Tennyson met [[Thomas Carlyle]] in 1839, if not earlier.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sanders|first=Charles Richard|date=1961|title=Carlyle and Tennyson|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/460317|journal=PMLA|volume=76|issue=1|pages=82–97|doi=10.2307/460317|jstor=460317|s2cid=164191497 |issn=0030-8129|url-access=registration}}</ref> The pair began a lifelong friendship, and were famous smoking companions. Some of Tennyson's work even bears the influence of Carlyle and his ideas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Starnes|first=D. T.|title=The Influence of Carlyle Upon Tennyson|date=1921|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43466076|journal=Texas Review|volume=6|issue=4|pages=316–336|jstor=43466076|issn=2380-5382|url-access=registration}}</ref> Tennyson moved to London in 1840 and lived for a time at [[Chapel House, Twickenham]].

===Third publication===<!--only last paragraph has citations-->
On 14 May 1842, while living modestly in London, Tennyson published the two volume ''[[Poems (Tennyson, 1842)|Poems]]'', of which the first included works already published and the second was made up almost entirely of new poems. They met with immediate success; poems from this collection, such as "[[Locksley Hall]]", "[[Break, Break, Break]]", and "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]", and a new version of "[[The Lady of Shalott]]", have met enduring fame. "[[The Princess (Tennyson poem)|The Princess: A Medley]]", a satire on women's education that came out in 1847, was also popular for its lyrics. [[W. S. Gilbert]] later adapted and parodied the piece twice: in ''[[The Princess (play)|The Princess]]'' (1870) and in ''[[Princess Ida]]'' (1884).

It was in 1850 that Tennyson reached the pinnacle of his career, finally publishing his masterpiece, "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]", dedicated to Hallam. Later the same year, he was appointed [[Poet Laureate]], succeeding [[William Wordsworth]]. In the same year (on 13 June), Tennyson married [[Emily Sellwood]], whom he had known since childhood, in the village of [[Shiplake]]. They had two sons, [[Hallam Tennyson]] (b.&nbsp;11 August 1852)—named after his friend—and Lionel (b.&nbsp;16 March 1854).

Tennyson rented [[Farringford House]] on the [[Isle of Wight]] in 1853, eventually buying it in 1856.<ref>[http://www.farringford.co.uk/history.php ''The Home of Tennyson''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224042836/http://www.farringford.co.uk/history.php|date=24 December 2007 }} Rebecca FitzGerald, [http://www.farringford.co.uk/index.php Farringford: The Home of Tennyson]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204063836/http://www.farringford.co.uk/index.php|date=4 December 2008 }} official website</ref> He eventually found that there were too many [[wikt:star-struck|starstruck]] tourists who pestered him in Farringford, so he moved to [[Blackdown, Sussex|Aldworth]], in [[West Sussex]] in 1869.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-410472-aldworth-house-lurgashall-west-sussex|title=Aldworth House – Lurgashall – West Sussex – England – British Listed Buildings|author=Good Stuff|work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}}</ref> However, he retained Farringford, and regularly returned there to spend the winters.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Break-break-break-reickemeyer.jpg|''Break, Break, Break, on thy cold grey Stones, o Sea'', a photograph by [[Rudolf Eickemeyer Jr.]] The title is a quote from the 1842 [[Break, Break, Break|poem]].
File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson and family.jpg|Tennyson with his wife [[Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson|Emily]] (1813–1896) and his sons [[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson|Hallam]] (1852–1928) and Lionel (1854–1886)
File:Farringford - Lord Tennyson's residence - c1910 - Project Gutenberg eText 17296.jpg|[[Farringford]] – Lord Tennyson's residence on the Isle of Wight
File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson by George Frederic Watts.jpg|''Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson'', by [[George Frederic Watts]] (1817–1904)

</gallery>

===Poet Laureate===
[[File:Alfred Tennyson, Vanity Fair, 1871-07-22.jpg|thumb|160px|Captioned "The Poet Laureate", caricature of Tennyson in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 22 July 1871]]
In 1850, after William Wordsworth's death and [[Samuel Rogers]]' refusal, Tennyson was appointed to the position of [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]]; [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]] and [[Leigh Hunt]] had also been considered.<ref name="Batchelor">Batchelor, John. ''Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find.'' London: Chatto and Windus, 2012.</ref> He held the position until his death in 1892, the longest tenure of any laureate. Tennyson fulfilled the requirements of this position, such as by authoring a poem of greeting to [[Princess Alexandra of Denmark]] when she arrived in Britain to marry the future King [[Edward VII]]. In 1855, Tennyson produced one of his best-known works, "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]", a dramatic tribute to the British cavalrymen involved in [[Charge of the Light Brigade|an ill-advised charge]] on 25 October 1854, during the [[Crimean War]]. Other esteemed works written in the post of Poet Laureate include "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "Ode Sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition".

[[File:Alfred Tennyson..jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Alfred Tennyson'', portrait by P. Krämer]]

Tennyson declined a [[baronet]]cy offered him by [[Disraeli]] in 1865 and 1868, finally accepting a [[peerage]] in 1883 at [[Gladstone]]'s earnest solicitation. In 1884 Victoria created him '''Baron Tennyson''', of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight|Freshwater in the Isle of Wight]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25308|date=15 January 1884|page=243}}</ref> He took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 March 1884.<ref name="Parsons"/>

Tennyson also wrote a substantial quantity of unofficial political verse, from the bellicose "Form, Riflemen, Form", on the French crisis of 1859 and the [[Volunteer Force (Great Britain)#Creation of the Volunteer Force|Creation of the Volunteer Force]], to "Steersman, be not precipitate in thine act/of steering", deploring Gladstone's [[Home Rule Bill]]. Tennyson's family were [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]] by tradition and Tennyson's own politics fitted the Whig mould, although he would also vote for the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] after the Whigs dissolved.<ref name="Pearsall">{{cite book|last=Pearsall|first=Cornelia D.J.|title=Tennyson's Rapture: Transformation in the Victorian Dramatic Monologue|url=https://archive.org/details/tennysonsrapture00pear|url-access=limited|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tennysonsrapture00pear/page/n48 38]–44|isbn=978-0-19-515054-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ormond|first=Leonee|title=Alfred Tennyson: A Literary Life|date=1993|publisher=Springer|page=146}}</ref> Tennyson believed that society should progress through gradual and steady reform, not revolution, and this attitude was reflected in his attitude toward universal suffrage, which he did not outright reject, but recommended only after the masses had been properly educated and adjusted to self-government.<ref name="Pearsall" /> Upon passage of the [[Reform Act 1832]], Tennyson broke into a local church to ring the bells in celebration.<ref name="Pearsall" />

[[Virginia Woolf]] wrote a play called ''Freshwater'', showing Tennyson as host to his friends [[Julia Margaret Cameron]] and [[G. F. Watts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.primaveraproductions.com/index.php?area=productions&subarea=single&id=21%7ctitle=primaveraproductions.com%7cwork=primaveraproductions.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923175341/http://www.primaveraproductions.com/index.php?area=productions&subarea=single&id=21%7ctitle=primaveraproductions.com%7cwork=primaveraproductions.com|url-status=usurped|archive-date=23 September 2015|title=primaveraproductions.com}}</ref> Colonel [[George Edward Gouraud]], [[Thomas Edison]]'s European agent, made sound recordings of Tennyson reading his own poetry, late in his life. They include recordings of "The Charge of the Light Brigade", and excerpts from "The splendour falls" (from The Princess), "Come into the garden" (from [[Maud and other poems|Maud]]), "Ask me no more", "Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington" and "Lancelot and Elaine". The sound quality is poor, as wax cylinder recordings usually are.

[[File:Tennyson in Arbor.PNG|thumbnail|upright=.9|Published one year after Tennyson's death, this sketch depicts him sitting in his favourite [[arbour (garden)|arbour]] at [[Farringford House]], his home in the village of [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]].]]

Towards the end of his life Tennyson revealed that his "religious beliefs also defied convention, leaning towards agnosticism and [[pandeism]]":<ref>[[Harold Bloom]], ''Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles: The Power of the Reader's Mind Over a Universe of Death'', [[Yale University Press]], October 2020, p. 373, {{ISBN|0-300-24728-1}}: "When he died the laureate declared himself agnostic and pan-deist and at one with the great heretics Giordano Bruno (who was a Hermetist and burned alive by the Church) and Baruch Spinoza (who was excommunicated by the Jews)."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgeprints.com/newacquisitionsbooks.htm|title=Cambridge Book and Print Gallery|access-date=31 August 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311022152/http://www.cambridgeprints.com/newacquisitionsbooks.htm|archive-date=11 March 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a characteristically Victorian manner, Tennyson combines a deep interest in contemporary science with an unorthodox, even idiosyncratic, Christian belief.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/tenny1.html|title=Tennyson, Science and Religion|website=victorianweb.org}}</ref> Famously, he wrote in ''In Memoriam'': "There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." In ''Maud'', 1855, he wrote: "The churches have killed their Christ". In "[[Locksley Hall Sixty Years After]]", Tennyson wrote: "Christian love among the churches look'd the twin of heathen hate." In his play ''[[Becket (Tennyson play)|Becket]]'', he wrote: "We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, Yea, even when we know not, mix our spites and private hates with our defence of Heaven". Tennyson recorded in his ''Diary'' (p.&nbsp;127): "I believe in [[Pantheism]] of a sort". His son's biography confirms that Tennyson was an unorthodox Christian, noting that Tennyson praised [[Giordano Bruno]] and [[Spinoza]] on his deathbed, saying of Bruno, "His view of God is in some ways mine", in 1892.<ref>[http://ffrf.org/day/?day=6&month=8 Freethought of the Day, 6 August 2006, Alfred Tennyson] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121203013326/http://ffrf.org/day/?day=6&month=8|date=3 December 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Tennyson Monument, Tennyson Down, IW, UK.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Monument to Tennyson on [[Tennyson Down]], Isle of Wight]]

Tennyson continued writing into his eighties. He died on 6 October 1892 at Aldworth, aged 83. He was buried at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A.P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; 1882), p. 240.</ref> A memorial was erected in [[All Saints' Church, Freshwater]]. His last words were, "Oh that press will have me now!".<ref>Andrew Motion, BBC Radio 4, "Great Lives: Alfred, Lord Tennyson", broadcast on 4 August 2009</ref> He left an estate of £57,206.<ref>Christopher Ricks (1972). ''Tennyson''. Macmillan, p. 236</ref> [[Tennyson Down]] and the [[Tennyson Trail]] on the Isle of Wight are named after him, and a monument to him stands on top of Tennyson Down. [[Lake Tennyson]] in New Zealand's high country, named by [[Frederick Weld]], is assumed to be named after Lord Tennyson.<ref>{{cite book|page =411|last = Reed|first = A.W.|author-link = Alexander Wyclif Reed|title = Place Names of New Zealand|year = 2010|publisher = Raupo|location = Rosedale, North Shore|isbn = 9780143204107|editor = Peter Dowling}}</ref>

He was succeeded as 2nd Baron Tennyson by his son [[Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson|Hallam]], who produced an authorised biography of his father in 1897, and was later the second [[Governor-General of Australia]].

==Tennyson and the Queen==
Although [[Albert, Prince Consort]], was largely responsible for Tennyson's appointment as Laureate,<ref name=" Batchelor" /> [[Queen Victoria]] became an ardent admirer of Tennyson's work, writing in her diary that she was "much soothed & pleased" by reading "[[In Memoriam A.H.H.]]" after Albert's death.<ref>{{cite web |title=Queen Victoria's Journals – Information Site |url=http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do |work=queenvictoriasjournals.org |date=5 January 1862}}</ref>

The two met twice, first in April 1862, when Victoria wrote in her diary, "very peculiar looking, tall, dark, with a fine head, long black flowing hair & a beard, oddly dressed, but there is no affectation about him."<ref>{{cite web |title=Queen Victoria's Journals – Information Site |url=http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do |work=queenvictoriasjournals.org |date=14 April 1862}}</ref>

Tennyson met her a second time just over two decades later, on 7 August 1883, and the Queen told him what a comfort "In Memoriam A.H.H." had been.<ref>{{cite web |title=Queen Victoria's Journals – Information Site |url=http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do |work=queenvictoriasjournals.org |date=7 August 1883}}</ref>

==The art of Tennyson's poetry==
[[File:Ottawa Public Library.jpg|thumb|upright|Stained glass at [[Ottawa Public Library]] featuring [[Charles Dickens]], [[Archibald Lampman]], [[Walter Scott]], [[Lord Byron]], Tennyson, [[William Shakespeare]], and [[Thomas Moore]]]]
As source material for his poetry, Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter ranging from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature. The influence of [[John Keats]] and other [[Romantic poets]] published before and during his childhood is evident from the richness of his imagery and descriptive writing.<ref name="felix grendon">{{cite journal|last=Grendon|first=Felix|title=The Influence of Keats upon the Early Poetry of Tennyson|journal=The Sewanee Review|date=July 1907|volume=15|issue=3|pages=285–296|url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-27530858/27530858_djvu.txt|access-date=24 October 2014}}</ref> He also handled rhythm masterfully. The insistent beat of "[[Break, Break, Break]]" emphasises the relentless sadness of the subject matter. Tennyson's use of the musical qualities of words to emphasise his rhythms and meanings is sensitive. The language of "I come from haunts of coot and hern" lilts and ripples like the brook in the poem and the last two lines of "Come down O maid from yonder mountain height" illustrate his telling combination of [[onomatopoeia]], [[alliteration]], and [[assonance]]:

{{poemquote|The moan of doves in immemorial elms
And murmuring of innumerable bees.}}

Tennyson was a craftsman who polished and revised his manuscripts extensively, to the point where his efforts at self-editing were described by his contemporary [[Robert Browning]] as "insane", symptomatic of "mental infirmity".<ref>{{cite book |last=Baker |first=John Haydn |title=Browning and Wordsworth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sj4SoOOutwC |publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]] |location=Cranbury, NJ |date=2004 |page=10 |access-date=24 October 2014 |isbn=0838640389}}</ref> His complex compositional practice and frequent redrafting also demonstrates a dynamic relationship between images and words, as can be seen in the many notebooks he worked in.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tennyson |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/tennyson|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=5 October 2017}}</ref> Few poets have used such a variety of styles with such an exact understanding of [[Meter (poetry)|metre]]; like many Victorian poets, he experimented in adapting the [[Meter (poetry)#Greek and Latin|quantitative metres]] of Greek and Latin poetry to English.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pattison |first=Robert |title=Tennyson and Tradition |url=https://archive.org/details/tennysontraditio0000patt |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, MA / London |date=1979 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tennysontraditio0000patt/page/106 106] |access-date=24 October 2014 |isbn=0674874153}}</ref> He reflects the [[Victorian period]] of his maturity in his feeling for order and his tendency towards moralising. He also reflects a concern common among [[Victorian literature|Victorian writers]] in being troubled by the conflict between religious faith and expanding scientific knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gossin |first=Pamela |title=Encyclopedia of Literature and Science|date=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, CT |isbn=0313305382 |page=461 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVuFgBtdksEC|access-date=24 October 2014}}</ref> Tennyson possessed a strong poetic power, which his early readers often attributed to his "Englishness" and his masculinity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sherwood |first=Marion |title=Tennyson and the Fabrication of Englishness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9MdzPJ7UfwC&pg=PA69 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |location=New York |date=2013 |pages=69–70 |access-date=6 December 2014 |isbn=978-1137288899}}</ref> Well-known among his longer works are ''Maud'' and ''[[Idylls of the King]]'', the latter arguably the most famous Victorian adaptation of the legend of [[King Arthur]] and the [[Knights of the Round Table]]. A common thread of grief, melancholy, and loss connects much of his poetry (including "Mariana", "The Lotos Eaters", "Tears, Idle Tears", "In Memoriam"), possibly reflecting Tennyson's lifelong struggle with debilitating depression.<ref>{{cite journal|first=David G.|last=Riede|title=Tennyson's Poetics of Melancholy and the Imperial Imagination|journal=Studies in English Literature|volume=40|issue=4|year=2000|pages=659–678|doi=10.1353/sel.2000.0040|s2cid=154831984 }}</ref> [[T. S. Eliot]] famously described Tennyson as "the saddest of all English poets", whose technical mastery of verse and language provided a "surface" to his poetry's "depths, to the abyss of sorrow".<ref>T. S. Eliot, ''Selected Prose of T.&nbsp;S. Eliot''. Ed. Frank Kermode. New York: Harcourt, 1975. P. 246.</ref> Other poets such as [[W. H. Auden]] maintained a more critical stance, stating that Tennyson was the "stupidest" of all the English poets, adding that: "There was little about melancholia he didn't know; there was little else that he did."<ref>Carol T. Christ, Catherine Robson, ''The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume E: The Victorian Age''. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt & M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 2006. p. 1111</ref>

==Influence on Pre-Raphaelite artists==
Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]]. In 1848, [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] and [[William Holman Hunt]] made a list of "Immortals", artistic heroes whom they admired, especially from literature, notably including [[Keats]] and Tennyson, whose work would form subjects for PRB paintings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites|title=The Pre-Raphaelites|website=The British Library|access-date=26 August 2017|archive-date=11 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211225339/https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''The Lady of Shalott'' alone was a subject for Rossetti, Hunt, [[John William Waterhouse]] (three versions), and [[Elizabeth Siddall]].

==Tennyson heraldry==
A [[heraldic achievement]] of Alfred, Lord Tennyson exists in an 1884 stained-glass window in the Hall of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], showing arms: 

{{Blockquote|''Gules, a bend nebuly or thereon a [[Chaplet (headgear)|chaplet]] vert between three leopard's faces [[jessant-de-lys]] of the second''; [[Crest (heraldry)|Crest]]: ''A [[Dexter and sinister|dexter]] arm in armour the hand in a gauntlet or grasping a broken tilting spear enfiled with a garland of laurel''; [[Supporters]]: ''Two [[Lions in heraldry|leopards rampant guardant]] gules semée de lys and ducally crowned or''; Motto: ''Respiciens Prospiciens''<ref>Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p. 1091</ref> ("Looking backwards (is) looking forwards").}}

These are a [[Difference (heraldry)|difference]] of the arms of [[Thomas Tenison]] (1636–1715), [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], themselves a difference of the arms of the 13th-century [[Denys family]] of [[Glamorgan]] and [[Siston]] in Gloucestershire, themselves a difference of the arms of [[Thomas de Cantilupe]] (c. 1218–1282), [[Bishop of Hereford]], henceforth the arms of the [[See of Hereford]]; the name "Tennyson" signifies "Denys's son", although no connection between the two families is recorded.

==Works==
A list of works by Tennyson follows:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tennyson|first=Alfred Tennyson|url=http://archive.org/details/completepoetical00tenn|title=The complete poetical works of Tennyson|date=1898|publisher=Boston, Houghton Mifflin|others=David O. McKay Library Brigham Young University-Idaho}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Alfred, Lord Tennyson {{!}} English poet|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson|access-date=25 September 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

* ''[[iarchive:poemsbytwobrothe00tennuoft/page/n6/mode/2up|Poems by Two Brothers]]'' (published 1826; dated 1827 on title page; written with Charles Tennyson)
* "Timbuctoo" (for which he won the chancellor's gold medal and was printed in ''Prolusiones Academicæ'')
* ''[[Poems, Chiefly Lyrical]]'' (1830), in which the following poems were published:<!--Poems are arranged alphabetically, ignoring "a", "an", and "the"-->
* "[[iarchive:gemaliteraryann00unkngoog/page/n127/mode/1up|No More]]", '"[[iarchive:gemaliteraryann00unkngoog/page/n171/mode/1up|Anacreontics]]" and "[[iarchive:gemaliteraryann00unkngoog/page/n302/mode/1up|A Fragment]]" contributed to [[iarchive:gemaliteraryann00unkngoog/page/n13/mode/2up|''The Gem: A Literary Annual'' (1831)]] 
* [[iarchive:sim_englishmans-magazine_1831_1_3/page/591/mode/1up|"Sonnet" (Check every outflash, every ruder sally)]] in The Englishman's Magazine (August 1831) and later reprinted in [[iarchive:friendshipsoffe03unkngoog/page/n59/mode/1up|Friendship's Offering (1833)]]
* ''Poems'' (published 1832, but dated 1833 on title page),<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=Poems|url=https://archive.org/details/poemstennalfr00tennrich/page/n8/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=[[Edward Moxon]]|year=1833|oclc=3944791}}</ref> in which the following poems were published:

{| style="width: 90%; align: left; margin-left: 15px"
|- valign="top"
| width="50%"|
* "[[A Dream of Fair Women]]"
* "[[The Lady of Shalott]]" – the poem's subject was depicted in three paintings (1888, 1894, and 1916) by [[John William Waterhouse]]
|
* "[[The Lotos-Eaters]]"
* "[[Oenone (poem)|Oenone]]"
* "[[The Palace of Art]]"
* "[[St. Simeon Stylites (poem)|St. Simeon Stylites]]" (1833)
|}

* ''The Lover's Tale'' (Two parts published in 1833;<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=The Lover's Tale|location=London|publisher=[[Edward Moxon]]|year=1833|oclc=228706138}}</ref> Tennyson suppressed it immediately after publication as he felt it was imperfect. A revised version comprising three parts was subsequently published in 1879 together with "The Golden Supper" as a fourth part.)<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=The Lover's Tale|url=https://archive.org/details/loverstale00tennrich/page/n6/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=[[Charles Kegan Paul|C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co.]]|year=1879|oclc=771863316}}</ref>
* "Rosalinde" (1833; suppressed until 1884)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tennyson |first1=Alfred Tennyson Baron |title=The Poetic and Dramatic Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson |date=1898 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHpXPItK7CcC&dq=Rosalind%22%2C+a+poem+by+Alfred%2C+Lord+Tennyson&pg=PA789 |language=en}}</ref>
* ''[[Poems (Tennyson, 1842)|Poems]]'' (1842; with numerous subsequent editions including the 4th edition (1846) and 8th edition (1853));<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=[[Poems (Tennyson, 1842)|Poems]]|location=London|publisher=[[Edward Moxon]]|year=1842|oclc=1008064829|postscript=,}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ReENAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP7 volume I] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=VOENAAAAQAAJ volume II].</ref> the collection included many of the poems published in the 1833 anthology (some in revised form), and the following:

{| style="width: 90%; align: left; margin-left: 15px"
|- valign="top"
| width="50%"|
* "'[[Break, Break, Break]]'"
* "[[The Day-Dream]]"
* "[[A Dream of Fair Women]]"
* "[[Godiva (poem)|Godiva]]"
* "[[Lady Clara Vere de Vere]]" (1832)
|
* "[[Locksley Hall]]"
* "[[Sir Galahad (poem)|Sir Galahad]]" (written September 1834)
* "[[The Two Voices]]" (written 1833–1834)
* "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]" (1833)
* "The Vision of Sin"
|}

* ''[[The Princess (Tennyson poem)|The Princess: A Medley]]'' (1847),<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=The Princess: A Medley|url=https://archive.org/details/princessmedley00tennrich/page/n6/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=[[Edward Moxon]]|year=1847|oclc=2024748}}</ref> which includes the following poems:
** "[[Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal]]" – later appeared as a song in the film ''[[Vanity Fair (2004 film)|Vanity Fair]]'' (2004), with musical arrangement by [[Mychael Danna]]
** "[[Tears, Idle Tears]]"
* ''[[In Memoriam A.H.H.|In Memoriam]]'' (1850),<ref>{{cite book|author=[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]|title=In Memoriam|url=https://archive.org/details/inmemoriam00tennrich/page/n14/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=[[Edward Moxon]]|year=1850|oclc=3968433}}</ref> which includes the following poem:
** "[[Ring Out, Wild Bells]]" (1850)
* "[[The Eagle (poem)|The Eagle]]" (1851)
* "The Sister's Shame"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/tennyson/tennyson_ind.html|title=Poetry Lovers' Page: Alfred Lord Tennyson|work=poetryloverspage.com}}</ref>
* ''[[Maud, and Other Poems]]'' (1855), in which the following poems were published:
** "Maud"
** "The Brook; an Idyl"
** "[[The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)|The Charge of the Light Brigade]]" (1854) – an early recording exists of Tennyson reading this
* ''[[Idylls of the King]]'' (1859–1885; composed 1833–1874)
* ''Enoch Arden and Other Poems'' (1862/1864), in which the following poems were published:
** "[[Enoch Arden]]"
** "[[Tithonus (poem)|Tithonus]]"
** Ode for the Opening of the Exhibition (1862) with music composed by [[William Sterndale Bennett]] 
* ''The Holy Grail and Other Poems'' (1870), in which the following poem was published:
** "[[Flower in the Crannied Wall]]" (1869)
* ''[[The Window; or, The Songs of the Wrens]]'' (written 1867–1870; published 1871) – a [[song cycle]] with music composed by [[Arthur Sullivan]]
* ''Queen Mary: A Drama'' (1875)<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=Queen Mary: A Drama|url=https://archive.org/details/queenmarydrama00tennrich/page/n8/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=Henry S. King & Co.|year=1875|oclc=926377946}}</ref> – a play about [[Mary I of England]]
* ''Harold: A Drama'' (1877)<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=Harold: A Drama|url=https://archive.org/details/harolddrama00tennrich/page/n6/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=Henry S. King & Co.|year=1877|oclc=1246230498}}</ref> – a play about [[Harold II of England]]
* ''Montenegro'' (1877)
* ''[[s:The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet|The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet]]'' (1878) – about the ship [[English ship Revenge (1577)|''Revenge'']]
* ''Ballads and Other Poems'' (1880)<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Tennyson|title=Ballads and Other Poems|url=https://archive.org/details/balladsotherpoem00tennrich/page/n6/mode/1up|location=London|publisher=[[Charles Kegan Paul|C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co.]]|year=1880|oclc=1086925503}}</ref>
* ''[[Becket (Tennyson play)|Becket]]'' (1884)<ref name="gutenberg">{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9162/pg9162.html|title=Becket and other plays by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson – Free Ebook|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=20 September 2014}}</ref>
* ''[[Crossing the Bar]]'' (1889)
* ''[[The Foresters]]'' (1891) – a play about [[Robin Hood]] with [[incidental music]] by Arthur Sullivan
* ''[[Chiefess Kapiolani|Kapiolani]]'' (published after his death by Hallam Tennyson)<ref>{{cite book|title=The Life and Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson|volume=8|author=Alfred Lord Tennyson|editor=Hallam Tennyson|editor-link=Hallam Tennyson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbQCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA261|pages=261–263|publisher=Macmillan|year=1899}}</ref>

==Musical settings==
[[Michael William Balfe]]'s setting of "Come Into the Garden, Maud" was a popular success in 1857, as sung by the celebrated tenor [[Sims Reeves]].<ref>Scott, Derek B. ''The Singing Bourgeois: Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour''. 2nd ed. (2001)</ref> [[Arthur Somervell]]'s ''Maud'' (1898) used thirteen poems (not all of them complete) for his song cycle, enough "to retain a cogent narrative".<ref>Richard Stokes. ''The Penguin Book of English Song'' (2016), p. 441</ref> [[Stephen Banfield]] believes it is "the nearest an English composer ever came to writing a substantial, Romantic song-cycle".<ref>Banfield, Stephen. ''Sensibility and English Song'' (1985), Vol. 1, p. 50</ref>

[[Charles Villiers Stanford]] set "Crossing the Bar" for high voice and piano in April 1880, a year after the poem has been first published.<ref>{{cite web |title=Crossing the bar (Charles Villiers Stanford) – ChoralWiki |url=http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Crossing_the_bar_(Charles_Villiers_Stanford) |website=www.cpdl.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Maude Valérie White]] (four songs, 1885) and [[Liza Lehmann]] (10 songs, 1899) both composed song cycles selecting passages from ''In Memoriam''.<ref>[https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/09/splendid-tears-em-records/ ''Splendid Tears: Settings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson''], EM Records EMRCD087 (2024)</ref> [[Roger Quilter]] set "Now sleeps the crimson petal" (from ''The Princess'') for voice and orchestra in 1905. "The splendour falls on castle walls" (also from ''The Princess''), has been set by many composers, including [[Arnold Bax]], [[Benjamin Britten]], [[Cecil Armstrong Gibbs]], [[Gustav Holst]], Stanford, [[Vaughan Williams]] and [[Charles Wood (composer)|Charles Wood]]. Tennyson deplored the use of unauthorised repetition in song settings, a device used by many composers, and so tried to circumvent this by supplying his own, as in "Break, Break, Break" (set by [[Sidney Lanier]] in 1871 and [[Cyril Rootham]] in 1906), and the repetition of "dying" in "The splendour falls", which as [[Trevor Hold]] points out, "has been a god-send to every composer who has set it".<ref>Trevor Hold. ''Parry to Finzi: Twenty English Song-Composers'' (2002), p.12</ref>

== Popular culture ==
Tennyson's "Ulysses" was quoted in the 2012 [[James Bond]] film ''[[Skyfall]]'', with the character [[M (James Bond)|M]] (played by actress [[Judi Dench]]) reciting the poem.<ref>{{Cite web |author=<!--not stated--> |date=2024-09-04 |title=Skyfall: Tennyson and James Bond |url=https://farringford.co.uk/news-events/tennyson-poems-blog/skyfall-tennyson-and-james-bond |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=Farringford |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Shanee |date=2018-09-10 |title=Top 10 Captivating Courtroom Scenes in Film |url=https://thescriptlab.com/features/main/reviews-2/reviews/8865-top-10-captivating-courtroom-scenes-in-film/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=The Script Lab |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nikolakakis |first=Demetra |date=2022-11-10 |title=Daniel Craig Had To Run While Injured During One Of Skyfall's Best Scenes |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1095443/daniel-craig-had-to-run-while-injured-during-one-of-skyfalls-best-scenes/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=SlashFilm |language=en-US}}</ref> The [[Skyfall (soundtrack)|film's soundtrack]] also included an accompanying track, composed by [[Thomas Newman]], that is titled "Tennyson".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-11-21 |title=SKYFALL – Thomas Newman |url=https://moviemusicuk.us/2012/11/20/skyfall-thomas-newman/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=MOVIE MUSIC UK |language=en}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==General bibliography==
* Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1989). ''Tennyson: A Selected Edition''. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0520065883}} (hbk.) or {{ISBN|0520066669}} (pbk.). Edited with a preface and notes by [[Christopher Ricks]]. Selections from the definitive edition ''The Poems of Tennyson'', with readings from the Trinity MSS; long works such as ''[[Maud (poem)|Maud]]'' and ''[[In Memoriam A. H. H.]]'' are printed in full.
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron|volume= 26|last= Gosse|first= Edmund William|author-link= Edmund William Gosse|pages = 630–634}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|auto=1|author=yes}}
; Digital collections of works
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/alfred-lord-tennyson}}
* {{gutenberg author|id=Alfred+Lord+Tennyson|name=Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Lord Tennyson}}
* {{Librivox author|id=487}}
* [https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/alfred-lord-tennyson Alfred Lord Tennyson: Profile and Poems at Poets.org]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130523211353/http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1570 Recording of Tennyson reciting "The Charge of the Light Brigade"]
* Archival material at {{wikidata|qualifier|property|P485|Q24568958|P856|format=\[%q %p\]}}
* [http://www.choralwiki.org/wiki/index.php/Alfred_Tennyson Settings of Alfred Tennyson's poetry in the Choral Public Domain Library]

; Institutional collections of works
* The [https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll76 Baron Alfred Tennyson] digital collection from the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at The University of Texas at Austin.
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.tennyson|Alfred Tennyson Collection]]. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
* A substantial [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/special-collections/explore/collection/tennysons-works collection of Tennyson's works] are held at Special Collections and Archives, Cardiff University.
* [http://www.bl.uk/people/alfred-lord-tennyson Alfred, Lord Tennyson] at the British Library
* [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/tennyson Tennyson's Notebooks] in the collections of the [[Wren Library]], fully digitised in [[Cambridge Digital Library]]
* [http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=38 The Twickenham Museum – Alfred Lord Tennyson in Twickenham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316000117/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=38 |date=16 March 2011 }}

; Additional biographical information
* {{cite Q|Q107398701}}<!-- ''Tennyson'' (1909) -->
* {{cite book|last=Leslie|first=Stephen|author-link=Leslie Stephen|title=Studies of a Biographer|volume=2|year=1898|publisher=Duckworth and Co.|location=London|pages=196–240|chapter=[[s:en:Studies of a Biographer/Life of Tennyson|Life of Tennyson]]}}
* {{cite book|last=Anonymous|others=Illustrated by [[s:Author:Frederick Waddy|Frederick Waddy]]|title=Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day
|chapter=Alfred Tennyson |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cartoon_portraits_and_biographical_sketches_of_men_of_the_day/Alfred_Tennyson
|access-date=6 January 2011|year=1873|publisher=Tinsley Brothers|location=London|pages=78–84}}
* [http://theotherpages.org/poems/poem-st.html#tennyson Tennyson index entry at Poets' Corner]

; Other works
* [http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/tennyson.htm Tennyson's Grave, Westminster Abbey]
* [http://www.farringford.co.uk Farringford Holiday Cottages and Restaurant, Home of Tennyson, Isle of Wight]

{{s-start}}
{{s-court}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William Wordsworth]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[British Poet Laureate]]|years=1850–1892}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Alfred Austin]]}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Baron Tennyson]]|years=1884–1892}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hallam Tennyson]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Alfred Tennyson|state=expanded}}
{{The Lady of Shalott}}
{{Enoch Arden}}
{{Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennyson, Alfred}}
[[Category:Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Alfred]]
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English poets]]
[[Category:19th-century English writers]]
[[Category:19th-century British translators]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Barons Tennyson|1]]
[[Category:British poets laureate]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
[[Category:Culture on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Literary peers]]
[[Category:Mythopoeic writers]]
[[Category:Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria]]
[[Category:People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth]]
[[Category:People from East Lindsey District]]
[[Category:People from Freshwater, Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Society of Authors]]
[[Category:Savage family]]
[[Category:Tennyson family|Alfred]]
[[Category:Translators from Old English]]
[[Category:Victorian poets]]
[[Category:English-language spelling reform advocates]]