Alfred Lord Tennyson Research Paper

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born and lived in a time of rapid growth and changing attitudes and beliefs. During the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain saw itself become the leaders into the future through dominance of politics and economy. Industry took center stage, while religion and faith came under careful scrutiny. The Victorian period swiftly became not only an age of urbanization and utilitarianism, but an age of social reform as “voting rights were extended, [and] working conditions improved”(Henderson and Sharpe, p. 1059). A moral and emotional behavioral conservatism ruled the class system and it’s institutions, while question’s about a woman’s place among society came even more sharply into view than in the past. The Victorian’s even saw a change in literature, as publishing became yet another …show more content…

As a voice of the people and a part of this splendid and colossal literary culture, Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s work was the embodiment of this period’s search for self-identity, success through hard work and personal perseverance, and the philosophical and social problems of the time. Lord Tennyson’s “The Woman’s Cause is Man’s” in itself is a manifestation of such issues going on during the Victorian period. As described by Henderson and Sharpe, “The Woman’s Cause is Man’s” is an excerpt from Tennyson’s “The Princess, in which the feminist heroine gives up her feminst ideals and beliefs to settle down and get married (p. 1203). This is a mirror image in itself of the challenge to woman’s roles within Victorian Society. The traditional roles of women as wife and mother were vigorously debated, yet still conformed to, since even “[powerful] proponents

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