Alfred Tennyson

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Alfred Tennyson was born in the early 1800’s to his parents, George and Elizabeth (Fytche) Tennyson. Tennyson wasn’t a very well known poet until he published some of his poems about his best friend, Arthur Hallam. His poems pertain to his own life and feelings after the death of Hallam. In his poem, In Memoriam A.H.H., Tennyson writes about his depression about losing his best friend. After his best friend’s death, Alfred Tennyson wrote some of his best poems about his grief and losing someone special in your life.

As a child, growing up for Alfred Tennyson was a struggle. He dealt with family tension, and alcoholic and abusive father and mental illnesses. Alfred Lord Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809. He was the fourth child of twelve. He was forced to be religious by his parents. Tennyson lived a hard life growing up his father was an alcoholic and abusive.

His brother suffered from mental illness which Alfred developed later on in life. Tennyson suffered from extreme short-sightedness — without a monocle he could not even see to eat — which gave him considerable difficulty writing and reading, and this disability in part accounts for his manner of creating poetry.

Tennyson composed much of his poetry in his head, occasionally working on individual poems for many years. During his undergraduate days at Cambridge he often did not bother to write down his compositions, although the Apostles continually.

Alfred Tennyson’s poems were written about happy feelings in life and how life is a gift. Tennyson’s poems before Hallam’s death were very delightful. They were known to have the effect to make the reader feel as though it is spring time. The success of his 1842 poems made Tennyson a popular poet, and in 1845 he receive...

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