Perhaps then it would be best to view this poem in context with the period that it was written. For Tennyson’s contemporaries such intimate expressions of friendship were acceptable and common place, particularly in poetry. Whilst Tennyson’s deep affection for his friend was no secret, it may be more prudent to read the poem from the prospective of the nineteenth century reader. It has been argued that the poem suggests a homosexual relationship between the pair, as Hallam is referred to as Tennyson’s “Dear heavenly friend that canst not die, Mine, mine, for ever, ever mine,” and “Thy creature, whom I found so fair” in the poem.

In Memoriam A.H.H, was undoubtedly a private tribute to Hallum, yet it was also quite clearly a social commentary on the world to which Tennyson belonged. Tennyson began the poem in 1833 as an outlet for his grief at the loss of his friend, when the twenty-two year old Hallam died suddenly and unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage on 15 September that year, whilst on a trip to Vienna with is father. It was at Cambridge that Tennyson met Arthur Henry Hallam, an Etonian and son of the famous Historian Henry Hallam, whose brief friendship was to become arguably the most important and intense relationship of Tennyson’s life and provide the inspiration for In Memoriam A.H.H. This was due, in part, to the death of his father in 1831 and the subsequent financial problems this caused. Whilst an undergraduate at Cambridge Tennyson went on to publish two further volumes entitled Poems, Chiefly Lyrical in 1830 and Poems in 1832, the latter being published after Tennyson left Cambridge without completing his degree. In 1827, the same year that he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and at only 17 years old, Tennyson published his first volume of poetry in collaboration with his brother Charles, entitled Poems by Two Brothers. Tennyson attended Louth Grammar School in Lincolnshire between 18, before being educated at home by his father. Given his family history it is not perhaps surprising that Tennyson had a life long fear and fascination of mental illness and its effects, and indeed Tennyson himself was prone to periods of depression and lethargy. Several of Tennyson’s brothers followed in their father’s footsteps as his brother Arthur also drank heavily and his brother Edward was confined to a mental asylum in 1833.

Having been disinherited by his own parents, George suffered from chronic depression and nervous disorders which were exacerbated by his heavy drinking and made him prone to violence. George Tennyson was both a scholar and poet himself, and provided Alfred with a sound knowledge of Latin and Greek, which was to provide the mythological influence for Alfred’s own attempts at poetry as a young boy and again in later life in poems such as Ulysses, the Greek Hero’s dramatic monologue. Indeed the Queen was quoted as saying that “Next to the Bible In Memoriam A.H.H (one of Tennyson’s most popular works) is my comfort”.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born in the village of Somersby in Lincolnshire to George Tennyson, a rector, and his wife Elizabeth on 6 August 1809, the third of their eleven surviving children.Īrguably one of the most famous English poets with a career lasting 62 years he not only became Lord Alfred 1st Baron Tennyson and succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850, but was also a source of great comfort to Queen Victoria, following the death of Prince Albert in 1861.

Lord alfred tennyson