Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Boundless Beauty - Literature review Example

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Boundless Beauty. I must confess that, for many years, the very word ‘Poetry’ has held intellectual, high-brow connotations for me. My attitude towards verse has been one of anticipated difficulty, and the determination to ‘get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible!’ It remained merely an unavoidable part of the academic syllabus. I approached the poetry in The Norton Anthology of English Literature with this attitude, little prepared for my encounter with Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

One fortuitous evening, I happened to read aloud Tennyson’s poem, “Break, Break, Break.” The sound of the poem was an absolute revelation to me! For the first time in my life, a poem actually ‘spoke to me.’ This was the beginning of my love for Tennyson’s Poetry, with its beautiful, lyrical verse, and its ability to touch the heart of the reader with evocative imagery. The lyricism of Tennyson’s poetry makes it particularly appealing to me. I hear music whenever I read his poems.

When I read the words, “Break, break, break, On thy cold grey stones, O Sea! (Tennyson, 1125), I can actually hear the sea crash against the rocks on a craggy beach! There is a rhythmic beat to Tennyson’s verse. I experience this same musical quality, in all Tennyson’s poems, particularly in “Crossing the Bar,” and “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal.” The cry of the fisherman’s boy, the singing of the sailor, “the one clear call” and the “evening bell” (Tennyson, 1211): the poems echo with sound.

Analysis of his poems leads me to Tennyson’s skilful use of assonance, alliteration, rhyme and meter but, in the simplest terms, the poems are beautiful music to my ears. Even when the rhyming of words is absent, the lyricism persists. Although “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal” is written in blank verse, it holds a rhythmical quality. Tennyson’s poems tug at my heart strings with the evocative imagery of the words. “Break, Break, Break,” paints a desolate picture a bleak, cold sea, which perfectly expresses the poet’s grief at the loss of his friend.

In “Crossing the Bar,” I can picture a ship sailing serenely into “the boundless deep” (Tennyson, 1211). Can there be a better portrayal of one confidently setting out to meet one’s Maker at the end of one’s life? This beautiful imagery is not limited to sorrow. The poet exerts his skill in painting images of beauty in vibrant color - crimson, gold, porphyry and milkwhite in “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal.” Here, the concluding stanza is the epitome of tenderness: evoking the image of the sweet lily submerged by the lake, Tennyson entreats his lover to “fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip Into my bosom and be lost in me.” (1136).

This course in Literature has given me the gift of appreciating poetry. I have lost my fear of the intricacies of poetic language, and gained the confidence that poems can be easily comprehended. Tennyson is my bridge to the beautiful world of Poetry. The musicality of Tennyson’s poems, and his evocation of poignant images of loss and love, makes them very appealing to me. I am now a reader of poetry for pleasure. I am ready to explore new poems and anticipate making many happy discoveries.

Poetry will definitely be a part of my life in the future. This makes the present semester one of the most rewarding learning experiences of my academic career.