The poem "In Memoriam A.H.H." (1850) by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the 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 ...
, is an elegy for his Cambridge friend
Arthur Henry Hallam
Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, '' In Memoriam'', by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the ''jeune homme fat ...
, who died of
cerebral haemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
at the age of twenty-two years, in Vienna in 1833. As a sustained exercise in
tetrametric lyrical verse, Tennyson's poetical reflections extend beyond the meaning of the death of Hallam, thus, “In Memoriam” also explores the random cruelty of
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
seen from the conflicting perspectives of
materialist science and declining Christian faith in the
Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
(1837–1901), the poem thus is an
elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
, a
requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
, and a
dirge
A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegies ...
for a friend, a time, and a place.
History
“In Memoriam A.H.H.” (1850) is an elegiac, narrative poem in 2,916 lines of iambic tetrametre, composed in 133 cantos, each canto headed with a Roman numeral, and organised in three parts: (i) the prologue, (ii) the poem, and (iii) the epilogue. After seventeen years of composing, writing, and editing, from 1833 to 1850, Lord Tennyson anonymously published the poem under the Latin title “In Memoriam A.H.H. Obiit MDCCCXXXIII” (In Memoriam A.H.H. 1833). Moreover, upon the literary, artistic, and commercial success of the poetry, Tennyson further developed the poem and added Canto LIX:
'O Sorrow, wilt thou live with me'
to the 1851 edition; and then added Canto XXXIX:
'Old warder of these buried bones' to the 1871 edition. The epilogue concludes “In Memoriam” with an
epithalamium
An epithalamium (; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον ''epithalamion'' from ἐπί ''epi'' "upon," and θάλαμος ''thalamos'' nuptial chamber) is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This form ...
, a nuptial poem for the poet's sister, Cecilia Tennyson, on her wedding to the academic
Edmund Law Lushington
Edmund Law Lushington (10 January 1811 – 13 July 1893) was a classical scholar, a professor of Greek, and Rector of the University of Glasgow.
Life
Edmund Law Lushington was born on 10 January 1811 in Singleton, Lancashire, England. He was the ...
, in 1842.
The poem
Metrical form
![Arthur Henry Hallam bust](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Arthur_Henry_Hallam_bust.jpg)
Written in
iambic tetrametre (four-line ABBA stanzas), the poetical metre of “In Memoriam A.H.H.” creates the tonal effects of the sounds of grief and mourning. In 133 cantos, including the prologue and the epilogue, Tennyson uses the stylistic beats of tetrametre to address the subjects of spiritual loss and themes of
nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
, philosophic speculation, and
Romantic fantasy
Romantic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre.
One of the key features of romantic fantasy involves the focus on relationships, social, ...
in service to mourning the death of his friend, the poet A. A. Hallam; thus, in Canto IX, Tennyson describes the return of the corpse to England: "Fair ship, that from the Italian shore / Saileth the placid ocean-plains / With my lost Arthur's remains, / Spread thy full wings and waft o'er him".
Themes
As a man of the Victorian Age (1837–1901) and as a poet, Lord Tennyson addressed the intellectual matters of his day, such as the theory of the
transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
presented in the anonymously-published book ''
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'' is an 1844 work of speculative natural history and philosophy by Robert Chambers. Published anonymously in England, it brought together various ideas of stellar evolution with the progressive tr ...
'' (1844), a speculative
natural history about the negative theological implications of
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
functioning without divine direction. Moreover, 19th-century
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
required belief in
literal interpretations of ''The Holy Bible'' against the theory of
human evolution
Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development of ...
; thus, in Canto CXXIX, Tennyson alludes to "the truths that never can be proved" — the Victorian belief that
reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
and
intellect would reconcile science with religion.
In Canto LIV, the poet asks:
:''Are God and Nature then at strife,''
:''That Nature lends such evil dreams?''
:''So careful of the type she seems,''
:''So careless of the single life;''
:''That I, considering everywhere''
:''Her secret meaning in her deeds,''
:''And finding that of fifty seeds''
:''She often brings but one to bear,''
:''I falter where I firmly trod,''
:''And falling with my weight of cares''
:''Upon the great world's altar-stairs''
:''That slope thro' darkness up to God,''
:''I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,''
:''And gather dust and chaff, and call''
:''To what I feel is Lord of all,''
:''And faintly trust the larger hope.''
![Alfred Tennyson, Vanity Fair, 1871-07-22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Alfred_Tennyson%2C_Vanity_Fair%2C_1871-07-22.jpg)
In Canto LV, the poet queries Nature about the
existential circumstance of Man on planet Earth: “Who trusted God was love indeed / And love Creation's final law — / Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw / With ravine, shriek'd against his creed — / Who loved, who suffer'd countless ills, / Who battled for the True, the Just, / Be blown about the desert dust, / Or seal'd within the iron hills?” Moreover, although Tennyson published “In Memoriam A.H.H.” (1850) nine years before
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
published the book ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' (1859), contemporary advocates for the theory of
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
had adopted the poetical phrase ''Nature, red in tooth and claw'' (Canto LV) to support their
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
arguments for the theory of
human evolution
Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development of ...
.
In Canto CXXII, Tennyson addresses the conflict between conscience and theology:
:''If e'er when faith had fallen asleep,''
:''I hear a voice 'believe no more' ''
:''And heard an ever-breaking shore''
:''That tumbled in the Godless deep;''
:''A warmth within the breast would melt''
:''The freezing reason's colder part,''
:''And like a man in wrath the heart''
:''Stood up and answer'd 'I have felt.' ''
:''No, like a child in doubt and fear:''
:''But that blind clamour made me wise;''
:''Then was I as a child that cries,''
:'' But, crying knows his father near;''
The conclusion of the poem reaffirmed Tennyson's religiosity, his progress from doubt-and-despair to faith-and-hope, which he realised by mourning the death of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam (1811–1833).
Personal themes
The literary scholar
Christopher Ricks
Sir Christopher Bruce Ricks (born 18 September 1933) is a British literary critic and scholar. He is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University (US), co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston Un ...
relates the following lines, from canto XCIX, to the end of Tennyson's boyhood at the Somersby Rectory, Lincolnshire, especially the boy's leaving Somersby upon the death of his father.
In Canto XCIX, the poet speaks of:
:''Unwatched, the garden bough shall sway,''
:''The tender blossom flutter down,''
:''Unloved, that beech will gather brown,''
:''This maple burn itself away.''
Quotations
As English literature, the
elegiac poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” (1850) has yielded many literary quotations:
In Canto XXVII:
:''I hold it true, whate'er befall;''
:''I feel it when I sorrow most;''
:'' 'Tis better to have loved and lost''
:''Than never to have loved at all.''
In Canto LIV:
:''So runs my dream, but what am I?''
:''An infant crying in the night''
:''An infant crying for the light''
:''And with no language but a cry.''
In Canto LV:
:''Who trusted God was love indeed''
:''And love Creation's final law''
:''Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw''
:''With ravine, shriek'd against his creed''
In Canto CXXIII:
:''The hills are shadows, and they flow''
:''From form to form, and nothing stands;''
:''They melt like mist, the solid lands,''
:''Like clouds they shape themselves and go.''
Concerning the natural science of the time, in Canto CXXIII, the poet Tennyson reports that "The hills are shadows, and they flow / From form to form, and nothing stands" in reference to the then-recent discovery, in the 19th century, that planet
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
was geologically active and was older than believed by the Victorians.
Popular culture
Novels
In the novel ''
The Tragedy of the Korosko
''The Tragedy of the Korosko'' (1898) is a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was serialized a year earlier in ''The Strand'' magazine between May and December 1897, and was later turned into a 1909 play ''Fires of Fate''.
Plot summary
A gro ...
'' (1898), by Arthur Conan Doyle, characters quote poetic by citing Canto LIII of “In Memoriam”: "Oh yet we trust that somehow good / will be the final goal of ill"; and by citing Canto LIV: "I falter where I firmly trod"; whilst another character says that Lord Tennyson's “In Memoriam” is "the grandest and the deepest and the most inspired
oem
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
in our language".
Musical settings
* Canto CXXIII, "There rolls the deep were free the tree" (0000), by
C. H. H. Parry
* The cycle of songs ''Four Songs from In Memoriam'' (0000), by
Maude Valérie White
Maude Valérie White (1855 – 1937) was a French-born English composer who became one of the most successful songwriters (in the English serious style) of the Victorian period.
Early years
Although born near Dieppe in Normandy to upper midd ...
* The cycle of seven songs ''Under Alter’d Skies'' (2017), by
Jonathan Dove
Celebrities
“In Memoriam” was a favourite poem of Queen Victoria, who after the death of her husband, the Prince Consort Albert, was "soothed & pleased" by the feelings explored in Tennyson's poem. In 1862 and in 1883, Queen Victoria met with the poet Lord Tennyson to tell him she much liked his poetry.
[http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do 7 August 1883]
References
Further reading
*
A. C. Bradley
Andrew Cecil Bradley, (26 March 1851 – 2 September 1935) was an English literary scholar, best remembered for his work on Shakespeare.
Life
Bradley was born at Park Hill, Clapham, Surrey. His father was the preacher Charles Bradley (178 ...
, ''A Commentary on Tennyson's In Memoriam''. London, Macmillan and Co. 1901.
External links
Text of "In Memoriam A.H.H."from The Literature Network.
*
{{Alfred Tennyson
Poetry by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
British poems
1849 poems