Victorian Poetry Summaries

In Memoriam – VII: Dark House by Alfred Tennyson

the poem is about Tennyson goes back to house where Hallam used to live and experiences grief

Imagery

“The noise of life begins again” connecting back to reality

auditory imagery “And ghastly thro ́the drizzling rain” not nice – pathetic fallacy

Language

“Dark house, by which once more I stand” raining, symbolic, dark emptiness

“where my heart was used to beat – spiritual death, hyperbole, heart broken

“A hand that can be clasp ́d no more” physically can ́t make connection with friend, anaphora “hand” juxtaposition of past & present

“He is not here;but far away” – monosyllabic- Impactful- religious reference- biblical illusion- angel marry he is not here when time is open – jesus- Caesura- modern- symbolic – continue- past away but continue in spirit.

Form

Iambic tetrameter- (weak- strong) x4 – 8 beats per line Rhyme Scheme- ABBA- sense of relentless grief ELEGY:

Iament (emotion, crying)

Eulogy (praising that person)

Reconciliation (consolation and hope for future)

Themes

Grief, loss, sadness

Readers response

Key lines/phrases

“guilty” – saviour, why friend died he didn’t – grief

Techniques

“Here in the long unlovely street” Alliteration, symbolic, grief going on and on – nothing attractive

“On the bald street breaks the blank day” – Alliteration of plosive “b” heavy sound – heaviness of grief- blank colourless, Abscences – adjectives

Context

his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, whose untimely death in 1833 inspired the poem. died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in 1833, aged just 22.

 The poem opens addressing Jesus, discussing how God made both life and death. He uses the image of Jesus with his foot on a skull to show him as the conqueror of Death

Queen Victoria met with Tennyson in 1883 to tell him the poem had been a comfort to her following the death of her husband, Prince Albert.

XCV: By night we Linger ́d

'By night we linger'd on the lawn' by Alfred Lord Tennyson is an excerpt from 'In Memoriam' that sees Tennyson communing with Arthur's soul. The poem takes the reader through a peaceful, calm, and warm natural landscape. ... They all leave him and he's alone with the echoes of the night and the bats above his head.

Imagery

Warmth/ tactile imagery- “with ermine capes”

Language

“calm that let the tapers burn” – candles/create. Warmth and welcoming

“bats went round in fragrant skies” – olephactory/peaceful – creepy and scary

“haunt The dusk” ominous feeling/scary/ creepy/ ghosts

“couch ́d at ease”-“laid their dark arms around the field” relaxing for the night

“but when those others, one by one” shift/change atmosphere- all friends are dead “one by one”

“in those fall ́n leaves which kept their greens” hallam was pulled to death to fast/ thinking it  ́s a sign

“The faith, the vigour, bold to dwell on doubts that drive the coward back” talks about maybe his friend is with him

“the living soul was flash ́d on mine” they seem to connect strongly

“mine in…