Tennyson

Summary: The story is mainly Irish in origin, with details from other sources. Although the many versions of the story naturally differ, the basic plot is much the same in all of them. Sir Tristram is sent to Ireland to bring Isolde the Fair back to Cornwall to be the bride of his uncle, King Mark. A potion that Tristram and Isolde unwittingly swallow binds them in eternal love. According to most versions of the story, after many trysts the lovers become estranged, and Tristram marries another Isolde, Isolde of the White Hands. Later, dying of a battle wound, Tristram sends for Isolde the Fair. Deceived into believing she is not coming, Tristram dies of despair, and Isolde, on finding her lover dead, dies of grief beside him. The names of the two chief characters appear in various forms, such as Tristran, Tristrem, or Tristan and Isolt, Yseult, or Iseult. Modern versions of the story include Matthew Arnold, Tristram and Iseult; A. C. Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse; Joseph Bйdier, Tristan and Iseult; and E. A. Robinson, Tristram. Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde is based on the version of Gottfried von Strassburg. For translation of the version by Thomas of Britain.

Tennyson

There are, of course, other forms and other developments in Tennyson. It is a given that he wrote some extraordinarily interesting poems and some quite uninteresting ones, not that many would agree on which are which. It is not important to draw exact lines, though it is important to attempt an explanation of why poems like "The Spinster's Sweet-Arts" or "English Warsong" affect its as they do: with irritation or not at all. Most of these minor poems are striking for their simplicity, their grim single-mindedness and relentless narrowing of emotion and focus. They stand in marked contrast to the complexity, suggestiveness, and expansiveness of the other poems. One way to think of them is as a relaxation from the great tensions of irony and the difficult sort of comedy Tennyson wrote. It may seem odd to speak of "tensions" being produced in this way, but we have seen for some time that Tennyson was caught between the worlds of Pride and Prejudice and Hyperion, between the practical, novelistic world and the visionary, mythical world. The tension I am discussing, though not coincident with the other, ties over it and surely makes it understandable that simple poetic reductions might occasionally be inevitable. In any event, those poem which seem to me reductive fall into three [12/13] groups: the political and public poems, the domestic idyls, and the humorous and dialect poems. Some of these poems are excellent in their way, but they do not, I think, constitute the major part of Tennyson's achievement, nor do they contribute a great deal to his present reputation.

Tennyson's writing style

Tennyson's style mostly revolved around romanticism, withdrawal from his love life, and harsh times of his father being an alcoholic. He first fell in love with Rosa Baring (rich and socially grand), with whom he seems to have become disillusioned by 1835-36. (She married Robert Shafto in 1838.) Next he got engaged to Emily Sellwood which was later broken off because of financial insecurity. These hard times in his life gave Alfred something to base his poems upon.

"Grief...was ultimately to prove to be the inspiration behind some of the poet's greatest work."

"Tennyson's best poems reflect both the inner and outer being, expreesing through a clear and richly haunting music those certainties that sustain the human spirit."

Tennyson & Arnold

In the late 1840s Arnold looked to ancient suicides as a source of comfort for his readers and a means of self-definition for himself. In "Courage" (written 1849 or 1850) he turns to Cato to help settle his own unease over the philosophical question of the will. Like Carlyle, Arnold believed that the Victorians "must tame our rebel will" (141), but like Byron, he also prized the force of rebellious souls. For him Cato was an exemplar of utter courage:

Yes, be the second Cato praised!

Not that he took the course to die --

But