Consider Tennyson as a Representative Poet of the Victorian age.

Answer

Consider Tennyson as a representative poet of the Victorian age. 

Or, what spirit of the Victorian age do you notice in the works of Tennyson? 

Or, evaluate Tennyson’s contribution to Victorian poetry. 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) is a great British poet of the Victorian Age (1837-1901). He was the Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901). His poems bring out the themes and concerns of the time. His poetry speaks about change, faith, doubt, and duty. Tennyson represents the Victorian spirit entirely. So, he is regarded as the representative poet of the Victorian Age.

Desire for Adventure: Adventure is the soul of the Victorian spirit. Tennyson’s poems show the thirst for adventure. In the poems “The Lotos-Eaters” and “Ulysses,” we find Odysseus’s adventurous attitude. He does not want to rule Ithaca as an idle king. Rather, he again wants to sail for a new adventurous journey like Troy. So he says,

“I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the Lees:”

Inferiority to Women: Early and middle Victorian people viewed women as inferior to men. Victorian people thought women were less intelligent. They thought the responsibilities of women were to handle household chores and reproduce children. Such attitude to women is firmly declared in the poems of Tennyson, such as “Locksley Hall”. Tennyson says,

“Woman is the lesser man,”

The Victorian husband considered marriage to be an institution for securing his comfort and satisfaction.

Materialistic Outlook: “Locksley Hall” shows an excessively materialistic outlook. This is evident in the speaker’s failure in love. Amy’s father wants and forces her to marry a wealthy man. Here, Tennyson depicts a society where love has no value to money. The speaker is an unwealthy orphan. So, he lost his love. Moreover, the speaker imagines that future nations will become obsessed with money and commodities. He highlights that the nations will engage in war with one another.

Faith and Doubt: The Victorian era was a time