Poetry Out Loud. The Art Of Storytelling » Home. Language Arts. Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th Edition. Long long time ago: stories for children. Improve Your Writing - Table of Contents. Punctuation Worksheets | Grammar & Reading Resouces. ReadWorks. Reading Comprehension. Free Online Literature and Study Guides. Free Books and Reading Recommendations. Lord Alfred Tennyson. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born on August 5, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire. His father, George Clayton Tennyson, a clergyman and rector, suffered from depression and was notoriously absentminded. Alfred began to write poetry at an early age in the style of Lord Byron. After spending four unhappy years in school he was tutored at home.
Tennyson then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the literary club 'The Apostles' and met Arthur Hallam, who became his closest friend. Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830, which included the popular "Mariana". His next book, Poems (1833), received unfavorable reviews, and Tennyson ceased to publish for nearly ten years. Among Tennyson's major poetic achievements is the elegy mourning the death of his friend Arthur Hallam, "In Memoriam" (1850). Yale-English.