Topic :A Study Poets Tennyson and Browning
Name: Hariyani Kishan R.
Semester: 2
Paper No: 6 Victorian Literature
Roll No: 21
Enrollment No: PG15101021
Submitted To: Department of English Maharaja
KrishnaKumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Year:2016
A Study of Poets: Tennyson and Browning
Victorian Age
The period of 1820 to 1900 known as the age of ‘victoria’. During
this period Queen Victoria developed the much literary forms. So, this age
in English literature known as the ‘Victorian Age’. During that period many great writers gave
their best contribution to English age as a gift. , Browning, Dickens,
Thackray, Meredith, Carlyle, Macaulay and Ruskin there are some great
stars of the age. Tennyson the prominent poet of the age. So, now let’s we
discussing about Tennyson in detailed. Lord Alfred Tennyson was born
in 1809.The son of a clergyman he was born at his
father’s living at Somersby in Lincolnshire. After some schooling
at Louth, This was not agreeable to him. He was taken education
from the Cambridge. University, at the university he was a wholly
conventional person.
We
can also say about this period that The Victorian era of British
history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 until her
death in 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined culture,
great advancements in technology, and national self-confidence for Britain.
During the Victorian age, Britain was the world's most powerful
nation. By the end of Victoria's reign, Victorian England saw great
expansion of wealth, power, and culture. it was also a time of misery, squalor,
and urban ugliness And we are going to discuss about two major poet who create
a kind of influence in this era.
vAlfred Lord Tennyson
He was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as ;
"Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light
Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears" and "Crossing the Bar".
Much of his verse was based
on classical mythological themes, such as; Ulysses, although In
Memoriam A.H.H. was written to commemorate his best friend Arthur
Hallam, a fellow poet and fellow student at Trinity College, Cambridge,
who was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died from a brain haemorrhage before
they could marry. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank
verse including Idylls of the King, "Ulysses", and "Tithonus".
During his career, Tennyson attempted drama,
but his plays enjoyed little success. A number of phrases from Tennyson's work
have become commonplaces of the English language He was extraordinary handsome
intelligent, humorous and gifted as charming personality, he was at the center
of an admiring group of young men knows that then he was interested in poetry
and conversationAt the early age of18 his first volume published
‘poems by two brothers (1827)’. Now let’s studies further about both poets.
He left Cambridge before he was published a volume of mediocre verse.
During the next 20 years he was passed a tranquil existence. During
that time he met Arthur Henry Hallam. This was the beginning
of 4years of warm friendship between Tennyson and Hallam.
In 1844 he lost his unlucky speculation, but in nick of the
time he received Government pension .He was appointedpoet Laureate (1850) in
owner to Wordsworth married, and removed to freshwater. Then for the
Tennyson ‘Isle of Wight’ became for the next 20 years.
Now let see the poetic career of the Tennyson. At the early age of 18 he
collaborated with his elder brother Charles in ‘poems by Two Brothers got the
prize.
v ‘Timbuctoo’ (1829)
v ‘poems, chiefly Lyricall’ (1830)
‘Isabel and Madeline’ the pictorial work by Tennyson. His
volume of ‘poems (1833)’, which is often referred to as ‘poems
(1832)’.In this collection there are some great poems-
·
‘The
Lady of shallot’
·
‘Enone’
·
’The
Lotus-Eaters’
·
’The
palace of Art’
This collection through Tennyson got the renowned as a perfect
poet. Then in1842 he produced two another volume of poetry that set
him once and for all among the greater poets of his day. It’s open with ‘Morte’d Arthur’ and contains ‘Ulysses, Locksleyhall.’And several other poems through he became star of the
age. Later he wrote very long poem. Like-
1) ‘The princess’ (1847)
2) ‘In Memoriam’ (1850)
3) ‘Maud and other poems’ (1855)
4) ‘Idylls of the king’ (1859-89)
5) ‘Enoch Arden’ (1864)
Some major features of his poetic work.1830
to 1842 works lyric and legendry narrative type. And 1842volume based
on ethical interest. His content of the works mirror of feelings and
aspirations of his time.
As a pictorial poet, he follows the
example of Keats. His all poems most probably based on imagery of nature and
other natural elements. His description of each line built our-selves to see
the magic of his art and surprisable deep and beautiful scene of the picture of
the poem.
Through his all poem he proved himself
as a best poet of the age. Hislyrical quality is also best-one. Famous
example are-
1) ‘The splendor Falls’
2) ‘Break, break, break’
3) ‘Crossing the Bar’ etc…
Through his lyrics he touches the heart of the reader. Let see one
example of his great work
“Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, o sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.”
Even he used Lyrical monologue, repetition, imagery,
Alliteration there are some great elements of the work of Tennyson. He
himself known as-
“The clamour of the cry.”
In 1884 he was created a baron, sat
in the House of Lords, for a time took himself rather seriously as a
politician. Then he died at Aldworth near Haslemere in surrey
and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Really, through the study of poet we can say
that he was ‘star poet’ of the age. He was known as demigod of
the age. His greatness and richness of his poems in very early age showed
the intellectuality and scholarality in him. His high place in the
temple of fame in assured. Tennyson was not only the great poet of
the “Victorian Age”. But, today also he knew as in the category of
the best homogenized poet.
vRobert Browning
Robert Browning (1812 –1889) was an
English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse,
especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the
foremost Victorian poets. Browning was famous for his dramatic
monologues and commentary on social institutions. He was married to Victorian
poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He truly observer of Renaissance period
and he admire for it. The Renaissance saw a major shift in theories of art. As “Fra Lippo Lippi” discusses, a new
realism, based on observation and detail, was coming to be valued, while
traditional, more abstract and more didactic forms of art were losing favor.
This shifting in priorities is analogous to the shifting views on art and
morality in Browning’s time. The Renaissance, like the Victorian era, was also
a time of increasing secularism and
concentration of wealth and power. All of these aspects make the Renaissance and
the Victorian era rather similar. By talking about the Renaissance, Browning
can make his cultural criticism somewhat less biting
I also want
to say that Browning aspires to redefine the aesthetic, the rough language of
his poems often matches the personalities of his speakers “My Last Duchess,” for example, and uses rhymed couplets. The
disjunction between form and content or form and language suggests some of the
conflict being described in the poems, whether the conflict is between two
moral contentions or is a conflict between aesthetics and ethics as systems.
Browning’s rough meters and unpoetic language test a new range for the
aesthetic.
Here
one more remarkable point is that Women, particularly for the Victorians,
symbolize the home the repository of traditional values. Their violent death
can stand in for the death of society. The women in Browning’s poetry in
particular are often depicted as sexually open: this may show that society has
transformed so radically that even the domestic, the traditional, has been
altered and corrupted. This violence also suggests the struggle between
aesthetics and morals in Victorian art: while women typically serve as symbols
of values
His major works:
v Pauline: A Fragment of a
Confession (1833)
v Paracelsus (1835)
v Strafford (play) (1837)
v Sordello (1840)
v Bells and Pomegranates No. I: Pippa
Passes (play) (1841)
v Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor
and King Charles (play) (1842)
v Bells
and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics (1842)
v Porphyria's
Lover
v Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister
v My
Last Duchess
v The
Pied Piper of Hamelin
v Count
Gismond
v Johannes Agricola in Meditation
Here I want to put few lines of his work,
“One who never turned his back, but marched
breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, tho’ right were worsted, wrong
would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are buffled to fight
better,
Sleep to wake.
~ Epilogue, Browning
In 1834 he accompanied the Chevalier George
de Benkhausen, the Russian consul-general, on a brief visit to St
Petersburg and began Paracelsus, which was published in 1835. Browning's
reputation began to make a partial recovery with the publication, 1841–1846,
of Bells and Pomegranates, a series of eight pamphlets, originally
intended just to include his plays. Fortunately his publisher, Moxon, persuaded
him to include some "dramatic lyrics", some of which had already
appeared in periodicals.
Conclusion:
In short , I just want to say that Victorian
period is also a promoted through the English development and it’s connect
their roots with Renaissance time. Tennyson & Browning both are distinguish
poet that given their much contribution in literature writing in this era.
No comments:
Post a Comment