E212: British Literature since 1760

Alfred Tennyson Study Questions

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In Memoriam A.H.H. Prologue

1. This poem was added late in the composing stages as an affirmation of Tennyson's religious faith. What do you think of the quality or steadfastness of Tennyson's affirmation?

2. What relationship between faith and knowledge does the speaker posit?

3. How does this Prologue recast or sum up the whole of In Memoriam A.H.H.? In other words, how does the speaker characterize the poetry he has been writing and editing for around 17 years?

Lyric 1

4. Why does Love need to "clasp" Grief? (9) What's the penalty if Love does not do so? What is the central problem set forth by this lyric?

Lyric 2

5. How is the yew tree correlated with the speaker's state of mind? Why does the speaker envy the yew tree -- what qualities or "perspective" (to personify the tree for a moment) does the tree have that he lacks?

Lyric 3

6. What do Sorrow and the speaker argue about? Why does it make sense for the speaker to treat Sorrow momentarily as an external force with whom he can converse?

Lyric 4

7. What role does sleep play in the psychology of sorrow?

Lyric 5

8. What does this lyric argue or explore about the relationship between words and grief? How does the poem question romantic notions about the powers of expressive language?

9. How does the speaker's exploration of expressive theory affect your relationship as a reader to In Memoriam A.H.H.?

Lyric 7

10. How does the speaker's state of mind color the description he provides?

Lyric 11

11. How does the speaker's own calmness compare to the natural calm he describes? How does natural calm compare to Arthur Hallam's calmness in death?

12. How does this poem amount to the speaker's preparation for accepting his friend's death, insofar as such acceptance is possible?

Lyric 14

13. How does this poem set forth the importance of coming to terms with the material fact of death, as one might say Lyric 11 does as well?

Lyric 15

14. How does the natural setting correlate with the speaker's state of mind?

15. Review the reference to molten glass in Job 37:18 and Revelations 15:2. What do these biblical passages add to your understanding of the poem?

Lyric 28

16. How can you connect this lyric to the importance of memory in Wordsworth's poetics, as we gather from "Preface to Lyrical Ballads"?

17. What associations do the church bells bring back to the speaker? Why are those memories important to the speaker's process of grieving?

Lyric 30

18. What allows the speaker to look forward to the day? What does his ability to greet the morning signify with regard to his emotional progress?

Lyric 34

19. What alternative reason for writing poetry does the speaker set forth as a possibility in this lyric? Does he accept that possibility or reject it? What advantages would accrue to him if he were to become a "wild poet"?

Lyric 39

20. How does "sorrow" function as a Victorian censor of romantic expression in this lyric?

Lyric 54

21. What is the speaker saying about poetry's power to render the world morally or intellectually intelligible? You might examine the final stanza with this question in view.

Lyric 55

22. How might you tie this lyric to Wordsworth's comments about science in "Preface to Lyrical Ballads"? The central question here is "what kind of knowledge does science give us, and how does that knowledge affect our emotional wellbeing?"

Lyric 56

23. Why would it be worse for humans than for animals if Nature's self-description should turn out to be true? What effect does the answer given in the last stanza have upon the emotional movement of In Memoriam as a whole (as you gather from our selections)?

Lyric 75

24. How does this lyric compare to Shakespeare's handling of the theme of "poetic immortality" in his Sonnets?

Lyric 108

25. How does the speaker characterize his attitude towards Arthur Hallam? What feeling is he exploring in this lyric?

Lyric 118

26. What two kinds of "evolution" does this lyric explore? What seems to be the speaker's attitude towards early formulations about evolution -- for instance Charles Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism in the 1830's text Elements of Geology? (Uniformitarianism is the theory that posits the steady, long-term application of natural forces as an explanation for earth's transformations as we see them reflected in geological features?)

27. Where does the speaker's conception of God come into play in this poem, if at all?

Lyric 123

28. What attitude towards scientific knowledge does the speaker take in this lyric? What is the speaker's "dream," as he calls it in the final stanza? Why can't he accept the perpetual change that he has just described in the first two stanzas?

Lyric 124

29. What does the poem set forth as evidence that God exists? What kinds of evidence fail to convince him of God's existence?

30. What is the relationship or similarity between faith and doubt as this lyric handles those states?

31. Relate this poem's ending to Carlyle's doctrine of humankind's need for "mystery." Is Tennyson's solution to religious doubt Carlylean, or more conventionally Christian?

Lyric 126

32. What are the "court" and the "faithful guard" in this lyric? From what is the speaker being protected while he is in the court?

Lyric 130

33. To what extent is this lyric a nature poem? What progress does it mark in the speaker's state of mind as he grieves for Arthur Hallam?

Lyric 131

34. Comment on the way Tennyson describes human life as a process, a "flow." What is the thematic value of the metaphor of water employed in this lyric?

Epilogue

35. How does Tennyson connect his sister's wedding with the passing of his friend Arthur Hallam? What do the two events have in common?

36. Do you find this selection from the final part of In Memoriam convincing? In other words, do you believe that Tennyson has come full circle in his process of grieving and accepted Arthur Hallam's death as part of God's providence? Has he dealt finally with the religious doubts that arose partly his from his response to Arthur's passing?

Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2. Seventh edition. New York: Norton, 2000.