Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, the third surviving son of a clergyman and rector.
He was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1850 (succeeding Wordsworth) and remains one of the most popular English poets.
Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes, although 'In Memoriam' was written to commemorate his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and classmate at Trinity College, Cambridge, who was engaged to his sister, but died suddenly in Vienna from a cerebral hæmorrhage before they could be married.
Tennyson published 'Poems, Chiefly Lyrical' in 1830 but his next book,' Poems' (1833), received unfavorable reviews, and Tennyson ceased to publish for nearly ten years.
His next book, Poems (1833), received unfavorable reviews, and Tennyson ceased to publish for nearly ten years.
After marrying Emily Sellwood, whom he had already met in 1836, the couple settled in Farringford, a house in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight in 1853. From there the family moved in 1869 to 'Aldworth', near Haslemere, Surrey. During these later years he produced some of his best poems.
In 1853, as the Tennysons were moving into their new house on the Isle of Wight, Prince Albert dropped in unannounced. His admiration for Tennyson's poetry helped solidify his position as the national poet, and Tennyson returned the favor by dedicating 'The Idylls of the King' to his memory.
Queen Victoria later summoned him to court several times, and at her insistence in 1884 he accepted a knighthood, having declined it when offered by both Disraeli and Gladstone.
Tennyson died at Aldworth on October 6, 1892 and was buried in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
THE SAILOR BOY
He rose at dawn and, fired with hope,
Shot o’er the seething harbour-bar,
And reach’d the ship and caught the rope,
And whistled to the morning star.
And while he whistled long and loud
He heard a fierce mermaiden cry,
"O boy, tho' thou are young and proud,
I see the place where thou wilt lie.
"The sands and yeasty surges mix
In caves about the dreary bay,
And on thy ribs the limpet sticks,
And in thy heart the scrawl shall play."
"Fool," he answer'd , "death is sure
To those that stay and those that roam,
But I will nevermore endure
To sit with empty hands at home.
"My mother clings about my neck,
My sisters crying, 'Stay for shame;'
My father raves of death and wreck,-
They are all to blame, they are all to blame.
"God help me! save I take my part
Of danger on the roaring sea,
A devil rises in my heart,
Far worse than any death to me.
Alfred Tennyson
