Alfred Lord Tennyson

1
Alfred Lord Tennyson

• Tennyson called the Arthurian legend "the
  greatest of all poetical subjects," which partly
  explains why this tradition so heavily influenced
  his writing and popularized King Arthur with the
  Victorian period

2
Tennysons Life
(1809-1892)

• English poet often regarded as the chief
  representative of the Victorian age in poetry.

3
Tennysons Purpose

• Subjects had never before been tackled in poetic
  form
• Wanted to write poems about British
  people for the British people (Arthur
  national/ epic hero)
• Wanted to tell the story of the rise
  and fall of an ideal society
  and the
  2 great threats to society
• Impractical idealism
• Corrupting effects of different types of love
• Wanted poems to serve as a warning to his
  generation because of the battle between religion
  and science (Christianity v. Darwinism)

4
Tennysons Works

• Focus on the following issues
• political
• historical
• scientific matters
• classical mythology
• deeply personal thoughts and feelings.
• Poet of self reflection and analysis and a poet
  of the people.
• He examines himself to help give British
  Victorian society a voice.

5
Tennysons Themes

• Isolation
• Tragic Love
• Chaos v. Order
• Having Faith v. Keeping Faith
• The Artist v. Society

6
Tennysons Arthurian Works

• 19th century revival of medieval Romanticism and
  stories of King Arthur
• Rich imagery and descriptive writing reflects
  Victorian period
• Morte DArthur
• The Lady of Shalott (most well known)
• Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere
• Sir Galahad
• Idylls of the King
• Q What is an idyll?
• A short poem usually focusing on one
  
  episode on someones life
• Q Who is the King?
• A Arthur .

7
The Lady of Shalott

• based on a thirteenth-century Italian novelette
  entitled Donna di Scalotta.
• Tennyson emphasizes her isolation in the tower
  and her decision to participate in the living
  world
• "The Lady of Shallot,
  
  is introduced as a valid
  
  setting for the study of
  
  the artist and the
  
  dangers of personal
  
  isolation.

8
Themes The Lady of Shallot

• The main character in The Lady of Shallot is used
  by Tennyson to illustrate what happens when an
  individual is shut off from the world. Tennyson
  also explores several themes common to the
  Arthurian legends.
• Themes
• Personal isolation
• Illusion vs. Reality
• Chivalry
• Unrequited love
• Suicide

9
The Allegory of the Cave - Background

• The Allegory of the Cave, part of Platos
  Republic
• Conversation between Plato and his teacher,
  Socrates
• Outlines Platos philosophies
• Senses Poor copy of reality
• Real World perceived through the intellect
• Students must discover truth/reality for
  themselves
• Enlightened individuals must lead everyone else

10
The Allegory of the Cave - Plot

• Human beings chained from childhood in an
  underground cave, unable to move
• The light is behind them fire and a passage to
  the daylight above
• Other people walk above with various objects that
  are reflected on the cave wall
• The chained individuals see only shadows
• When they are set free, the light hurts their
  eyes and they are overwhelmed they run from it
• If they are forcibly dragged to the light, some
  gradually adjust but they can never go back into
  the darkness

11
The Allegory of the Cave - Visual
12
The Cave and The Lady

• The Lady of Shallot is chained to her loom
• She only sees the outside world through her
  mirror
• When she leaves the mirror to look upon Lancelot,
  her mirror (her illusion) is cracked
• She is overwhelmed (cursed) by reality and can
  never go back