Alfred Lord Tennyson: As a Poet

This blog is part of Tennyson's work .

Tennyson at Cambridge and the Shaping of a Poet

Tennyson’s years at Trinity College, Cambridge, were some of the most formative of his life—not for academic success, but for the intellectual friendships that shaped his poetic vision. Though he never completed a degree, Cambridge gave him what he needed most: a community of thinkers who challenged him, admired him, and broadened his outlook on art, politics, and philosophy.

Foremost among these influences was Arthur Henry Hallam, the brilliant and deeply sensitive young man who would later become the emotional center of In Memoriam A.H.H. Hallam recognized Tennyson’s genius almost instantly, praising his early poems and encouraging him in moments of doubt. Their friendship—rooted in shared artistic ambition, long conversations, and a belief in human progress—was unlike anything Tennyson had experienced before. It offered him emotional stability at a time when his family life was overshadowed by financial difficulties and his father’s declining mental health.

Hallam’s engagement to Tennyson’s sister Emily only deepened the bond between the two families. The hope of a shared future strengthened the emotional connection that Tennyson later immortalized in verse. During these years, Tennyson’s reputation grew steadily: his poem Timbuctoo won the Chancellor’s Gold Medal in 1829, and his first major volume, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (1830), showcased his developing lyrical gift—marked by musicality, melancholy, and a fascination with nature and the inner world.

A Growing Political Consciousness

Tennyson’s involvement with the Apostles—a small, elite intellectual society at Cambridge—exposed him to debates about literature, theology, and emerging political ideas. Along with Hallam and other members, he took part in discussions on democracy, individual rights, and the turbulent politics of Europe. This engagement led to one of the most adventurous episodes of his early life: a trip to Spain in 1830.

In an extraordinary display of youthful idealism, Tennyson, Hallam, and several other Apostles traveled to the Pyrenees to support a revolutionary movement against King Ferdinand VII. Although the mission achieved little, it left Tennyson with a lifelong awareness of political struggle and human suffering—elements that would later surface in poems such as Locksley Hall and Ulysses. 

In Memoriam A.H.H.: Grief Transformed into Art

• "It's better to have loved and lost".

The quote “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” comes from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam A.H.H., written in 1850 in memory of his close friend Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem is a long elegy that explores themes of love, grief, and faith in the face of loss.

This sentiment has since been widely referenced in literature, philosophy, and popular culture. It has influenced discussions on love and loss, appearing in works by writers such as C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves) and even in modern films, songs, and speeches. The phrase is often used to console those experiencing heartbreak or grief, reinforcing the idea that love, no matter how brief, leaves a lasting impact.

About Tennyson early life :

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England—died October 6, 1892, Aldworth, Surrey) was an English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He was raised to the peerage in 1884.

Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children, born into an old Lincolnshire family, his father a rector. Alfred, with two of his brothers, Frederick and Charles, was sent in 1815 to Louth grammar school—where he was unhappy. He left in 1820, but, though home conditions were difficult, his father managed to give him a wide literary education. Alfred was precocious, and before his teens he had composed in the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton. To his youth also belongs The Devil and the Lady (a collection of previously unpublished poems published posthumously in 1930), which shows an astonishing understanding of Elizabethan dramatic verse. Lord Byron was a dominant influence on the young Tennyson.

At the lonely rectory in Somersby the children were thrown upon their own resources. All writers on Tennyson emphasize the influence of the Lincolnshire countryside on his poetry: the plain, the sea about his home, “the sand-built ridge of heaped hills that mound the sea,” and “the waste enormous marsh.”

In 1824 the health of Tennyson’s father began to break down, and he took refuge in drink. Alfred, though depressed by unhappiness at home, continued to write, collaborating with Frederick and Charles in Poems by Two Brothers (1826; dated 1827). His contributions (more than half the volume) are mostly in fashionable styles of the day.

In 1827 Alfred and Charles joined Frederick at Trinity College, Cambridge. There Alfred made friends with Arthur Hallam, the gifted son of the historian Henry Hallam. This was the deepest friendship of Tennyson’s life. The friends became members of the Apostles, an exclusive undergraduate club of earnest intellectual interests. Tennyson’s reputation as a poet increased at Cambridge. In 1829 he won the chancellor’s gold medal with a poem called Timbuctoo. In 1830 Poems, Chiefly Lyrical was published; and in the same year Tennyson, Hallam, and other Apostles went to Spain to help in the unsuccessful revolution against Ferdinand VII. In the meantime, Hallam had become attached to Tennyson’s sister Emily but was forbidden by her father to correspond with her for a year.

Loss, Silence, and Poetic Rebirth

Tragedy struck in 1833 when Arthur Hallam died suddenly at the age of 22 while traveling in Vienna. The shock devastated Tennyson. Hallam had been a friend, a brother-in-law-to-be, and perhaps the only person who fully understood his inner struggles. For a time, grief paralysed him both emotionally and professionally. He withdrew from public life, avoided publishing, and worried constantly about his family’s future.

But out of this grief emerged one of the greatest works of Victorian poetry: In Memoriam A.H.H.

This long elegiac sequence took Tennyson nearly 17 years to complete. It tracks not only his mourning for Hallam but also his attempt to reconcile personal loss with the scientific and philosophical uncertainties of the age. The famous line—“’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”—captures a universal truth the poet learned through his own suffering.

Why Tennyson Still Matters

Tennyson’s early life is not just a series of biographical events; it is the foundation of a poetic career that shaped the literature of the Victorian era. His struggles with family instability, his intense friendships, his exposure to nature, his political sympathies, and above all his experience of irreparable loss—all of these shaped a voice that could speak with both authority and tenderness.

His poetry continues to resonate because it addresses emotions and dilemmas that remain timeless: love, grief, faith, doubt, hope, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world.

Later Years and Legacy

Tennyson was elevated to the peerage in 1884, becoming Baron Tennyson of Aldworth—a rare honor for a poet. Even in his later years, he continued to write, blending personal insight with national identity in his verse.

He died on October 6, 1892, and was buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poets’ Corner, beside other greats of English literature.

Today, Tennyson remains a symbol of Victorian sensibility—sensitive, thoughtful, spiritually questioning, and deeply human. His poetry continues to resonate because it captures something universal:

We love, we grieve, we hope—and through it all, we keep moving forward.

Reference :

 “Alfred Lord Tennyson - Poet Laureate.” Historic UK, 28 Nov. 2023, share.google/T2iPCTGe83Btlp6gb.

    Baldwin, Emma. “About Alfred Lord Tennyson: The Victorian Poet Laureate - Poem Analysis.” Poem Analysis, 15 Oct. 2025, share.google/myGeC6ZfskX0eDUYy.

 Biography.com Editors. “Alfred Tennyson.” Biography, 9 Apr. 2021, share.google/5lCrGNjK24frSJOhM.