Tennyson on the Struggles of Love and Loss
Throughout the course of reading Victorian poetry, there is a pattern that can be found within the context; a problem that one faces, whether in themselves or within society, and a desire or demand for a solution. In Alfred Tennyson’s, In Memoriam, he struggles and suffers intensely with the loss of his best friend, Arthur Hallam. The struggle is not only living life with the hole inside of him that resulted from his friends’ untimely death, but with himself and his faith in God. Without Hallam, he strays from his spiritual path and loses sight of his purpose in life. Tennyson’s In Memoriam takes us down a path of love and loss; both earthly and divine.
Tennyson expresses deep love for his dear friend Hallam and for God. He refers to his love for God as “immortal Love”, expressing his faith as “Believing where we cannot prove”. He connects his love for Hallam and God when he says, “Forgive my grief for one removed, / Thy creature, whom I found so fair. / I trust he live sin thee, and there / I find him worthier to be loved.” The “creature” he refers to in the poem is his late friend Hallam, who died an untimely death that left Tennyson in despair. He “trust he lives in thee”, however, meaning that he trusts that Hallam is in a better place, heaven, with God, and this brings him a sort of comfort. However, the more time that passes after Hallam’s death, the more Tennyson begins to struggle with his loss. The loss of his friend intensifies and leads to the loss of his spiritual faith as well.
Tennyson begins to allude to his struggle with losing Hallam when he says, “But who shall so forecast the years / And find in loss a gain to match?” Tennyson is struggling with believing he will ever find someone to replace Hallam. He continues, “Behold the man that loved and lost, But all he was is overworn.” At this point, Tennyson is suffering so much, he begins to struggle with whether loving people is truly worth it or not. Is it worth it to love, if they will one day leave you forever in pain? Is God truly real if he allows for his sons and daughters to feel such pain? Hallam has become “A hand that can be clasped no more” and Tennyson starts to question his faith when he says, “When Science reaches forth her arms / To feel from world to world, and charms / Her secret from the last moon”. Around the time that Tennyson was writing this poem, the Evolutionary Theory was erupting through society, shaking many people’s beliefs in their religion that had never before been questioned. This line, I believe, expressed Tennyson’s inner struggle with that argument between faith in God and the evidence of science. His loss has had such an impact on him, it has led him to question is spiritual faith. “O, yet we trust that somehow good / Will be the final goal of ill, / To pangs of nature, sins of will, / Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;” express Tennyson’s doubt in God and the faith that everything happens for a reason. He describes having faith in God even though one can not see him physically or prove his existence as “Walking with aimless feet” and while this concept was not frightening him before because he had Hallam as his guide to always reinforce his faith, now that he is gone he begins to question and seriously doubt the reality of this belief. He refers to faith in God as “walking with aimless feet” because that is what faith is-believing something that you can not prove and that others can easily disclaim, simply because it is what you know to be true in your heart and soul. This kind of faith is what leads Tennyson back onto his spiritual path.
While the loss of love is what caused Tennyson to stray, love is what would bring him back. After countless months of doubt and questioning everything he had known to be true, he decides to read old letters from Hallam, and the flame of his love for his friend and God rekindle. He says, “So word by word, and line by line, / The dead man touched me from the past, / And all at once it seemed at last / The living soul was flashing on mine.” Tennyson’s description of the effect of his reading Hallam’s letter brought the image of someone coming back to life in my mind. He connects earthly and divine love by explaining how reading and holding a letter written by Hallam’s hand years ago, could bring him back to life. He could hear his voice, and this relit his faith because he felt in his soul that Hallam was there with him, maybe not physically, but spiritually. This revelation he had about Hallam, mirrors that faith that one has in God; that he is there with us even when we can not see him. This feeling was again expressed when he says, “If e’er when faith had fallen asleep…A warmth within the breast would melt / The freezing reason’s colder part, / And like a man in wrath the heart / Stood up and answered, “I have felt.” This line, one I believe to be one of the most beautiful in the poem, sums up Tennyson’s revelation, and resolution to his suffering. He realizes that while heart-breaking things happen, his faith in God is what will assure him and get him through life knowing that everything happens for a reason. He can live life knowing that “’Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all.” Contrary to what others opinions may be, Tennyson’s love for Hallam and God, and his loss he experienced in losing both of them, are what led to his revelation that to doubt is human, and it is better to love and experience the pain of loss, then to never experience the beauty of love at all.
WRITTEN BY: GRACE RILEY FOR ENGL 288 (BRITISH LITERATURE) SOPHOMORE YEAR, SPRING SEMESTER 2017
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An excellent analyses , makes even a uninformed to understand is great, worth applause. No exaggeration meant, I envy the writer has a crystal clear understanding that he has put in a simple understandable words that keeps readers curiosity to hang on till end. He has summed it up well focusing the “loss in bereavement of his friend Hallam and God” has lead to pain and a reading of letters has brought him back to his love Hallam, and God, saying that some times it’s good to face pain loosing a loved one! I liked the way the interpretations are made.
Perhaps there is a scope to improve the title appropriately……….. kranand