Full Description
Published in 1850, In Memoriam won its author the Poet Laureateship of Britain and received widespread attention from critics and reviewers, as well as from ordinary readers. The poem was written in memory of Tennyson's close friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly in 1833; it became an unofficial devotional manual for mourners, including Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert. The poem's scope goes beyond individual grief, however, to the development and extinction of species, audaciously exploring history, evolution, and God's relationship with humanity. Its formal beauty and emotional resonance make In Memoriam as compelling today as it was for nineteenth-century readers.
Matthew Rowlinson's introduction traces the poem's composition history and places it in the context of Tennyson's personal and intellectual development. Historical appendices include writings by Arthur Hallam, Victorian fiction on courtship and marriage, and materials on natural history and evolution.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Alfred, Lord Tennyson: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
"In Memoriam"
Appendix A: Writings of Arthur Hallam
1. Meditative Fragment 1 [addressed to J.M. Gaskell]
2. Sonnet [After first meeting Emily Tennyson]
3. Sonnet [The garden trees]
4. Translations from Dante, La Vita Nuova
5. From "On Sympathy"
Appendix B: Writings on Natural History, Taxonomy, and Evolution, 1802-1844
1. From William Paley, Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity
2. From Charles Lyell, The Principles of Geology
3. From William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon their History
4. From Robert Chambers, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
Appendix C: Victorian Courtship and Marriage in Fiction
1. From Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery
2. From Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
3. From Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford
Appendix D: The Poetic Sequence, 1827-1854
1. From John Keble, The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holidays Throughout the Year
2. From Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese
3. From Coventry Patmore, The Angel in the House: The Betrothal
Appendix E: Reviews of In Memoriam, 1850-1855
1. From The Examiner (8 June 1850) [probably by John Forster)
2. From The Literary Gazette (15 June 1850)
3. From The North British Review (August 1850)
4. From The British Quarterly Review (August 1850)
5. From The Eclectic Review (September 1850)
6. From The English Review (September 1850)
7. From Fraser's Magazine (September 1850) [Charles Kingsley]
8. From The Times (28 November 1851) [possibly by Gerard Manley Hopkins]
9. From The Edinburgh Review (October 1855) [Coventry Patmore]
Appendix F: From Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son
Select Bibliography
