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Alfred Tennyson 1809-1892
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Knowledge Comes, but Wisdom Lingers
Like many extremely gifted
artists, the English poet Alfred Tennyson liked to keep a low profile,
which is tough when you're brilliant.
In full, he was
Alfred
Tennyson, 1st Baron of Aldworth and Freshwater.
In
short, he was Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Tennyson was a writer through and
through. He started writing the second he could hold a
pen, which he was able to do very early in his childhood.
Alfred's childhood wasn't easy. He had a boozing father and eleven
siblings, some of which struggled with mental problems.
But he plowed through it all,
married Emily Sellwood, attracted
Queen Victoria's
attention,
and became poet laureate in 1850.
What
in the world is a poet laureate?
Alfred
and Emily had two sons and settled down on the Isle of Wight.
Tennyson's Lady of Shalott
The Lady of Shalott was published in 1833. In 1888,
John William Waterhouse felt inspired by the poem and
came up with the painting below.
THE LADY OF SHALOTT - BY JOHN
WILLIAM WATERHOUSE
Read it Online and Free:
Tennyson's Lady of Shalott.
Tennyson and the Crimean War
The
Crimean War was fought
1853-1856. And like many British people, Tennyson was
following its development closely in the papers.
When he read about the
Battle of Balaklava, he
immediately wrote his poem
The Charge of the
Light Brigade
I
HALF a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
II
'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
IV
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Project Gutenberg lets you read Tennyson's works online and free.
You can also read his works at the
Poetry Archive.
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
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ALFRED LORD
TENNYSON QUOTES
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
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