Romantic Elements in Tennyson's Poem
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Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) is one of the greatest English poets. He belongs to the Victorian era (1837-1901). However, he is a Romantic at heart. In many of his poems, we find ideas that belong to the Romantic period. Romantic poets focus on deep feelings, the beauty of nature, the power of imagination, and the desire to escape from real life. Here, we will find out the romantic qualities in his famous poems.
Deep Emotions and Personal Feelings: Romantic poems are filled with strong personal emotions. These poets speak from the heart. The speakers in Tennyson’s poems also express deep personal emotions. They feel very sad, lonely, tired, and hopeless. In “Oenone,” written in 1829, Oenone expresses her sadness for her lost love, Paris. Oenone is sad because Paris left her for Helen. She loved Paris deeply, but he betrayed her. Now she feels heartbroken, lonely, and tired of life. Oenone says:
t-align: center;">“Beautiful Paris, evil-hearted Paris.” It shows her deep sadness. She calls him "evil-hearted" because he broke her heart. In “Tithonus,” written in 1833, Tithonus is gifted with immortality, but not eternal youth. So, he grows older and older but cannot die. He expresses his deep pain in this line:Moreover, “Locksley Hall” (1842) feels deeply personal. In this poem, the unnamed speaker expresses his sadness and frustration about his lost love, Amy. He thinks he could not marry Amy because he had no money or social status. These deep emotions and personal feelings are key romantic elements.“Me only cruel immortality consumes.”
Beauty of Nature: Romantic poets love nature deeply. For them, nature is not just a background—it is something living and full of meaning. Tennyson portrays very soft, beautiful, and dream-like pictures of nature in his poems. In “The Lotos-eaters” (1832), the island is full of magical beauty. It is full of streams, soft light, and quiet air. In the distance, there are tall, snowy mountains glowing in the sunset. The red sunset stays longer than usual. The valleys are quiet. The nature in this poem is peaceful, silent, and unchanging. The poet says,
The nature here makes people feel lazy and forgetful. This is exactly what happens to the sailors when they eat the lotos fruit. Similarly, in “Oenone,” the valley of Mount Ida is full of flowers, mists, waterfalls, and pine trees. The nature matches Oenone’s sadness—beautiful but no wind, no insect sounds, the flowers droop, the bees rest inside the lilies. As the poet writes:“A land where all things always seem’d the same!”
In “Tithonus,” the poet shows the soft beauty of dawn. The goddess of dawn brings light, and the sky becomes golden. So, like the Romantics, Tennyson uses nature not just for decoration, but to reflect the feelings of the heart.“The grasshopper is silent in the grass:...
The purple flower droops.”
Escape and Rest: Romantic poets often want to leave the real world and go to a peaceful, dreamy place. They are tired of the harsh world, illness, and pain. We see this in Tennyson’s poems, too. In “The Lotos-eaters,” the sailors eat the magical lotos fruit and forget everything. They do not want to go back to their homes or continue their journey. They sing:
They feel tired of life and just want to rest forever. In “Tithonus,” the speaker also wants to escape. He wants to escape from immortality. Even in “Locksley Hall,” the speaker dreams of a perfect future world, where people live in peace, and science brings joy. This dream is also a kind of escape from his unhappy present.“Our island home is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam.”
Imagination and Supernatural Ideas: Romantic poets use their imagination freely. They use myths, gods, and magical stories. Tennyson also mixes imagination with real emotions. In “Tithonus,” the speaker is not a normal human; he is mythical and supernatural. He is someone who lives forever beside the goddess of the dawn. In “The Lotos-eaters,” the magical fruit makes people forget everything. Time stops, and the land feels unreal. The whole setting is a product of the poet’s imagination.
In conclusion, Tennyson’s poems are full of Romantic elements. His speakers are emotional and honest. His descriptions of nature are soft and dreamy. His characters often want to escape from real life. He also uses imagination and myth to create magical worlds. All these things show that Tennyson followed many of the important ideas of Romantic poetry in his own beautiful style.