Memoriam Tennyson in Memoriam by

¶ … Memoriam" Tennyson "In Memoriam" by Lord Alfred Tennyson is a poetry collection consisting of more than ten years of work. The work began as a dedication to Tennyson's friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly when the poet was 24 years old. This was a great emotional blow to Tennyson, and he invested a large amount of personal emotion in the work. Specifically, Lyric CXX concerns not so much a direct emotional dedication to Hallam as it has a wider application to the social and cultural issues of the time.

Specifically, there was a growing Victorian awareness of evolutionary history at the time when the poem was written and published. This awareness was perpetuated by the scientific literature of the time, and most notably by Darwin's Origin of Species. This brought a further sense of loss to Lord Tennyson's work, where he indicates a struggle with the conflict between science and religion; he was familiar with and dedicated to both.

Towards the end of his poem, Tennyson indicates that science and religion can exist together in the same society and indeed in the same mind. He indicates this in various ways in Lyric CXX. Both the rhythm and rhyme of the poem appear to be quite regular. It is written in iambic tetrameter, with four lines in each quatrain. The rhyme scheme is a/b/b/a throughout the poem. These immediately observable regularities could be interpreted in two ways when considering the topic of the poem.

Religion has been a regular part of Victorian life more or less up to the time of the poem. The world was considered to operate in a certain way, subject to certain religions rules. The regularity of the poem could refer to the regularity of faith and its rules. A more likely interpretation is perhaps that the regularity of science and its rules are the concern in Tennyson's poem. Science has rules that can be determined by observation.

The very regular meter, rhyme scheme and paragraph structures can be physically observed in the poem. Hence, scientific rules connect with the "scientific" appearance of the poem. Like natural science, poetry is a science of language and art, subject to certain rules. With the form of his poem, Tennyson indicates a dedication to follow and observe these rules. The diction and several other elements within the poem signifies Tennyson's internal state.

This state cannot be immediately observed; like diction, enjambment, and medial caesurae, the emotional state is both irregular and requires closer observation in order to make an accurate interpretation. Hence the irregular patterns that can be observed by closer reading indicate Tennyson's feelings regarding the upheaval of faith as a result of scientific discovery, the latter which attempts to order, analyze and understand the world on purely physical terms. In terms of diction and imagery, Tennyson addresses the juxtaposition of science and faith.

In Stanza 1, for example, he refers to the biblical figure of Paul, and the metaphorical battle with "beasts" and "Death." These are juxtaposed with the poet's earlier references in the stanza to scientific considerations of evolution - "wholly brain" and "magnetic mockeries." The fact that the evolutionary references are contained in the second and third lines of the quatrain can also be viewed as significant. They are as it were physically enclosed in the religious paradigms indicated in the first and last lines in the stanza.

Hence Tennyson appears to indicate that religion serves as the protector of human life rather than its antithesis. Ideas and ideals about God can be viewed as part of the whole and fulfilling human experience. The use of alliteration in "Magnetic mockeries" is also interesting. This connects with the alliteration used in the first line of the second stands - "cunning casts." Both indicate that human beings are more than merely their physical selves. They are not only imitations of their parents or their ancestors.

Humanity as a whole operates on a much wider basis than only evolution. The slightly mocking use of diction in both cases of alliteration appears to indicate the absurdity of suggesting that evolution should replace all spirituality. Another significant element of Diction is the spelling of Science with a capital letter. This observably emphasizes the concept as important, like "Death" in the last line of the first stanza. However, the poet's statements appears to juxtapose themselves in contrast to this idea.

The second and third lines in Stanza 2 for example appears to first raise a challenge to science and then to disregard the concept as unimportant on an individual, personal level. Once again, the placement of the science concept in the stanza is subordinate to statements that lean towards the religious as an important living paradigm. This stanza also contains a medial caesura in the final line.

The poet answers his own question -- "What matters Science…/at least to me? I would not say." This line contains the uncertainty of faith that scientific discovery causes. The poet initially inquires regarding the meaning of science to humanity as a whole, but then modifies this to an individual level. By answering the apparently rhetorical question with a statement of uncertainty appears to indicate the depth to which the poet's faith is subjected to doubt.

Finally, in Stanza 3, the poet can be seen to both surrender on a collective level and triumph individually. In collective sociological terms, Tennyson begins the final stanza by stating his surrender to the concept of "the wiser man." With this, he admits that he does not have the answers to the religion/science dichotomy. He cannot proves scientifically that religion is valid, and cannot find scientifically viable means for their coexistence. So he leaves it to others, and to the future of science.

This surrender is visualized by the enjambment between the first and second lines of the poem. The enjambment also indicates the continuity of human life and intellect. There will be others after Tennyson and after the scientists of his day. These scientists and religious philosophers will have more knowledge of the issues surrounding faith and science. The continuity between the lines can also be interpreted in religious terms, where Tennyson recognizes different types of afterlife. Scientific afterlife is represented by future generations who will generate future knowledge.

On the other hand, spiritual afterlife signifies what is more than physical about being human. Human beings are more than their physical brains and bodies; they are more than their scientific knowledge; they are also their feelings, intuition, and faith. This is what survives the death of the individual. Once again, Tennyson makes a slightly mocking reference to the evolution theory with the words "the greater ape" in the third line of the stanza. This connects with the alliteration element, as mentioned above.

As alliterated words are a continuation of form, so evolution implies the continuation of the physical form. This is central to the concepts raised in the third stanza. This is also significantly demonstrated by the rhyming words "shape" and "ape." The "wise man" of the future will imitate the physical forms and intellect of the past. Tennyson is separating his own concerns from the evolution problem with these references. In the final line, the poet finds his own personal triumph by the italicized word born.

The significance of this word is that Tennyson views himself as not so much apart from as more than the human being indicated by evolution. He indicates that his concern is not with scientific proof for everything. Instead, his concern is both with science and also with more than science. His spirituality sets him apart from those who would replace religion with evolution. This once again can be analyzed from a variety of angles. The word "born" is a completely biological term.

With it, Tennyson admits his subordination to the rules of physical science. He is a human being, was born as such, and will die as such. His physical being operates like all others who were born with him. In this, one could compare the physical form of the poem, as mentioned above, with Tennyson's physical form itself. They are both orderly, and are subject to certain physical rules that cannot be denied. In the same.