Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1884 — Alfred Tennyson. [ARTICLE]

Alfred Tennyson.

Alfred Tennyson was born in the little rectory of Somersby, in Lincolnshire, England, in 1809. The rector was a quiet, scholarly man and quite unknown outside of a navrow circle; but all his sons inherited his literary taste, and each has contributed something of merit to English letters. Alfred has, however, far outstripped them all; Wibugh hi'S Wother w&g first and. ablest- critic, and- published ia ■ conjunction with him a volume of poems in 1827. Later. Tennyson took the Chancellor’s medal at Cambridge University, for a poem in blank verse, entitled “Titnbuctoo;” and in 1830 he published a volume of “Poems, Chiefly Lyrical.” His first great poem was “The Princess,” which appeared in 1847. Three years later, on the death of Wordsworth, Tennyson bacame poetlaureate. “Maud, and Other Poems,” “The Idylls of the King,” “Enoch Arden,” and “The Widow” followed in rapid succession; and in 1875 the poet entered the field of the drama with “Queen Mary,” followed by “Harold.” In dramatic writing, however, lie is not successful, for there is an unreality and monotony in his plays that rentiers them unpopular. The poet has just accepted a peerage from the Queen. He lives in quiet elegance on the Isle of Wight, having bnt few friends whom he cares to entertain or visit, and devoting himself wholly to his literary work.