Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam

Marion Shaw (University of Loughborough)
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The full title of Tennyson's famous elegy is In Memoriam A.H.H. Obit MDCCCXXXIII (In Memory of A.H.H., who died 1833) and it commemorates Tennyson's friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in September 1833 whilst on holiday with his father in Vienna. He was twenty-three at the time of his death. The news was brought to Tennyson at his home in Lincolnshire on 1 October, the letter saying that Hallam's body would be brought home by sea from Trieste. This journey of the body is described in a group of sections (9-18) towards the beginning of the poem, with Tennyson writing section 9 within six days of learning of Hallam's death. This section established the stanza form and rhyme scheme (…

2043 words

Citation: Shaw, Marion. "In Memoriam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4526, accessed 26 November 2024.]

4526 In Memoriam 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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