Synopsis

Alfred Tennyson was the longest-lived of all the major nineteenth century poets, yet his Cambridge friend, Arthur Hallam, died when he was only 22. In 1850, seventeen years after the death of his friend, Tennyson published In Memoriam, a huge blockbuster of a poem, running to over 130 cantos. Contrary to all predictions, this became a bestseller, attracted the attention of Prince Albert, enabled the poet to get married and procured for him the laureateship - all in that same momentous year.

Tennyson was now an establishment figure, even more so when he was raised to the peerage in 1883. This was in sharp contrast to Byron, Keats and Shelley, who all died young and were all social rebels.

The mantle of respectability which Tennyson rather reluctantly had thrust upon him has obscured the fact that In Memoriam was not just a conventional obituary. It was the longest and most deeply-felt love poem written by a man to a male friend in the English language. It took a great deal of courage to write it and, in spite of its initial popularity, it was to be mercilessly attacked by the custodians of Victorian morality.

In this book, Alfred and Arthur, not only is this poem carefully analysed but so also is the friendship which inspired it and which continued to inspire Tennyson to the end of his life.

A good deal has been written about Tennyson over the years but very little has been said about the aspect of his life which he himself regarded as central: his friendship with Hallam. This book sets the record straight and enables the reader to reappraise Tennyson's achievement

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