Studies in English Language and Literature

Are God and Nature then at strife,        That Nature lends such evil dreams?        So careful of the type she seems, So careless of the single life... These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem 'In Memoriam'. To be more specific, we must mention that this excerpt is from Lyric 55 of the said poem. The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, became mentally devastated. In this regard, we need to say that he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. Here, Tennyson oscillates like a pendulum between the Christian faith of the immortality of soul and the doubts born out of science. The poet wonders, therefore, that God and Nature might have a conflict between each other, since God represents eternal love but Nature emblematises the survival of the fittest. God infuses life but Nature ends us all one very day. In this context, God and Nature seem...

Who trusted God was love indeed       And love Creation's final law—       Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shriek'd against his creed... These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem 'In Memoriam'. To be more specific, we must mention that this excerpt is from Lyric 56 of the said poem. The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, became mentally devastated. In this regard, we need to say that he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. Here, Tennyson oscillates like a pendulum between the Christian faith of the immortality of soul and the doubts born out of science. He utters that love is something noble and divine, which reminds us of the sacrificial and ultimate love of God. Again, in the materialistic value, death is the final word of Nature. "Creation's final law" was that God infused the eternal virtue of love in mankind. However, Nat...

O Sorrow, with thou live with me No casual mistress, but a wife, My bosom friend and half of life; As I confess it needs must be. These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem 'In Memoriam'. The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, was mentally broken down. That is to say, he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. Here, the poet greets 'Sorrow', by using an apostrophic address, to be with him as a lifelong partner or an inseparable wife. However, he will never allow 'Sorrow' as a 'casual mistress'. That is to say, he emnraces sorrow to inhabit with him as a devoted wife or his 'bosom friend' for the half of his life. He does acknowledge that it must come into effect. There is a need of it; moreover, there is a compulsion in this regard. In this perspective, it must be noted that the poet's tone of speaking sounds as if his heavy heart is wallowing in utm...

  Dost thou look back on what hath been, As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began And on a simple village green... These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem 'In Memoriam'. The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, was mentally broken down. That is to say, he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. Here, the poet asks Hallam in a trance whether he is looking back on this earth or not "as some divinely gifted man", whose humble life began in a low land of a simple village. Tennyson seems to wonder if his departed friend thinks of him from heaven or not, because of the poet's constant contemplation of Hallam from the earth. Moreover, the tone of speaking of the poet sounds as if his heavy heart is wallowing in utmost lamentation for Arthur, his crony. Such distress makes him wonder whether the deceased chum ever looks back to ruminate the past unison of thei...

"The dawn, the dawn", and died away; And East and West, without a breath, Mixt their dim lights, like life and death, To broaden into boundless day.   These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem In Memoriam . The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, was mentally broken down. That is to say, he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. In this elegy, we find Tennyson oscillating like a pendulum between the Christian faith in the immortality of Hallam’s soul and the scientific doubts that was typical of the Victorian Age. Here, the poet states that it is ‘dawn’; the night has ‘died away’. It feels as if ‘dawn’ is like a mirage that tries to allure him to even more despair. Moreover, both the Orient and the Occident become mixed up in life’s ‘dim lights’ breathlessly, just as ‘life and death’ become fused with each other in the natural cycle. Moreover, it may be evident that there is no distinction...

  ‘The Second Coming’ by William Butler Yeats: Stanza 1 explained line by line/ Explanation of the First Stanza/Elucidation of the Opening Stanza with critical comments   Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.   Ans. These lines constitute the first stanza of the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. The opening line of the poem mentions of a spiral or a ‘gyre’ that is a geometrical figure. As we see, the vortex is getting widened more and more tirelessly. Broadly speaking, the more the gyre is widened or turned, the more strength it does lose. Again, in another words, it can be said that the falcon—a predator bird—fails to hear the instruction of the fal...