Studies in English Language and Literature

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, And gather dust and chaff, and call To what I feel is Lord of all, And faintly trust the larger hope... 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. The speaker persona of the poem stretches out the "lame hands of faith", because whenever he tries to rationalise his doubts, he gains unsatisfactory consequences alone. All that he can do, in this perspective, is to "gather dust and chaff" only. He, therefore, submits himself to the Lord and he dimly trusts "the larger hope". This is his optimism and his faith in the Christian concept, which is solid and unshaken. The helple...

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...