In Memoriam Part 4 - 104 to the end

[Everyman]

Sorry, I'm a bit late posting this section. But since we have kindly been given longer for the discussion, I hope my lateness hasn't been too stressful. Don't wait for me here, but start the discussion; I'll be here eventually, but things are slowing me down a bit.

[Wyntrnoire]

I'm planning on reading through to the end this afternoon and the next. (This is one poem I am glad to have experienced.)

[Wyntrnoire]

"In April 1850, Wordsworth died aged eighty years old, an event followed almost immediately by the publication of his greatest poem, The Prelude. He began the poem over fifty years earlier and dedicated it to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, his great friend and fellow poet. Its theme was autobiographical, 'The Growth of a Poet's Mind', and remarkable for its time.

By the time of his death, Wordsworth had been Queen Victoria's Poet Laureate for seven years. He was succeeded by Tennyson, then aged forty-one, who in the same year married Emily Sellwood and published In Memoriam, his greatest work. This poem, begun seventeen years earlier, is an elegiac sequence dedicated to Arthur Henry Hallam, his close friend who died in 1833."
http://www.wordsworth.org.uk/events/i...

Now I know I will have to read Wordsworth's "The Prelude" :)

[Everyman]

Wyntrnoire wrote: "Now I know I will have to read Wordsworth's "The Prelude" :)


Maybe in six months or so this group will decide to tackle another major poem. That's the obvious next choice.

[Catherine]

It looks like I've returned from vacation at just the right time. I still have some catching up to do in reading In Memoriam (didn't take it with me!), but have caught up on the discussion. I'll second (or third, etc.) a request to look at Wordsworth's The Prelude. I studied it in college and would love to look at it again, and with this group of people. I have gained some great insights into Tennyson from everyone and would love to hear what you have to say about Woodsworth.

[Wyntrnoire]

Ditto!

[Becky]

Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name
For what is one, the first, the last,
Thou, like my present and my past,
Thy place is changed; thou art the same.

I loved that "Frege's Puzzle" made an appearance in the poem. Hesperus is Phosphorous is a well known phrase in philosophy, as a case study argument about sense versus/in relation to reference. It somewhat questions both what we can know, and also tackles semantics (you know philosophers, you try and answer one question, but instead accidentally ask five new ones).

I just thought it was intersting that it made an appearance, because "modern" science and philosophy were truly in a period of revolution at this time, and naturally, this would be reflected in art. People never fully appreciate how much influence science has on culture. We take modern medicine, trips to Mars, etc for granted, but the effects on modern culture are enormous (longevity, the whole idea of human space travel = the idea of more interconnectivity between people on the planet, I mean, if you can get to Mars the difference in distance between China and USA doesnt seem so great, etc etc.)

Tennyson really drew from a number of, what would have been then hot-topics, to illuminate that variances of his soul. It really shows his mastery over his profession.

[Everyman]

Becky wrote: " Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name
For what is one, the first, the last,
Thou, like my present and my past,
Thy place is changed; thou art the same.

I loved that "Frege's Puzzle" made an appe..."

That's a nice point. Yes, Tennyson was very interested in science, particularly in geology, which was challenging the Biblical view that the earth was a few thousand years old. Darwin hadn't published yet, but his precursors had been raising the issue, and Tennyson closely followed the discoveries in science.