Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam

Marion Shaw (University of Loughborough)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

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 (a quatrain of iambic tetrameters with enclosed rhyme) which Tennyson…

2043 words

Citation: Shaw, Marion. "In Memoriam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4526, accessed 19 March 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.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.