Alfred Lord Tennyson biography :

Heralded as one of the most well-known poets of the 19th century, Alfred Lord Tennyson certainly had a lot of poetic inspirations in the form of his early-life struggles and drama.

Born in 1809, Tennyson was only one of the twelve children of Rev. George Clayton Tennyson and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson. The Tennyson family had to survive on George’s earnings as a clergyman since he was disowned by his wealthy father.

At a young age of 17, Tennyson already saw his poems published locally in a collection of works, including those of his two elder brothers. In 1830 while attending Trinity College in Cambridge, Tennyson published “Poems Chiefly Lyrical”, the first collection of poems under his name, which subsequently gave him a fair amount of fame. However, misfortune struck him with the death of his father, the abandonment of his schooling (due to the death of his father), and his forbidden relationship with eventual wife Emily Sellwood.

From 1842 to 1847, Tennyson added more to his list works, including “The Princess” and two volumes of “Poems”, which were both met with success. The good poet finally struck gold in 1850 when he succeeded William Wordsworth as the Court’s Poet Laureate. During the same time, he finished one of his most famous works entitled “In Memoriam A.H.H”, which was dedicated to his best friend Arthur Hallam.

Other famous works of Tennyson during his days as Poet Laureate include his epic on the tale of King Arthur and Camelot entitled “Idylls of the King” (1859), his poem “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After” (1886), and “Crossing the Bar”.

Tennyson stayed on as the Court’s Poet Laureate until his death on 6th October, 1892.