Tennyson, education and women

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) was brought up in the shadow of his father who was Rector of Somersby in Lincolnshire. His father wanted him to become a clergyman but young Alfred decided to become a poet. His poems have now become well known all around the world and contain intense expressions of mood, beautiful rhythm and images of great clarity.
 
Tennyson's interest in the social issues led him to write  The Princess, a long poem so well received that he was finally able to marry Emily Selwood after a wait of ten years due to financial problems. It is written as a tale composed by some young people sitting in a romantic ruin on a summer's day. The whole forms an exciting story concerning the liberation of  women  (a very modern theme for those days).
 
Here we have one of the best parts of the poem:

                                  Sweet and low, sweet and low,                                

Wind of the western sea,

Low, low, breathe and blow,

Wind of the western sea!

Over the rolling waters go,

Come from the dying moon, and blow,

Blow him again to me,

While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,

Father will come to thee soon;

Rest, rest, on mother's breast,

Father will come to thee soon;

Father will come to his babe in the nest,

Silver sails all out of the west

Under the silver moon:

Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.

 

English Department