Thank you, Ann, for your balanced and unbiased account of these Tennyson poems. By providing a full and fair context, you avoided a facile presentism, though you raised legitimate questions worth asking about the tone and spirit of the poems. Emily’s deep interest in contemporary events is fascinating.
Out of interest, I checked my Oxford Poems of Tennyson (1907), one of two or three I have of his works. Unsurprisingly, given the zeitgeist of those Edwardian times, I found all except one of the poems you mentioned by name were included. I query the wisdom of today’s editors in omitting them from his works, but that’s another whole debate, isn’t it!
It is another debate, Hilary, as you say, and something similar happens with other famous authors' juvenilia and first drafts. Some of Jane Austen's biggest fans wanted to suppress her early stuff altogether, as I wrote about below, but it does give us an insight into her character and thought processes which we wouldn't have otherwise. For me, the poems are interesting mostly because of what Tennyson went on to write, but also show how conversations with Emily (who could have been a journalist herself, in different times!) sparked a new direction in his work.
This illuminating and surprising look at the complicated man behind “Ulysses” has piqued my interest in Tennyson. A great artist is entitled to create some dross, especially in the grip of a national crisis. As a dual citizen living in Canada, its sovereignty under existential threat, I can identify.
What a brilliant analogy, Rona! A national crisis indeed. Letting off steam via his verse clearly did Tennyson some good, perhaps we should all take out our satirical pens and use them as weapons.
Thank you for such a beautifully written essay, Ann. Other than The Charge of the Light Brigade, I’m not at all familiar with Tennyson’s work. It’s fascinating to have a glimpse of the writer’s life in context, and to understand the influence of Emily. Victorian women were so much more than shadows in the background.
I see really interesting parallels in some of his concerns you have highlighted with current political concerns.
Very kind of you, Julie. Not Tennyson's finest hour, poetry-wise (& he was certainly never going to fight) but I like that giving himself permission to express his strong feelings allowed him to become creative again. I do agree with you about Victorian women being much more than shadows in the background. Emily could be pretty fierce!
I was reading about Mary Ann Disraeli recently, and how she managed her husband’s business affairs after he had all but bankrupted them. The women behind the men are far more interesting.
What a great read, Ann. I hardly knew anything about Tennyson or Emily before reading your essay. It brought to mind Tolstoy and his wife Sophia, and that dynamic between a male writer and the wife who goes uncredited for much of her support and editing work.
Thanks Ollie! There are so many instances, I fear, of a male writer taking all the credit. But also good that those women did know their own worth, and saw the creative work as a joint production. Nowadays we have agents, editors and publicists but then it was a chance for a married woman to do something meaningful (as she was prevented from doing other work).
Fascinating (and important) to note that in 1848 analog doomscrolling was a response to international tension, accompanied by insomnia and inflammatory anonymous rhetoric. I'd never thought about that context to Dover Beach before, it's really illuminating.
I do like your doom-scrolling comparison, Art! And newspapers were good at stoking up tensions too, people read them voraciously. Perhaps I am using artistic license in interpreting Dover Beach as reacting to general anxieties about French invasion, but he did compose it gazing across the Channel in 1850 (although published in 1867).
I knew pretty much nothing about Tennyson before this (somehow escaped ever studying him!) so this is really fascinating, and so nice to see a reassessment of his wife - so often wives of famous men are just dismissed as adjuncts when actually their relationship as people and creators is quite different.
Thanks Harriet! Tennyson isn't studied much these days, perhaps he's due a revival (Emily too - and writing this made me realize how much I wanted to research overlooked women). It's a shame to introduce AT with some of his, ahem, worst poems but In Memoriam definitely stands the test of time. Its best known poem is wonderful, 'Ring Out Wild Bells':
Many thanks Jonathan, so pleased you enjoyed it. I just wanted to give Emily her due, really - not as someone who domesticated the great poetic genius, but who merged her own considerable talents with his while also being an 'angel in the house'. No idea if her composing would ever have been good enough to stand alone, but it's interesting what she saw was worthwhile in these particular verses.
A fascinating and interesting revelation of an aspect of Tennyson’s character and work I had Not known about. Perhaps no surprise, given his support for Governor Eyre following the Morant Bay massacre in Jamaica. But now I want to know more about Emily and her musical compositions.
Thanks, Lyn and yes, Tennyson certainly did express some horrible racist views of that incident, which JA Symonds recorded. I'm not musical enough to know whether Emily was a good composer or not, though it seems clear that any creative talent she had was mostly put into improving on her husband's work! And perhaps that was enough for her.
Thanks Katy! Yes, I should have explained that the new edition is still in production. But it's possible to get hold of the original biography from Faber (or their US distributor) via print on demand, I believe.
Great post concerning how a great British poet dealt with immense difficulty and rediscovered his "groove" as a Greenwich Village bohemian might say. Life can be difficult. And also about his wife, unsung Emily, even while in almost life long bad health collaborated with him on his work in an editorial and co-writer capacity. Plus she seems to have been able to publish her own work and give birth to 2 sons after the death of her first son. Emily's resilience was or is amazing. Thanks for this awesome post.
Thank you, Ann, for your balanced and unbiased account of these Tennyson poems. By providing a full and fair context, you avoided a facile presentism, though you raised legitimate questions worth asking about the tone and spirit of the poems. Emily’s deep interest in contemporary events is fascinating.
Out of interest, I checked my Oxford Poems of Tennyson (1907), one of two or three I have of his works. Unsurprisingly, given the zeitgeist of those Edwardian times, I found all except one of the poems you mentioned by name were included. I query the wisdom of today’s editors in omitting them from his works, but that’s another whole debate, isn’t it!
It is another debate, Hilary, as you say, and something similar happens with other famous authors' juvenilia and first drafts. Some of Jane Austen's biggest fans wanted to suppress her early stuff altogether, as I wrote about below, but it does give us an insight into her character and thought processes which we wouldn't have otherwise. For me, the poems are interesting mostly because of what Tennyson went on to write, but also show how conversations with Emily (who could have been a journalist herself, in different times!) sparked a new direction in his work.
https://akennedysmith.substack.com/p/jane-austens-darling-child
I much enjoy how you cast light on the intimacy - and women - that underpin the broader strokes of history.
Many thanks Marguerite. I am also grateful to Emily T. It was thinking about her that starting me on this journey of exploring women's lives.
I want to learn more about her, now!
This illuminating and surprising look at the complicated man behind “Ulysses” has piqued my interest in Tennyson. A great artist is entitled to create some dross, especially in the grip of a national crisis. As a dual citizen living in Canada, its sovereignty under existential threat, I can identify.
What a brilliant analogy, Rona! A national crisis indeed. Letting off steam via his verse clearly did Tennyson some good, perhaps we should all take out our satirical pens and use them as weapons.
Thank you for such a beautifully written essay, Ann. Other than The Charge of the Light Brigade, I’m not at all familiar with Tennyson’s work. It’s fascinating to have a glimpse of the writer’s life in context, and to understand the influence of Emily. Victorian women were so much more than shadows in the background.
I see really interesting parallels in some of his concerns you have highlighted with current political concerns.
Very kind of you, Julie. Not Tennyson's finest hour, poetry-wise (& he was certainly never going to fight) but I like that giving himself permission to express his strong feelings allowed him to become creative again. I do agree with you about Victorian women being much more than shadows in the background. Emily could be pretty fierce!
I was reading about Mary Ann Disraeli recently, and how she managed her husband’s business affairs after he had all but bankrupted them. The women behind the men are far more interesting.
Agreed! Is that Daisy Hay's Mr and Mrs Disraeli? I love that book.
No, it was actually a handout from a visit to Hughenden, but it was very informative!
What a great read, Ann. I hardly knew anything about Tennyson or Emily before reading your essay. It brought to mind Tolstoy and his wife Sophia, and that dynamic between a male writer and the wife who goes uncredited for much of her support and editing work.
Thanks Ollie! There are so many instances, I fear, of a male writer taking all the credit. But also good that those women did know their own worth, and saw the creative work as a joint production. Nowadays we have agents, editors and publicists but then it was a chance for a married woman to do something meaningful (as she was prevented from doing other work).
Fascinating (and important) to note that in 1848 analog doomscrolling was a response to international tension, accompanied by insomnia and inflammatory anonymous rhetoric. I'd never thought about that context to Dover Beach before, it's really illuminating.
I do like your doom-scrolling comparison, Art! And newspapers were good at stoking up tensions too, people read them voraciously. Perhaps I am using artistic license in interpreting Dover Beach as reacting to general anxieties about French invasion, but he did compose it gazing across the Channel in 1850 (although published in 1867).
I knew pretty much nothing about Tennyson before this (somehow escaped ever studying him!) so this is really fascinating, and so nice to see a reassessment of his wife - so often wives of famous men are just dismissed as adjuncts when actually their relationship as people and creators is quite different.
Thanks Harriet! Tennyson isn't studied much these days, perhaps he's due a revival (Emily too - and writing this made me realize how much I wanted to research overlooked women). It's a shame to introduce AT with some of his, ahem, worst poems but In Memoriam definitely stands the test of time. Its best known poem is wonderful, 'Ring Out Wild Bells':
https://poets.org/poem/memoriam-ring-out-wild-bells
The Lady of Shalott was always my favourite as a child! Though I've been thinking I should read The Princess really
I had no idea about this early collaboration between Alfred and Emily. I'm always learning something new from your essays. Thank you!
Many thanks Jonathan, so pleased you enjoyed it. I just wanted to give Emily her due, really - not as someone who domesticated the great poetic genius, but who merged her own considerable talents with his while also being an 'angel in the house'. No idea if her composing would ever have been good enough to stand alone, but it's interesting what she saw was worthwhile in these particular verses.
A fascinating and interesting revelation of an aspect of Tennyson’s character and work I had Not known about. Perhaps no surprise, given his support for Governor Eyre following the Morant Bay massacre in Jamaica. But now I want to know more about Emily and her musical compositions.
Thanks, Lyn and yes, Tennyson certainly did express some horrible racist views of that incident, which JA Symonds recorded. I'm not musical enough to know whether Emily was a good composer or not, though it seems clear that any creative talent she had was mostly put into improving on her husband's work! And perhaps that was enough for her.
So interesting! The Ann Thwaite book does not appear to be available for pre-order yet, so I will be on the lookout for it!
Thanks Katy! Yes, I should have explained that the new edition is still in production. But it's possible to get hold of the original biography from Faber (or their US distributor) via print on demand, I believe.
Great post concerning how a great British poet dealt with immense difficulty and rediscovered his "groove" as a Greenwich Village bohemian might say. Life can be difficult. And also about his wife, unsung Emily, even while in almost life long bad health collaborated with him on his work in an editorial and co-writer capacity. Plus she seems to have been able to publish her own work and give birth to 2 sons after the death of her first son. Emily's resilience was or is amazing. Thanks for this awesome post.