In Memorium

Lord Alfred Tennyson's verbose masterpiece "In Memoriam" is a window inside the soul of an individual coming to terms with the loss of his dear friend. With well of a hundred stanzas, it is difficult to fully grasp the scope of such a work. The poem, when read in its entirety, resembles more of a stream of consciousness work, as if the act of writing poetry were a sort of "narcotic" meant to heal the pain of loss. The poem reverberates between sparks of optimism and bouts of despair. Though the body of the poem seems to wander between emotional highs and lows, the poems epilogue is firmly planted with hope for the future. As a eulogy for his deceased friend and the intended husband of Tennyson's younger sister, the epilogue's allusions to Tennyson's sister's wedding to a new man gives solace and closure to Tennyson's fears for the fate of mankind. As the poem proves, wallowing in despair at the loss of a friend can only be remedied with a renewed hope for the future. The wedding of his sister, and the promise of a better society in the future, is the only thing that will temper Tennyson's tormented thoughts.