Tennyson embraces a very Romantic skepticism of "the freezing reason's colder part." He asks, "What matters science unto men?" Although he doesn't condemn empirical knowledge, he makes it clear that it takes a backseat to wisdom. This idea of wisdom comes from trusting inner-feelings - Tennyson equates it with religious faith. Tennyson recognizes that the only true wisdom is with God, and that no matter what wisdom a man may acquire, he can't consider himself wise on Earth. Offering his reader this sort of demarcation between knowledge and wisdom leads us to the central theme of the poem: that man's understanding of nature through reason is always going to be underdeveloped. Instead of casting our fate with limited power of science, we should embrace what we feel, and thus embrace the un-provable God.
Nicely expressed--this comes across best in section CXIV. But I wonder then about what he says a bit later in section CXXIV: he first asserts that he hasn't found faith in either nature or philosophy, but neither has he stood up and said "i have felt." Rather, Tennyson puts the emphasis on the "blind clamour" that made him wise (18). The section ends with an interesting if perplexing sentiment: ""And out of darkness came the hands / That reach thro' nature molding men." What sort of nature is at issue here? What distinction is Tennyson drawing between types of nature and types of feeling?
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