ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In Memoriam A.H.H. is the extended, fragmentary elegy that Tennyson wrote for his closest friend Arthur Henry Hallam, after Hallam’s sudden death at age 22. Scholars agree that this was the most important event in Tennyson’s life, and the one which most shaped his work.

Detailed explanation-2: -“In Memoriam” was intended as an elegy, or a poem in memory and praise of one who has died. As such, it contains all of the elements of a traditional pastoral elegy such as Milton’s “Lycidas, ” including ceremonial mourning for the dead, praise of his virtues, and consolation for his loss.

Detailed explanation-3: -It is the elegiac note or the expression of the poet’s grief and love that is the motivating force behind all the metaphysical speculations. It is the poet’s grief and love that inevitably drive him to ask questions about immortality and God.

Detailed explanation-4: -In Memoriam connects the despair Tennyson felt over the loss of his friend Arthur Hallam and the despair he felt when contemplating a godless world. In the end, the poem affirms both religious faith and faith in human progress.