Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was the Poet Laureate of Britain during most of the Victorian Era. He is one of England's most loved poets. He used a wide variety of topics as the subjects of his poetry from nature to medieval legends to Greek myths to the political events of his time. He was the first writer to be given a British peerage. Here are some excerpts from poems that we have enjoyed or are looking forward to:

The Kraken
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee....

Crossing the Bar

..... For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

      The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

      When I have crost the bar.

Charge of the Light Brigade
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
 Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred....

The Lady of Shalott

"Who is this? And what is here?"

And in the lighted palace near

Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they crossed themselves for fear,

All the Knights at Camelot;

But Lancelot mused a little space

He said, "She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott."

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

The Splendour Falls on Castle Walls (from The Princess)

The splendor falls on castle walls
    And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
    And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

*There is a Poetry App available for free that I love- it's called If Poems, I believe. It has poems organized by categories and also by author, including a brief bio of each poet. Many of the poems also have audio recordings as well.