alfred tennyson?

Hi, i have to write a report on a british poet could i get any recomendations? So far i have chosen Alfred Tennyson. Anybody with any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Just write about Charge of the Light Brigade for a couple of pages and you'll be fine.

Too predictable... do Wilde, and look at how his homosexuality affected his works, especially Reading Gaol (imprisoned for his homosexuality).

That or do some of Tennyson's lesser-known work. Anything to do with the Light Brigade? No.

Say he inspired THE TROOPER!

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

Too predictable... do Wilde, and look at how his homosexuality affected his works, especially Reading Gaol (imprisoned for his homosexuality).

Depends on how his friends and classmates will take to him writing about a homosexual author. They might, well, kick the snot out of him.

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

That or do some of Tennyson's lesser-known work. Anything to do with the Light Brigade? No.

Oh come now its a fine piece don't be a snob. Just because it is arguably his most famous piece shouldn't detract from it's beautiful imagery and stirring stanzas.

Originally Posted by Markas

Depends on how his friends and classmates will take to him writing about a homosexual author. They might, well, kick the snot out of him.

Unlikely, though... And there's no need to emphasise the homosexuality, really. It was just a thought that might produce an interesting and original talk.

Oh come now its a fine piece don't be a snob. Just because it is arguably his most famous piece shouldn't detract from it's beautiful imagery and stirring stanzas.

Its not snobbery; I like the piece. I just tend to feel other wonderful pieces, for instance Lady of Shalott and Ulysses are oft-overlooked for it.

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

Unlikely, though... And there's no need to emphasise the homosexuality, really. It was just a thought that might produce an interesting and original talk.

I wasn't, I just don't know how liberal Parsons, Tennesee is. Though I initially thought his profile said 13, but it's actually 17. oops.

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

Its not snobbery; I like the piece. I just tend to feel other wonderful pieces, for instance Lady of Shalott and Ulysses are oft-overlooked for it.

Lady of Shalott is a close second for me I even bought the Waterhouse print of the same name not so long ago, though it has since been replaced on my wall by After the bath by Godward. Ulysses I never cared for in particular but I can't say why, I guess it's just a question of personal taste.

It think any report on Tennyson should have a section on Charge of the Light Brigade simply because its a good example of a poet writing on a event (glorifying it, even) that has come down to us as something heroic and somehow 'British' that, infact, was a military disaster. One wonders how the poem would have been seen if Britain and its allies had lost the Crimean War.

Glorifying...hm. 2nd stanza:

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

I guess we infer differant things from it. I feel that stanza glorifies the iron discipline and unquestioning courage of the Victorian soldier, rather than any disguised criticism of said soldiers. Interestingly, the line 'Someone had blundered' (Raglan) was ommited from the the 1855 version of the poem, but was later restored on advice by John Ruskin to restore it for the sake of the poems' artistry. I feel this points to Tennysons sense of patriotism that became clearer after his appointment to Poet Laureate in 1850. What do you think?

I'd say that lines such as "Someone had blundered", and others in the poem, damn the officers who fouled up while celebrating the courage of the Light Brigade.