Poetry Analysis of In Memoriam A.H.H
Be Near Me In this excerpt of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam A.H.H”, the speaker is pleading for comfort. The two main questions I asked myself were “who is he pleading to?” and “what does he need comfort from?” In life, whom do we go to most for comfort? God, parents, family, and close friendsNot a complete sentence. In the section I entitled “Be Near Me”, Tennyson addresses the people asked to comfort, and the circumstances that require the most comfort.
The first stanza starts with the speaker saying his ‘light’ or self-esteem is low, and the ‘wheels of Being slow’Remember to point out and name literary devices, suggesting that the way we view ourselves is the first circumstance we need comforting In. Self-esteem is something everyone struggles with, and is an easy trap to fall in. We may look to a lover, our close friends or family, or even ourselves to boost our confidence. The “Being Existence?” in this case is not a state, but a sense of self, or individual, that may be slowing, as in age, or disability. When the speaker’s ‘blood creeps’ and his ‘heart is sick’, there is an image painted of love. Perhaps a love lost, or a lack of love, something that would cause the heart to be decrepit; a condition that fuels insecurity, and requires help seeing a silver lining. This first situation is purely internal, and requires external warmth to heal. The conflict in the second stanza comes from the outside forces of nature that are uncontrollable, and troublesome. A very vivid image of the personification of Time, “a maniac flinging dust”, and Life, “a fury slinging flame” illustrates how helpless the speaker is to Time and Life.This theme is secondary to the state of conquered trust. The feeling tha tlife is over whelming comes because trust has been conquered and they are weak. You can clearly see Father Time ‘slinging’ or wasting not so much wasting time as tossing it
The first stanza starts with the speaker saying his ‘light’ or self-esteem is low, and the ‘wheels of Being slow’Remember to point out and name literary devices, suggesting that the way we view ourselves is the first circumstance we need comforting In. Self-esteem is something everyone struggles with, and is an easy trap to fall in. We may look to a lover, our close friends or family, or even ourselves to boost our confidence. The “Being Existence?” in this case is not a state, but a sense of self, or individual, that may be slowing, as in age, or disability. When the speaker’s ‘blood creeps’ and his ‘heart is sick’, there is an image painted of love. Perhaps a love lost, or a lack of love, something that would cause the heart to be decrepit; a condition that fuels insecurity, and requires help seeing a silver lining. This first situation is purely internal, and requires external warmth to heal. The conflict in the second stanza comes from the outside forces of nature that are uncontrollable, and troublesome. A very vivid image of the personification of Time, “a maniac flinging dust”, and Life, “a fury slinging flame” illustrates how helpless the speaker is to Time and Life.This theme is secondary to the state of conquered trust. The feeling tha tlife is over whelming comes because trust has been conquered and they are weak. You can clearly see Father Time ‘slinging’ or wasting not so much wasting time as tossing it
Cited: "In Memoriam A.H.H." By Lord Alfred Tennyson. The Literature Network, 2000. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.