Consider Tennyson as a poet of nature with special reference to the poems you have read

Or, “In Tennyson, nature is only the accompaniment to human actions and sentiments.” Comment.

Or, Discuss Tennyson’s attitude to nature with reference to the poems you have read.

Or Discuss Tennyson as a nature poet with reference to the poems you have read.

Or, How does Tennyson visualize the relationship between man and nature?

Or, Comment on Tennyson’s treatment of nature in his poetry.

Or, Illustrate the fidelity of Tennyson’s descriptions of nature.

Or, Write a note on Tennyson’s treatment of nature.

Answer: Lord Alfred Tennyson is a great Victorian poet. But his poetry is colored with the hue of romanticism. In this sense, he is a great lover of nature. He is a pictorial artist like John Keats. His treatment of nature is unique and original in several respects. Everywhere it reveals the impact of the scientific spirit of the time. Like the Romantic poets, Tennyson does not idealize nature. To him, nature is not a living presence capable of thinking and feeling. He does not recognize a moral or educative influence of nature upon man. He does not advocate any mystical intercourse with her. He has studied nature with a tireless fidelity. Therefore, his pictures of nature show minuteness of detail and accuracy of observation. His landscapes have also a manifold wealth of detail and a less purely sensuous intensity than those of Keats. They have still less of Wordsworth’s deep spiritual significance. But they are dealt with and colored with the conscious care of a pictorial artist.

Tennyson closely observes nature. He believes with Coleridge that we interpret the moods of nature according to our own. Nature is happy as we are happy. Coleridge in his “Dejection: An Ode” says that if a man is gloomy to him, nature will look gloomy. Again if he is joyous, he will get nature in a joyous mood. Tennyson also believes in this theory. In this respect, he opposes Wordsworth. Wordsworth believes in the healing power of nature. Tennyson in his famous poem, “The Lotos-Eaters” shows the reflection of human passions in the aspects of nature. The indolence of human nature has been shown in the aspects of nature.

Tennyson is a pictorial artist. His description of nature is enriched with pictorial quality. He has described nature with microscopic effects. When we go through his description of nature, we feel that we are present on the spot. It also seems to us that he has actually seen all that he describes. Never does his fancy carry him into the realm of unreal imagery. The natural picture which has been depicted in “The Lotos-Eaters” is unsurpassedly beautiful.

The natural scene is in harmony with human moods. In “Tithonus”, the poet narrates the story of the mythological character, Tithonus. Aurora is in love with Tithonus. She gives her lover immortality. But immortal life without immortal youth becomes a burden for Tithonus. He expresses his sorrowful mood in the following way-

“The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,

The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,

Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,

And after many a summer dies the swan.”

The man comes and works in the fields. He dies at last. He goes on his job till his death and is buried beneath the earth. After many years, the swan dies. It is only Tithonus himself who cannot die. Death is inevitable for everything and everybody but not for him. Immortality is a curse to him. It is very cruel to him. He is unable to bear his over-aging body. Consequently, he wants to die. Thus he expresses the agony of his painful heart in the decaying process of nature.

Imagery in his poems of Tennyson is life-like and pictorial. The poet has drawn wonderfully the picture in words. He evokes the atmosphere of the medieval castle in a great romantic poem, “Morte D’ Arthur”. He depicts the following picture of nature with great beauty-

“On the one side lay the Ocean, and on one

Lay a great water, and the moon was full.”

The poet has described excellently the magical sword of King Arthur, Excalibur. He narrates a story of the Lady of the Lake and the magnificence of the sword romantically.

The speaker of “Locksley Hall” spent a long portion of his young life at Locksley Hall. It is situated in the lap of nature. This is the place where the spring season runs as usual. Spring is the season of beauty. With the coming of spring, nature wears various kinds of colors. Nature looks lovely and charming. During this season, various kinds of birds put on new feathers with fresh and lovely colors. They look beautiful and their beauty adds to the levelness of the spring. The rich crimson color is seen on the breast of the bird’s robin. The lapwing also wears a new crest on its head. They make the environment of the spring very joyous and pleasant. Tennyson gives us the impression that Locksley Hall stands in the lap of nature. He gives us an excellent picture of nature in the following way-

“In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin’s breast;

In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest,

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish’d dove,

In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”

Similarly, the lively iris became brighter in color. Thus the whole nature got young and danced in its own beauty. But the speaker cannot enjoy the beauty of the lovely spring. His heart is broken in love. The spring of his life has dried up. He only suffers from intense agony. The anguish of his heart has been betrayed by his beloved.

Tennyson’s treatment of nature is characterized by clarity, vividness, minuteness, and accuracy. His perception is scientific but everywhere it is modified by poetic sensibility. In this respect, Compton Rickett says, “No poet has ever been more sensitive to the varied loveliness of nature, to the sensuous glory of things. Nature’s more august moods are better interpreted by Wordsworth; her ecstasies more subtly felt by Shelley, but the varying and complex spell of her multitudinous moods as a whole has found no finer artistic expression than is given us in the verse of Tennyson.”

However, Tennyson’s poetry of nature is subjective when he makes her the mirror of human moods and emotions. His attitude to nature is two-sided. One is scientific and another is emotional. The pictures that he has depicted are his own. Pantheism and didacticism are not to be found in his poetry on nature like Wordsworth. On the whole, Tennyson’s nature poetry is a distinguished creation and one of the greater glories of English literature.