Tennyson, the Poet of Love

Abstract

In these lines, Lord Tennyson might well have been writing of himself, and the title of the poem from which they are taken, “The Poet of Love,” readily applies to him, for he sang always “a song of undying love, multiplying truth on truth.” That he considered love the all-pervading influence of life is easily deduced from the fact that poem after poem of his has for its theme the immortality of love and its power “to shape or shatter a life till the life shall have fled.” To question whether or not he was the type of writer to deal adequately with the subject is hardly worthwhile since his poems bear silent witness to his artistic ability. Tennyson could have written “as one who loved his fellowmen” since understanding and sympathy such as he has shown in treating with the subject of love are qualities of one whose heart and mind were mellowed by the emotion itself. Love is, as Tennyson himself said in a poem, a more ideal artist than all.