The Lotos-Eaters by Tennyson
I. Introduction For many years, Tennyson has attracted readers by what Edmond Gosse called
"the beauty of the atmosphere which Tennyson contrives to cast around his work, molding it in the blue mystery of twilight, in the opaline haze of sunset." He is one of the greatest representative figures of the Victorian Age. His writing incorporates many poetic styles and includes some of the finest idyllic poetry in the language. He is one of the few poets to have produced acknowledged masterpieces in so many different poetic genres; he implemented perhaps the most distinguished and versatile of all the written works in the
English language. The first time I read "The Lotus-Eaters"1, I have to admit that I had a hearty dislike for it. Having read The Odyssey in Literature class last year, this seemed like its replica. It occurred to me that Tennyson was plagiarizing Homer. But when I reread the poem with greater depth, I noticed its poetic techniques, imagery, symbols, etc. It was really exceptional actually, although the meter didn't remain uniform. But when you thoroughly understand it, you see how it pertains and is true to life. This being the first time I had ever come about a work by Tennyson. I didn't know anything about his life. The idea that manifested me was that when writing this poem,
Tennyson was depressed and cynical. Sort of like Hamlet2 in the "To be or not to be" soliloquy. In one point in the poem, he says, "Death is the end of the world...life all labor be?" I think he meant that life is hard to live; there are so many obstacles, so many wrong turns, and you can never go back and change anything.
II. Analysis of Poem A. Summary The poem is about the journey of Odysseus to the Land of the Lotus
Eaters. Here they encounter a race of creatures known as the Lotophagi (lotus eaters). They[Lotophagi] spend their days in a "daze", literally. This was the effect of the lotus flower. It was a primitive version of
"the beauty of the atmosphere which Tennyson contrives to cast around his work, molding it in the blue mystery of twilight, in the opaline haze of sunset." He is one of the greatest representative figures of the Victorian Age. His writing incorporates many poetic styles and includes some of the finest idyllic poetry in the language. He is one of the few poets to have produced acknowledged masterpieces in so many different poetic genres; he implemented perhaps the most distinguished and versatile of all the written works in the
English language. The first time I read "The Lotus-Eaters"1, I have to admit that I had a hearty dislike for it. Having read The Odyssey in Literature class last year, this seemed like its replica. It occurred to me that Tennyson was plagiarizing Homer. But when I reread the poem with greater depth, I noticed its poetic techniques, imagery, symbols, etc. It was really exceptional actually, although the meter didn't remain uniform. But when you thoroughly understand it, you see how it pertains and is true to life. This being the first time I had ever come about a work by Tennyson. I didn't know anything about his life. The idea that manifested me was that when writing this poem,
Tennyson was depressed and cynical. Sort of like Hamlet2 in the "To be or not to be" soliloquy. In one point in the poem, he says, "Death is the end of the world...life all labor be?" I think he meant that life is hard to live; there are so many obstacles, so many wrong turns, and you can never go back and change anything.
II. Analysis of Poem A. Summary The poem is about the journey of Odysseus to the Land of the Lotus
Eaters. Here they encounter a race of creatures known as the Lotophagi (lotus eaters). They[Lotophagi] spend their days in a "daze", literally. This was the effect of the lotus flower. It was a primitive version of
Bibliography: 1."Lord Alfred Tennyson," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia ‘99, October 1999 2. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, The Lotos-Eaters, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1997, p. 540. 3. World Wide Web-http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/tennyson.html.