Becket and other Plays By Alfred Lord Tennyson
Poet Laureate Brand New Edition Classic Drama / Plays Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron
Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of Great Britain
and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most
popular British poets. Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as
"Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears"
and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythological
themes, such as Ulysses, although In Memoriam A.H.H. was written to commemorate
his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and fellow student at Trinity
College, Cambridge, who was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died from a brain
haemorrhage before they could marry. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank
verse including Idylls of the King, "Ulysses", and "Tithonus". During his
career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success. A number
of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplaces of the English
language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw", "'Tis better to have loved
and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs
but to do and die", "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart
is pure", "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but
Wisdom lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new". He is the
ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of
Quotations.