In Memoriam A.H.H.

Tennyson's elegy for Arthur Hallam: grief, doubt, and faith across seventeen years of quatrains.

Specifications & Metrics

author

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

type

Elegy / extended lyric sequence

era

Victorian (1850)

language

English

verse form

Elegiac quatrains (ABBA)

cantos count

133

Core Principles & Analysis

• Written over seventeen years after Hallam's death in 1833, published 1850.
• 'Nature, red in tooth and claw' comes from its struggle with Victorian faith.
• Queen Victoria told mourners she found comfort in it after Albert's death.

Sources

• Wikipedia: In Memoriam A.H.H.