Alfred Lord Tennyson Trivia

1. Alfred Tennyson's first publication was a volume that also contained poems by Charles Tennyson. What was this 1827 collection titled?

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Poems by Two Brothers

Tennyson published "Poems by Two Brothers" in 1827 with his older brother Charles. Alfred contributed over half the poems in the volume. "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical", was published in 1830 and contained experimental elements (irregular meter, words not used for their literal meanings but for their sound, etc.). This second publication included "Marian" and "Claribel".

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: To look down upon the town of Camelot

She is imprisoned in a tower, on an island in a river that flows to Camelot. The character is thought to be based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, who died because of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot.

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Jaws

One-hundred ninety-five British soldiers survived the battle with the Russian forces. Those men came through the jaws of death.

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Adeline

The poem starts: "Mystery of mysteries, faintly smiling Adeline." It ends with the lines: "Hast thou look'd upon the breath of the lilies at sunrise? Wherefore that faint smile of thine, shadowy, dreaming Adeline?" Other A women include princess Alice and Danish princess Alexandra, later queen of England.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: barley, rye

Right from the onset of the poem, Tennyson paints the scene in such a way that enables the mind to picture exactly where this takes place. It has indeed inspired many artists to create their own rendition of what they imagine the setting to look like.

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Elaine

Elaine of Astolat fell in love with Lancelot, but he only had eyes for Guinevere. Elaine died of a broken heart. After her death her family placed her body on a small barge and set it adrift on the river. The barge eventually reaches the shores of Camelot.

From Quiz Lord Tennyson

Answer: 1809

He was born the son of a clergyman.

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Cambridge

The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award presented at Cambridge University for poetry. Oxford University offers the Newdigate prize for poetry. The poem begins, "I Stood upon the mountain which o'erlooks / The narrow seas..." Tennyson was twenty at the time. Lord Tennyson was made poet laureate of the UK in 1850 after William Wordsworth died. The position was first offered to Samuel Rogers, but he turned it down.

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: A curse will fall upon her, but she does not know what this will be

According to the fifth stanza of the poem, "She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be." At this stage the reader can sense the impending tragedy, in outline if not in detail.

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Noble

The end of each of the six stanzas describes the six hundred men in some way. Stanza six describes the men as noble.

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Boadicea

Boadicea was the Celtic tribal queen who stood up against the invading Romans. Tennyson writes about the prophetesses who promise the queen: "Tho' the Roman eagle shadow thee, tho' the gathering enemy narrow thee, thou shall wax and he shall dwindle, thou shalt be the mighty one yet!" Another historical figure named in the title of a poem was princess Beatrice.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: Lancelot

Sir Lancelot has many stories about him. Besides the traditional tales surrounding his skills as a knight and his romance with Queen Guinevere, Lancelot also has several legends which involve him in some kind of magic. He is often portrayed as having been raised by the Lady of the Lake, who is the magical character known for giving King Arthur his famous sword, Excalibur. This connection between Sir Lancelot and magic may play a role in the story - the Lady, whose life is also surrounded by magic, is not tempted to look out of the window proper until Sir Lancelot rides past.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: curse

It has been established that this Lady in her tower is a retelling of the old Arthurian legend of Elaine, the wife of Sir Lancelot. The story of Elaine has been told many times, though it is usually overshadowed by the love affair between her husband and Queen Guinevere. She is a tragic, Ophelia-like character who gives up her life when she can not have the heart of the one she loves. This was a popular motif before the 19th century, as it represents women as the weaker sex, and by making the Lady a pitiable yet morally true character, it promotes faithfulness by women - instead of divorce or having affairs of her own, Elaine/Lady of Shalott decides to kill herself. Women who read this may have thought that suicide was a better way to deal with marital problems than more sensible solutions - though I hope none of them put this to the test. The poem would also promote faithfulness in a husband, as I hope it would be more important for him to save a life than continually cheat on his loving wife.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: Camelot

Camelot, the legendary home of the mighty King Arthur has never been officially discovered, but the magic and mystery surrounding it have made it a popular legend even to our time.

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Though a mirror

She weaves tapestries of those things she sees only as reflections in her mirror.

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: In Memoriam

Hallam and Tennyson were college friends. They both entered the Chancellor's Prize Poem Competition that Tennyson won and were together members of a debating club called the Cambridge Apostles. Hallam fell in-love with Tennyson's sister Emily. He died unexpectedly from a cerebral hemorrhage while on vacation in Vienna in 1833, and his sudden death left Tennyson reeling. The full name of the lengthy poem, which is divided into parts, is "In Memoriam A.H.H." "In Memoriam" was published in 1850 and is typically considered to be Tennyson's masterpiece. "Crossing the Bar" was a poem Tennyson wrote in 1888 after suffering a serious illness at sea.

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Mirror

Through an enchanted mirror, she catches shadows of the world outside. The following passage from the poem describes some of the things she sees: "And moving thro' a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year, Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near Winding down to Camelot: There the river eddy whirls, And there the surly village-churls, And the red cloaks of market girls, Pass onward from Shalott. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, Goes by to tower'd Camelot; And sometimes thro' the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott."

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Crimean War

The poem was written about the Battle of Balaclava which took place on October 25, 1894 during the Crimean War. British forces led by Lord Raglan fought against Russian forces led by Paul Liprandi, and the British were defeated.

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Clara

Lady Clara Vere de Vere broke a young man's heart "for pastime". The speaker in the poem is another yeoman who refuses to fall for her charms and promises: "The lion on your old stone gates is not more cold to you than I." Other women with this initial letter are Claribel and Clare.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: gemmy

Tennyson's use of simile is superb, comparing the bridle to the beauty of the stars. The loveliness of Sir Lancelot's adornments adds overall to how much attraction he holds for the Lady; the whole line reads: "The gemmy bridle glitter'd free/Like to some branch of stars we see/Hung in the golden Galaxy". The "golden galaxy" here is referring to the Milky Way. By comparing any part of Lancelot's adornments to one of the brightest patches of stars in the sky, Tennyson is showing us the beauty of Lancelot which drew in the Lady, who ultimately gives up her life for her love of this knight.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: shadows

The syntax used here is wonderful; the Lady can not see that which to the rest of the world is normal and boring - to her, they are merely shadows, poor representations of the hustle and bustle of life. Reading this evokes pity for the Lady, yet it also makes the reader think about everyday life and how to them it may be usual and not very exciting, but maybe to someone who can not experience the freedom of boring everyday life, it is much more interesting.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: lillies

This poem has such a sad connotation; this line delivers the message that the lady is trapped in her tower, while the rest of the world is able to go and walk around in the beautiful flowers.

From Quiz Lord Tennyson

Answer: Timbuctoo

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Kraken

"The Kraken" was published in Tennyson's 1830 collection "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical". It's a sort-of Petrarchan sonnet, except that it has 15 lines, with an ABABCDDCEFEAAFE rhyme scheme. He may have been influenced by John Milton in writing it, as Milton wrote in "Paradise Lost" something similar: "There Leviathan / Hugest of living creatures, on the deep / Stretch'd like a promontory..."

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: She weaves

These quotes from the poem show us this: "And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. ... There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay." This weaving is seen by some critics to represent the artistic creations which an artist is free to create if he/she keeps from being too deeply involved in the everyday activities of contemporary society.

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Die

The British soldiers followed Lord Raglan into the valley of death to the other side. Once they reached the other side, more than two-hundred and seventy-five of the six hundred men had been injured or killed of the six hundred that first rode into the valley.

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Dora

Dora loved William. When he regretted his decision to leave home and the quarrel he had with this father, Allan refused to forgive him. When William died of a fever, Dora went to aid widow. She presented Allan's grandson to him. The family rift healed but the poem ends: "But Dora lived unmarried till her death."

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: baldric/bugle

For those of you who, like me, do not know what a baldric is, I looked it up. Thefreedictionary.com describes it as "a belt, usually of ornamented leather, worn across the chest to support a sword or bugle." This is another part of the beautiful description provided by Tennyson of Sir Lancelot.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: whirls/girls

Again, this verse is describing not only the freedom that other people have that she has not; it also is describing the freedom of the natural features of the land, which can move about when she can not. It also describes some of the beauty she can see through her mirror which she can not look at straight, and must settle for only looking at the reflection of.

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: willows, aspens

When a willow whitens, this means that the wind has blown strongly enough to reveal the underside of the leaves, a whitish colour. This use of imagery, having the wind pushing the "wave that runs for ever", seems like it is pushing the lady to flow with it to Camelot, the home of her soon to be discovered love, Sir Lancelot.

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