Shashank Joshi
Discuss the experience of conflicting emotions in In Memoriam. Focus on the Tennyson’s reflection of the issues of the day and on the use of language, form and imagery.
In Memoriam was written during a time of severe cultural upheaval where scientific beliefs such as Darwinism had encroached on what had been dogma: the very nature of spiritual fulfilment was questioned, and the death of Arthur Henry Hallam simply reinforced for Tennyson a sense that meaning had been sapped from life. The fluctuating reality of nature created a perpetual uncertainty in the Victorian era and this state of feeling is captured well in the poem: the poem is structured in an entirely regular way but within the quatrains, the language and emotions expressed oscillate between moods of scepticism and faith. These oscillations are captured in perfectly appropriate imagery, and Tennyson’s ability to write with a musical quality in his words leaves the whole poem with a slow and pained tone.
Although I said that the poem is regularly structured, this is only in its form. It progresses from doubt, to faith and finally ends with a somewhat tainted acceptance of God – an acceptance, however, that understands its own meaninglessness. Every section uses an ABBA rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter, which is interesting in itself: the alterations of stress on syllables create an inherent undulation within each line reflecting the contrasting emotions the words express. The rhyme is such that each stanza fades into the two middle lines (the BB lines) that represent an emotion; this emotion then fades slowly into the final line, trapping the emotion. Christopher Ricks expresses this circularity when he writes, “[the stanza] rises to a momentary chime and then fades – but does not fade into despair or vacuity, only into dimness and regret, since after all there is indeed the distant rhyme. It is the perfect embodiment of the true relationship of faith to faintness in the poem.” Conflicting emotions are captured within a structure that expresses the emotions but at the same time reveals their uncertainty and dimness.
