Poems (1842) is the two-volume collection that made Alfred Tennyson the leading poet of his generation. Revising earlier work and adding new pieces, it includes Ulysses, The Lady of Shalott, Morte d'Arthur and Locksley Hall.
A decade of silence
After harsh reviews of his 1832 volume and the sudden death of his closest friend Arthur Hallam in 1833, Tennyson published almost nothing for ten years.
The 1842 Poems gathered revised versions of earlier poems and new work written in grief, and won him a wide public.
Ulysses and Shalott
Ulysses, written soon after Hallam's death, imagines the old hero restless on Ithaca and resolved to sail once more; Tennyson said it expressed the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life.
The Lady of Shalott, reworked from 1832, tells of a woman under a curse who may see the world only in a mirror, and dies when she looks directly at Camelot.
Other poems
The collection also contains Morte d'Arthur, the seed of the later Idylls of the King, Locksley Hall and the short lyric Break, Break, Break, a lament written by the sea.
In 1850 Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate, a post he held for more than forty years.
Anecdotes
A pension from the prime minister
In 1845, partly on the strength of the 1842 volumes, Prime Minister Robert Peel granted Tennyson a government pension of £200 a year.
Painted by the Pre-Raphaelites
The Lady of Shalott became a favourite subject of Victorian painters; John William Waterhouse painted her three times.
Frequently asked questions
What does the 1842 Poems contain?
Ulysses, The Lady of Shalott, Morte d'Arthur, Locksley Hall and Break, Break, Break, among others.
Why did Tennyson stop publishing in the 1830s?
After bad reviews and the death of Arthur Hallam in 1833.
When did Tennyson become Poet Laureate?
In 1850.