Taylor Covington Professor Cohen English 145 24 September 2014 “Tennyson’s Motives Behind King Arthur’s Character” In the poem “Morte d’Arthur” by Alfred Tennyson, a multitude of subjects build upon one another to create a timeless story of a great King’s final moments and last requests. In order to fully comprehend the complexity and thoughtfulness of such a literary work as “Morte d’Arthur”, it is necessary to understand the subjects presented and the reasons for which each was presented in the work. Scholars have researched the reasons as to why the specific subject of the legend of King Arthur was attractive to Tennyson as a poet and have found that morbid events during the time period and his personal relationships had much to do with …show more content…
In his biography of Arthur Hallam, Lang mentions that Tennyson met Hallam while attending college and that they quickly became close because of their interest in being more well-rounded than seemed the rest of the university, and of course their love for poetry (Lang, 4). Hallam eventually went to propose to Tennyson’s sister and became a great part of the Tennyson family as well. Before he could marry into the Tennyson family, Hallam died an unexpected death (Lang, 4) Ricks, the author of Tennyson’s biography, comments that after Hallam’s death, Tennyson wanted to pay tribute and remember this man who had such an impact in his life. He claims Tennyson wrote a few of his most famous poems in the month following his friend’s death, including “Morte d’Arthur” (Ricks, …show more content…
Tennyson’s motives, those of his biography, events in his life time, and those more specifically relating to his friend Arthur Hallam as a Christ-like figure led to his choosing of King Arthur as the biggest subject of his poem. This particular connection proved effective in his being able to utilize the elements of poetry that make his poem such a noteworthy piece of art. In further research, it would be interesting to explore the relationship between King Arthur and his prized sword, Excalibur, and why this was enticing to Tennyson. In investigating this relationship, people may be able to uncover more information regarding Tennyson’s personal motives as a poet and acquire more about his