Sorrow, Contemplation and Distrust in Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam

Abstract

In western popular culture, ideas of stages of mourning for dying patients and for bereaved survivors live on in many popular mediums. It may represent a desire to make sense of how the mind comes to accept events and situations from a human-interest point of view and it may not be unreasonable. Responses to the question of whether or not discernible trends exist in psychological reactions to loss can reveal responses to normative bereavement and identify processes required to facilitate positive loss adjustment (Prigerson & Maciejewski, 2008). In literary studies too, the desire to understand and process emotions after losing a loved one has sparked the interest of writers to write on the issue. One writer in particular is Alfred Tennyson and his work In Memoriam. In Memoriam is a poem inspired by the grief Tennyson felt at the death of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem was analysed using thematic analysis in order to uncover sorrow, contemplation and distrust which may represent the psychological concept of grief. Findings suggest that grief may reflect an emotional ability to accept the loss of something cherished and acceptance a sense of inner peace that comes with letting go of a struggle to regain what is lost.