AGONY, RUMINATION AND DISBELIEF IN ALFRED TENNYSON’S IN MEMORIAM

Abstract

Many mainstream mediums in Western popular culture continue to use the concept of phases of grief for dying patients and bereaved survivors. It may reflect a desire to understand how the mind comes to recognise events and circumstances in the interests of humanity, and it may not be irrational. Responses to the question of whether or not discernible patterns occur in psychological reactions to loss will expose normative bereavement responses and recognise mechanisms needed to promote positive loss adjustment (Prigerson & Maciejewski, 2008). The ability to understand and process feelings after the loss of a loved one has ignited writers' interest in writing on the subject in literary studies as well. Alfred Tennyson and his work In Memoriam is an example. Tennyson's poem In Memoriam was inspired by his grief over the death of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. Thematic research was used to discover agony, rumination, and disbelief, which may reflect the psychological concept of grief. According to the findings, grief may represent an emotional willingness to acknowledge the loss of something precious as well as a sense of inner peace that comes with letting go of a struggle to recover what has been lost.