The Charge of the Light Brigade and Other Poems[丁尼生诗歌精选]

AlfredTennyson(6August1809–6October1892)wasPoetLaureateoftheUnitedKingdomduringmuchofQueenVictoria'sreignandremainsoneofthemostpopularpoetsintheEnglishlanguage.Tennysonexcelledatpenningshortlyrics,"IntheValleyofCauteretz","Break,Break,Break","TheChargeoftheLightBrigade","Tears,IdleTears"and"CrossingtheBar".Muchofhisversewasbasedonclassicalmythologicalthemes,suchasUlysses,althoughInMemoriamA.H.H.waswrittentocommemoratehisbestfriendArthurHallam,afellowpoetandfellowstudentatTrinityCollege,Cambridge,whowasengagedtoTennyson'ssister,butdiedfromacerebralhemorrhagebeforetheyweremarried.TennysonalsowrotesomenotableblankverseincludingIdyllsoftheKing,"Ulysses,"and"Tithonus."Duringhiscareer,Tennysonattempteddrama,buthisplaysenjoyedlittlesuccess.TennysonwroteanumberofphrasesthathavebecomecommonplacesoftheEnglishlanguage,including"Nature,redintoothandclaw","'Tisbettertohavelovedandlost/Thannevertohavelovedatall","Theirsnottoreasonwhy,/Theirsbuttodoanddie","Mystrengthisasthestrengthoften,/Becausemyheartispure","Knowledgecomes,butWisdomlingers",and"Theoldorderchangeth,yieldingplacetonew".HeistheninthmostfrequentlyquotedwriterinTheOxfordDictionaryofQuotationsafterShakespeareandothers.