In Memoriam Section LVI
...riend would be taken from the earth so early in life. This long poem is comprised of short poems each written in isometric stanzas. The stanzas are iambic tetrameter quatrains with a rhyme scheme of ABBA. When reading each stanza the last line seems to complete the poem and that the next stanza is not even necessary but it keeps going on. This could be in reference to how he was emotionally. That each day was not necessary to keep going on, but he did regardless of how he was feeling “Thou makest thine appeal to me: I bring to life, I bring to death: The spirit does not mean the breath: I know no more.” And he, shall he, Here Tennyson is stating how she (nature) has no real feeling for the life she creates that she can bring to life as easily as bringing something to death with no true emotion. The reference to the spirit is not written in an unearthly element but simply the act of breathing. Thus taking away any notion of an afterlife or higher power of God. The notions of scientific reason weigh very heavily in this stanza. Stating that science has proven how life is created and taking away a belief in a higher power. Tennyson takes nature as a psychological aspect of nature and the external world and gives it an internal state of mind. This is similar to the belief in God, he is giving nature a higher power and feelings. That nature has a psychological being inside it and thus taking the place of God or any higher power such as God. Man, her last work, who seemed so fair, Such splendid purpose in his eyes, Who rolled the psalm to wintry skies, Who built his fanes of fruitless prayer, This stanza brings up a series of questions from Tennyson. Prior belief thought man was created last and thus was created the finest. Created for purpose on earth, but does science suggest that this is not true, that man was created to fulfill the same requirements as the rest of the creatures on earth or does man has a higher function? Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law- Through Nature, tooth and claw- With ravine, shrieked against his creed- This suggests those who put faith in God did so with love and that being the final creation puts them at the top of the chain. Tennyson then suggests that nature has a sense of brutality “Nature, red in tooth and claw” Bringing up another question that if people are only part of nature and nothing more than this goes against all that they have been taught and believed through their faith. Who loved, suffered countless ills, Who battled for the True, ...