Born on 5th August 1809 at Somersby, Lincolnshire, Alfred Tennyson was the fourth child of twelve to be born to the Rev George Clayton Tennyson and Elizabeth Fytche Tennyson. Educated at home by his father, Alfred began writing poetry when he was eight, and his first published work, in "Poems by Two Brothers", appeared in 1827, the year he entered Cambridge University.
In 1829, Tennyson won the Chancellor’s Prize Medal with his poem "Timbuctoo", beating off competition from Thackeray and his soon to be best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, with whom he publishes "Poems Chiefly Lyrical" in 1830.
It is at university that Hallam introduces Tennyson to Emily Sellwood who would eventually become his wife. Alfred’s father’s death in 1831 is the first of a chain of tragic events which culminate with Hallam’s early death in 1833. Out of his grief comes Tennyson’s greatest work "In Memoriam: A. H. H." which wasn’t completed until 1850.
Through forced separation from Emily in the 1840s (caused by disapproval by her father and his brother’s opium addiction) Tennyson threw himself into travelling, eventually becoming multi-lingual, including Hebrew and Persian. The tension shows in his work and with the publication of "Poems" in 1840 his fame was assured. Following the death of Wordsworth, Alfred became Poet Laureate in 1849. He secretly married Emily Sellwood in 1850 and together they faced the stillbirth of their first child in 1851, followed a year later by the birth of a son, Hallam Tennyson. He enters his most prolific period, publishing "Maud" (1855) and "Idylls of the King" in 1859.
"Enoch Arden" (1864) followed his mother’s death in 1865. In 1869 he publishes "The Holy Grail and Other Poems" followed two years later by "The Last Tournament", a new edition of "Idylls of the King" in 1872, and "Ballads and Other Poems" in 1880. In declining health, Tennyson becomes a Lord in 1883, and although failing he produces "Tiresias and Other Poems" (1885), "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After" (1886) and "Demeter and Other Poems" (1889). He died in 1892.
