In Memoriam

In Memoriam a poem written over a seventeen-year span and finished in 1849 was written by Alfred Tennyson as a requiem for his college friend Arthur Henry Hallam who passed away unexpectedly from a cerebral haemorrhage in 1833. It is a richly lyrical work that reflects on the quest for hope in the aftermath of a significant loss and is widely regarded as one of the greatest poems of the Victorian period. The length of this piece and the time it took Tennyson to finish it are powerful indicators of the personal toll that losing such a close companion had on him. An examination of death and spirituality as a component of the grieving process is at the heart of this writing. Through the course of this writing Tennysons mental state changes. By the conclusion of the piece what starts out as a spirit of doubt and despair has changed into one of faith and hope. The author of In Memoriam reveals a very personal process of how he dealt with the loss of one of his closest friends in this powerful study of death and loss.