1. 1850–1855

Abstract

William Wordsworth, Poet Laureate, died on April 23, 1850. Shortly afterward, Tennyson wrote to his friend John Forster: “I see that the Spectator mentions two candidates for the Laureate- ship basking in the sunshine of royal favour. Does he mean already enjoying pensions? If so, does he mean L. Hunt and myself? I sincerely hope Hunt will get it rather than myself.”* It will be remembered that Tennyson’s name had been mooted, and a move made on his behalf, seven years earlier when Southey died; indeed, Henry Crabb Robinson had written to Wordsworth himself, somewhat unthinkingly, “Who is to be the new Laureat…There is one old and there is one young poet…These are Campbell and Alfred Tennison—As we hear nothing about it, there is a possibility that the office may be abolished.”