Tennyson: Ulyssean Influences and Telemachan Modulations

Abstract

Carlyle’s ‘failure’ and Tennyson’s ‘success’ represent their ‘Victorianism’. Both were concerned with making literature relevant, both wrote about subjects that dealt with the ‘signs of the times’, or the spirit of the age. Carlyle failed, assuming at the end that Ulyssean stance that marked his own recognition of his inability to communicate, to deliver his message. Tennyson succeeded, assuming that Telemachan stance that conveyed his confident belief in his own powers, his ability to communicate his concerns and ‘solutions’ to his readers. Their relationship with one another and the eventual emergence of Tennyson as the voice of the age form an interesting chapter in literary culture.