Multiple Visions of Death and Immortality in selected poems by Tennyson

Abstract

"In Memoriam", "Tithonus" and "Crossing the Bar" are three poems Tennyson wrote after the death of his friend, Hallam. The major themes of these three poems are death and immortality. In the first two poems, Tennyson is scared by the idea of death after the death of his close friend Hallam. So he is afraid that what happens to his friend may happen to him, Therefore, he tries to seek a way to immortality. But he finds as in "Tithonus" that immortality without eternal youth and energy means torture and sadness, Therefore, the tone of the poet changes in the last poem ''Crossing the Bar" to full resignation and acceptance of death as a means to live in another heavenly world, which is devoid of suffering and pain. His acceptance of God's will and his faith in His creation, Tennyson believes, are immortality itself.ISince the outset of the creation of man on Earth, death and immortality had pre-occupied his mind and troubled him much. Adam and Eve, the first couple created, had sought immortality. As The Glorious Quran reveals, they were living in paradise happily till Satan, the damned, seduced them to eat from that Tree which God had warned them not to come close to. Satan told Adam that to attain immorality, he and his wife had to eat from the forbidden fruit. As they were looking for immortality, they disobeyed the order of God and ate from It: