Tennyson In Memoriam 55
Where does the poet locate the origins of our wish for immortality?
Tennyson perceives God and Nature as two opposing forces. What leads him to that idea?
What state of mind does the poet express in the last stanza?
Tennyson In Memoriam 56 (adapted from a guide by Florence Boos)
What does Nature cry to the poet? How may this reflect recent views of evolution, as derived from geological researches?
2.What most troubles the poet? If mankind experiences annihilation, what does the poet believe will have happened to the meaning of his existence?
3. Is there a hope of answer or redress? Is the image of “beyond the veil” comforting or troubling”?
Matthew Arnold “Dover Beach” (adapted from a guide by Florence Boos)
What are the poem's stanza forms and rhythms? What forms of sound patterning does it use?
What seems to be the poem's subject?
What is the poem's sequence of ideas? What is Arnold's view of the prospects for human happiness?
What are some implications of the opening metaphor of the sea by the French coast and cliffs of Dover? Why the reference to Sophocles? What metaphor does Arnold use to describe Victorian "Faith"? To what kinds of faith may he refer?
What images are used in the poem? Range of colour images? What range of classical references are used, and for what purposes?
To whom is the poem addressed? What does the speaker ask of himself and of (presumably) her? Do we need to know more?
What does the speaker advocate as a refuge in a chaotic world? What effect is created by introducing the "love" in stanza 3?
What is the speaker's assessment of the world? How do the sounds of the last stanza reinforce its meaning?
Do you find the conclusion satisfactory? What remains the only hope in the world?
Thomas Hardy “Hap”
1. The poem starts with a long conditional sentence. What view of God/god is proposed in the first stanza? What effect the existence of such a god would be on the speaker?
2. After “But not so..” comes the poet's view of the real order of the universe. Its rulers are personified figures whose names start with capital letters. Who are they and how do they rule the world?
3. What would the speaker prefer: the hypothetical god from the first stanza or the universe as he perceives it now?
4. What is the meaning of the word “hap”?