Carlyle and Tennyson - Tapa dura

This study of the works and ideas of Carlyle and Tennyson explores their complex relationship in terms of mutual influence and the effect of each on his own time. The author first analyzes the specific Carlylean ideas - social, political, aesthetic and religious, that had such an impact on both the general Victorian public and on his contempories, including Tennyson; he then examines the ways by which the poet, while accepting some of the sage's ideas, resisted and transformed many of them, often mitigating the gloomy predictions and harsh judgements found in such works as "Latter-day Pamphlets" and "Shooting Niagara". Finally, the author reveals the reasons for the changing futures of these two "founders" of Victorian literature: Carlyle's decline into the failed prophet, withdrawing more and more into himself and the past, gradually losing favour with readers and critics; Tennyson's rise into the public poet, capturing through such works as "In Memoriam" and "Enoch Arden" the hearts of his readers, becoming the most widely read and truly loved poet of his age.