Abstract
The perception of Tennyson as a weak-minded melancholic was heightened by post-World War I criticism which tended to celebrate the dark side of Tennyson's vision. W.H. Auden wrote that Tennyson had "perhaps the finest ear of any English poet; he was also undoubtedly the stupidest; there was little about melancholy he did not understand; there was little else he did. " The notion of Tennyson as a "stupid" melancholic has persisted throughout the century. F.R. Leavis, in his highly dismissive commentary, described "'Tears, Idle Tears'" as a skillful piece of nostalgia, an uncritical indulgence in a cheap and familiar feeling. "There is no attitude towards the experience in the poem," writes Leavis, "except one of complaisance; we are to be wholly in it and of it. "
Recommended Citation
Fawell, John
(1992)
"In Memoriam: Sorrow as Prayer,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 21:
No.
3, Article 5.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol21/iss3/5
