Tennyson was Britain’s longest-standing Poet Laureate, in post for much of Queen Victoria’s reign. Famed for a vast output of greatly loved verse – from The Lady of Shalott to Break, Break, Break; from The Charge of the Light Brigade to In Memoriam, A.H.H.; from The Kraken to Ulysses.
He has never really gone far from public affection, despite at times seeming too sentimental for more cynical tastes and too melancholy for the already depressed! But there is far greater range and subtlety than some might lead us to believe. His influence extended far beyond the world of letters (eg his impact on the visual arts, and especially the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, because of his fascination with and depiction of the mediaeval world).
When he died, the post of laureate was left in abeyance for four years as a mark of respect!
