The poem “Tears, Idle Tears” by Alfred Tennyson was written in 1847, during the beginning of the Victorian era. Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom in 1809 and died in Lurgashall, United Kingdom in 1892. He had seven brothers and four sisters, none of which were as recognized for their work as Alfred Tennyson was. His father, a church rector, became melancholy when he realized his family had started to lose money due to disinheritance. This is what started his heavy drinking and lapses of memory, leading him to eventually try to kill his eldest son. Alfred Tennyson showed this in his literary works. He first acquired his love for literature due to his family’s library and began writing poetry in his teen years.
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Harold Bloom explores the deeper conversation of memories, time, and loss that is present in the poem. He suggests that “time exerts a tyranny that none can escape” by describing how significantly past and present experiences impact life (Bloom). Bloom also suggests we create our own memories through culture and environmental behaviors, even though what we imagine isn’t always accurate. We can’t change time to positively affect what we desire because it is so prominent and holds us rapt. This directly relates to the analysis done to illustrate the universal idea. The thought of memories is very intriguing because their meaning is so complex. Why we remember is not representative of time because time is too intricate to understand in the moments we are experiencing in the now. Between the cycle of the setting sun, life, and the seasons, Bloom suggests that time is “a cruel trick” in that it’s so brief it has lost its perspective and holds the incapability of remembering due to how quickly it comes and goes (Bloom). However, living in the present amplifies the past due to the experiences that impact the life cycle. The divine nature of life “indicates a feeling of spiritual loss” due to the fact that we can’t live if we can’t die (Bloom). This suggests that life will only go on if we experience hardship and melancholy due to loss of love and emotion. In the end, we remember only to forget due to death of love, which is indicative of how life
Harold Bloom explores the deeper conversation of memories, time, and loss that is present in the poem. He suggests that “time exerts a tyranny that none can escape” by describing how significantly past and present experiences impact life (Bloom). Bloom also suggests we create our own memories through culture and environmental behaviors, even though what we imagine isn’t always accurate. We can’t change time to positively affect what we desire because it is so prominent and holds us rapt. This directly relates to the analysis done to illustrate the universal idea. The thought of memories is very intriguing because their meaning is so complex. Why we remember is not representative of time because time is too intricate to understand in the moments we are experiencing in the now. Between the cycle of the setting sun, life, and the seasons, Bloom suggests that time is “a cruel trick” in that it’s so brief it has lost its perspective and holds the incapability of remembering due to how quickly it comes and goes (Bloom). However, living in the present amplifies the past due to the experiences that impact the life cycle. The divine nature of life “indicates a feeling of spiritual loss” due to the fact that we can’t live if we can’t die (Bloom). This suggests that life will only go on if we experience hardship and melancholy due to loss of love and emotion. In the end, we remember only to forget due to death of love, which is indicative of how life