Alfred Lord Tennyson.

In 1816, Tennyson began his education at King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, Lincolnshire. His father, George Clayton Tennyson, an amateur poet and Anglican clergyman, encouraged his sons to write poetry. By age 17, Tennyson had co-written a poetry collection with his brothers Frederick and Charles.

His mother, Elizabeth Fytche, was the daughter of a clergyman. Tennyson grew up in the Somersby rectory, surrounded by the Lincolnshire Wolds. The family had twelve children, and Alfred was the fourth.

In 1829, Tennyson won the Chancellor’s Gold Medal at Cambridge. His first solo collection, Poems Chiefly Lyrical 1830, included Mariana. After harsh criticism of Poems 1833, he retreated but returned with a new Poems 1842 that was a commercial success.

In 1850, he became Poet Laureate and married Emily Sellwood. That same year he published In Memoriam A.H.H., a requiem for Arthur Hallam who died in 1833. In 1854, he wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade after the Battle of Balaclava. He later published the Arthurian cycle Idylls of the King 1859-1885.

Tennyson married his childhood acquaintance Emily Sellwood in June 1850 after a 14-year engagement. Emily managed his business affairs. They had two sons: Hallam born 1852 and Lionel born 1854. A difficult pregnancy left Emily with permanent health problems.

He struggled with depression throughout his life. He was raised to the peerage as the 1st Baron Tennyson in 1884, becoming the first writer honored solely for his literary work.

Tennyson’s work has outlasted most of his Victorian contemporaries. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1892. His poem The Charge of the Light Brigade remains one of the most recited poems in English. His son Hallam published a biography in 1897. Tennyson was the definitive poetic voice of the Victorian era.