Lowe, D.J

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Tears, Idle Tears,” On the Edge

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Tears, Idle Tears,” conveys the complex emotions of one whose life is steadily reaching its end and death is looming over him. He has come to that point in his life where he truly realizes his position. Death is no longer surreal as it once was; however, the speaker is still at peace because he has lived his life. His friends have all gone on and now his own time has arrived. This poem is a lamentation of that person as they are reminded of their past and “of the days that are no more”. The poem’s message is reinforced through Tennyson’s diction and similes, which create many parodies within the poem. However, theses parodies are the keys to the readers’ noticing and understanding the intricate thoughts of one so near to that final breathe. The poem begins with the speaker describing his tears as “idle” and being groundless. Tennyson is not saying that the tears are unmoving or that they are without cause. The speaker may not necessarily be able to admit to the exact reasoning behind the tears, but he knows what causes them to surface, “some divine despair”. Yet despair is not divine; divine means heavenly or celestial. Tennyson means that the focus is on something from above. However, the irony can truly be seen in the physical cause of the tears, “In looking on the happy-autumn fields.” The word autumn implies harvest, almost winter, which signifies an end to something light, warm, fulfilling, and successful and the beginning of something much darker, colder, emptier, and lonelier. But the contradiction is actually found in the adjective “happy.” It is “the happy autumn-fields” that bring the tears. This suggests that while looking back may be sad; the speaker is still content, peaceful, satisfied. The next three stanzas then proceed to elaborate on “the days that are no more.” Tennyson uses similes to compare the past to things physical. Theses comparisons are meant to bring the readers to a better understanding of how and what the speaker is feeling. The second stanza describes the past as “Fresh” and “Sad.” The words “beam glittering,” and “reddens” refer to the sun. The difference, however, is that one simile refers to the beginning, the sunrise, and the other, the end, the sunset. Tennyson means that while the speaker can still reflect and reminisce on the past, he still can never return to it, which is the sad part. The past is beyond reach as are many of the friends that were found there. The third stanza refers to the past as “sad and strange as in dark summer dawns.” This line is full of irony. Summer is often thought as warm and bright and dawn is another kind of beginning. Yet the next few lines contradict these thoughts. The second line says, “Half-awakened” while the third speaks of “dying eyes” and “ears”. The person is on death’s doorstep; he is rapidly approaching that eternal sleep. “The casement slowly grows a glimmering square.” As life slips away, it is as though he is looking through a window on what once was. This is an odd feeling and sad as the shades are drawn and he leaves everything behind. Yet, the fourth stanza states that the past is “Dear,” “sweet,” “deep,” and “wild.” It is “Dear as remembered kisses after death,” meaning that it is special and something to be held on to. “And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned/ on lips that are for others.” Tennyson here shows the pointlessness of dwelling on the past. While it provides comfort at times, it can also leave its own sting. The past is “Deep as first love, and wild with all regret.” People often remember their first love, which conveys depth of the past in a person. Tennyson refers to the speakers’ choices in that first relationship that, looking back, may have been wrong just as he may have made other wrong decisions and now has regrets. With the last line, the speaker describes “the days that are no more” as “O death in life.” Tennyson simply means that while the speaker may not be dead yet, much of what makes him the person he is has past. Thus, Tennyson points out the death that the speaker faces while living. This poem is not mourning death but the loss of the past as death approaches. Tennyson’s constant contradictions and comparisons heighten the readers’ understanding of these complex sensations experienced by one about to pass as all the is begins to fade away.

Word Count:776