Well. Hello, my loves.
Been rather a while, hasn’t it? I assure you I didn’t stop reading in that blogging chasm, but life got to be A Whole Lot. Something had to give, and for a while – a long while – that thing was reviewing.
I’m here now, though. And I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things. It’s unlikely – highly unlikely, even, that I’ll be reviewing new releases (unless publishers start sending them again, that would be nice!), because right now all I’m reading is what I want to read, and right now, that seems to be books that are not at all recent and could reasonably be qualified as ‘old as all hell.’
Like, for example, some of the poetry of Tennyson.
I initially picked up this tiny volume because a copy of the painting has hung in my parents’ house for years, my mother has always loved it. I also have long enjoyed The Charge of the Light Brigade, another of Tennyson’s better-known works.
And honestly, I did enjoy this. I like Tennyson’s meter – when reading aloud, there’s an excellent rhythm to his words. I tend to read poetry out loud, because the practice helps me enunciate better in daily conversation, or when delivering presentations at work. I don’t get tongue twisted as often when I practice reading work out loud!
Tennyson isn’t a poet that I would say will leave you in a state of peaceful cheer. He has the ability to communicate immense emotion with his verses, but those emotions are often sad, longing, melancholy. This is not necessarily a bad thing – I really enjoyed the poems contained in this little work. It just bears remembering that it’s not a good idea to go into this expecting sunflowers and blue skies, when the deliverable is weeping willows and fog at dawn.
That said – it is lovely, though a product of its time – be warned, some of the language isn’t agreeable (there is mention of slavery, and the place of women in relation to men in society). Acknowledging the problematic nature of societal norms at the time, Tennyson had a grasp of the English language and wielded it in a lyrical manner I haven’t often read.
Poetry is a true joy in a sharp world – enjoy it!
Categories: Poetry
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