Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (officially Alfred, 1st Baron Tennyson) (1809-1892), English poet, the first to be granted a peerage, was born in Lincolnshire and educated at Lough Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. His first poems were published in 1830. His work was slow to be recognised, although now popular works – e.g. Mariana and The Lady of Shalott - were in his first two volumes. He became immensely popular during the 1840s, given his barony in 1844. He gained a pension in 1845 and succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850.

Like The Lady of Shalott, many of his more popular works were on themes of British history or Arthurian legend: Morte d’Arthur,The Idylls of the King, The Revenge, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and the like. His work is emblematic of the Victorian era.