Read this when
In Memoriam A.H.H.
Tennyson spent 17 years writing about losing his best friend. So no, you're not 'taking too long' to grieve. 🕯️
Who it's for
The poem was written in short lyrics over seventeen years after Tennyson's closest friend, Arthur Hallam, died suddenly at 22, so it records grief as it actually moves: numbness, relapse, anger at God and nature, brief relief, then setbacks.
Feelings it meets
What it is
In Memoriam A.H.H. is a long elegy by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published anonymously in 1850 after about seventeen years of composition. It mourns his Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833 at the age of 22.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US (1850, English); free on Project Gutenberg and widely anthologized; in print in annotated editions (e.g. Norton Critical) and from libraries (Libby/Hoopla). Free volunteer audi.
Before you start
Heads up: Sustained grief and despair.
Age: Ages 14+
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Joy and Sorrow”
