The story of George Cabot Lodge is a story of two shadows: one cast by the immense, looming silhouette of a politically titanic father, and the other, the long, penumbral shadow of a premature and tragic end. Within the brief span of thirty-six years, Lodge crafted a body of work that was unapologetically intellectual, earnestly philosophical, and deeply romantic, seeking nothing less than to articulate the soul’s st…
“Really, though, I hate cynicism; it is a compilation of cheap aphorisms that any fool can make.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Decadent Poets, Edwardian Poets, Love Poets, Symbolist Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Peace, Tenderness
Alfred Tennyson, later Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born on 6 August 1809 at Somersby rectory in Lincolnshire, England, and died on 6 October 1892 at Lurgashall in Sussex. During his long life he became the defining poetic voice of the Victorian age: at once a public laureate who wrote for national occasions and a private, searching poet whose work returned obsessively to bereavement, desire, religious uncertainty, mem…
“This is a terrible age of unfaith. I hate utter unfaith, I cannot endure that men should sacrifice everything at the cold altar of what with their imperfect knowledge they choose to call truth and reason.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Dramatic Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Longing, Sorrow
Themes they return to
Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.
Shared
Alfred Lord Tennyson only
From the biographies
George Cabot Lodge:
boston, nahant, william james, george santayana, the song of the wave, poems, the great adventure, cain.
Alfred Lord Tennyson:
somersby, lincolnshire, victorian age, arthur henry hallam, in memoriam, the lady of shalott, the lotos-eaters, ulysses.
