Essay/Term paper: -"the lotos-eaters" by tennyson

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

I. Introduction

For many years, Tennyson has attracted readers by what Edmond Gosse called

"the beauty of the atmosphere which Tennyson contrives to cast around his

work, molding

it in the blue mystery of twilight, in the opaline haze of sunset." He is one

of the greatest

representative figures of the Victorian Age. His writing incorporates many

poetic styles

and includes some of the finest idyllic poetry in the language. He is one of

the few poets to

have produced acknowledged masterpieces in so many different poetic genres; he

implemented perhaps the most distinguished and versatile of all the written

works in the

English language.

The first time I read "The Lotus-Eaters"1, I have to admit that I had a

hearty

dislike for it. Having read The Odyssey in Literature class last year, this

seemed like its

replica. It occurred to me that Tennyson was plagiarizing Homer. But when I

reread the

poem with greater depth, I noticed its poetic techniques, imagery, symbols,

etc. It was

really exceptional actually, although the meter didn"t remain uniform. But

when you

thoroughly understand it, you see how it pertains and is true to life.

This being the first time I had ever come about a work by Tennyson. I

didn"t know

anything about his life. The idea that manifested me was that when writing

this poem,

Tennyson was depressed and cynical. Sort of like Hamlet2 in the "To be or not

to be"

soliloquy. In one point in the poem, he says, "Death is the end of the

world...life all labor

be?" I think he meant that life is hard to live; there are so many obstacles,

so many wrong

turns, and you can never go back and change anything.



II. Analysis of Poem

A. Summary

The poem is about the journey of Odysseus to the Land of the Lotus

Eaters. Here they encounter a race of creatures known as the Lotophagi (lotus

eaters). They[Lotophagi] spend their days in a "daze", literally. This was

the effect of the lotus flower. It was a primitive version of narcotics.

The Lotophagi offered the plant to Odysseus and his crew members. Some of

the clique ate it. And then, they too, experienced a state of euphoria. Under

these circumstances, they start speaking of staying over here[land of Lotos

Eaters], and only dream about home. They forget their wives and children;

only dream about them.

Subsequently, the entire crew ate the lotos plant. Tennyson describes

euphoria as "Falling asleep in a half-dream". They hallucinate about their

wives and homes. It has been a considerable amount of time since they have

had left Ithaca3. They ponder about what has changed. At the end,

he[Odysseus] concluded "We will not wander more", meaning that they will

just stay put.

B. Style

The first five stanzas are narrative. They are in the Spenserian stanza

form, which is associated with tales of adventure and action.

The opening word of Odysseus to his men is courage, an ironic command

because the rest of the poem shows their courage ebbing away. Arriving on the

shore of this beautiful and dreamy land, the mariners disembark amidst a

crowd of the inhabitants, who offer them the fruits of the lotos tree. As

soon as they taste the fruit the men feel weary. No longer eager to return

home to Ithaca, they are content to rest where they are.

The rest of the poem, from line 46, is the song (choric song) sung by the

mariners. In it they express the beauty of lotus-land and their own heavy and

melancholy sense of fatigue.

In the fourth stanza of the song, the repeated phrase "Let us alone"

captures their feelings. The lines of the song are irregular in length but

repetitious in phrasing, giving a lazy and stupor feeling, as if they are in

a state of torpor. The stanzas gradually become longer toward the end of the

poem, hinting their confusion and ominous feelings.

The last stanza has twenty-eight lines. In it the mariners suggest that

they will lie about like the gods on Olympus, who apathetically and

carelessly disrupt the lives of people on earth for their own idle amusement.

The argument they present is that since the gods can so easily spoil people's

lives and thwart their efforts, why should they aspire to anything but rest

and relaxation? They conclude, "We will not wander more."

C. Symbolism

I wonder about the symbolism of Odysseus' enc ounter with the

Lotos-Eaters. After so many years of battle, after so much grief and trauma

that Odysseus and his men spent, they need to escape into a dreamlike world

in which they may begin their healing. Psychologically, the deeper the pain

one has experienced, the more often one is drawn to experiences of ecstasy in

order to counter it. On a a deeper level, the Lotophagi experience appears to

be an antecedent of the adventures that follow - with the Cyclops, Circe,

Calypso, and the Sirens4.

There are a lot of images in the poem. There is also a brief hint of

foreshadowing; "In which[the island of the Lotos-Eaters] it always seemèd

afternoon", meaning that when you are in a state of happiness, everything

seems the same. That only when you are drugged is that you get in this state

of being. "His voice was thin...his beating heart did make". This describes

a primitive rendition of drug addicts.

D. Theme

One of the recurring themes in many poems is the conflict between

personal fulfillment and public responsibility. That is, often the character

in the poem is pulled one way by something he or she wants to do, and another

way by a sense of duty or obligation that must be performed. This is the

theme of "The Lotos-Eaters" also. Odysseus, the narrator and the captain of

the crew, is caught between achieving "euphoria" and getting the crew back

to Ithaca. In the end, however, we find out that his hubris has caused him to

stay on this island. And as he says, "we will not wander more". That he has

given in to personal fulfillment.

Also, if you read The Odyssey, you"ll find that the entire story is based

on the our personal odysseys. It has things that we, as humans, face in

everyday life; desire, temptation, lust, etc. The island of the Lotos Eaters

has one of the things us teenagers face everyday; drugs. Just as the lotos

eaters tempt the crew, we get peer pressure from our friends and society. So

this poem is just one part of our jorney of life, as Tenyson describes it.



III. Poem"s Place in Author"s Career

Although Tennyson dealt with romantic views of war and heroes, in

contrast to other writers of his day, he felt that poetry should reflect a

certain formality borrowed from Greek tragedy literature. In "The

Lotos-Eaters," Tennyson was true to his heart. As such, the poem reflects

the ideals of the imperialism and his own personal goals-war causes heroes,

and heroes in death go to a glorious afterlife. This seems a little

farfetched, but his was Tennyson"s philosophy. Although he borrowed from

biblical and Greek-tragedy sources, his characters and nature are also

contemporary, and transcend all the realms together. "The Lotos-Eaters" was

written in 1833, when he published a volume of poems that included his famous

"The Lady of Shalott". During his undergraduate days at Cambridge he often

did not bother to write down his compositions. We owe the first version of

"The Lotos-Eaters" to Arthur Hallam, who reproduced it from Tennyson"s

tidbits of information.



IV. The Poem"s Place in its Time

Tennyson turned to questions of death, religious faith, and immortality

in a series of short poems, of which "The Lotus-Eaters" was a part. Tennyson

had a way of achieving a covenant with his "public". He gave them what they

wanted. For example, the poem Princess was won by the hearts of the millions

because it supported the women"s rights, which was one of the issues just

igniting at that time. His consummately crafted

verse expressed the terms of the Victorian feeling for order and harmony.

Unlike Dickens, who was present in Tenneson"s time and a social critic,

Tennyson didn"t seem to find an ill to society. Maybe that is why he was

given the title of Lord and not Dickens.



V. Bibliography



1."Lord Alfred Tennyson," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia "99, October 1999

2. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, The Lotos-Eaters, W.W. Norton & Company,

New York, 1997, p. 540.

3. World Wide Web-http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/tennyson.html.