Examining Section 3 in Tennyson's In Memoriam

Taking a Look at the Third Part of the Elegy for Arthur Hallam

Aug 6, 2009

In section 3 of Tennyson's elegy In Memoriam, the poet describes the emptiness and purposelessness of nature, and wonders how he can live with this realization.

Section 3 of In Memoriam begins with the personification of Sorrow as a cruel priestess who deceives and yet tells the truth about man’s predicament in a world that has no meaning or comfort. The speaker challenges Sorrow to reveal what she has to say to him about life and death, and yet indicates a sort of relationship that he feels with her, describing Sorrow as a “cruel fellowship” (1). It is a bittersweet relationship for him.

“A Web is Wov’n Across the Sky”

Sorrow addresses the poet: “ ‘The stars,’ she whispers, ‘blindly run…/ From out waste places comes a cry, / And murmurs from the dying sun’” (5, 7-8). These are images of desolation and despair. They do not speak of order and a benevolent God, but rather a bleak and empty void where chaos could erupt at any moment. The sun and stars, previously signs of God’s power and care, are mere accidents, it seems.

“A Hollow Form with Empty Hands”

The speaker’s imagined personification of Sorrow continues in the next four lines, as she describes Nature as a “phantom”, matching “A hollow echo of my own” (9, 11). Sorrow and Nature are at one with their despair. Nature is no longer seen as God’s helpmate, a kind motherly figure who rules over the earth and its cycle. She is a “phantom”, not even existing to comfort those who love her. It is only Sorrow who hears herself.

“Blind Sorrow”

The speaker mulls upon how he should react to this realization that only Sorrow speaks to him and seems to understand him. He asks himself if he should take blind Sorrow and “Embrace her as my natural good; / Or crush her, like a vice of blood” (14-15). He does not know whether to cling to blind hope or accept that sorrow is now the only thing that he can truly know.

“The Stars Blindly Run”

In section 3 of In Memoriam, the pervading theme is despair and fear that the world does not have order or purpose. Thus the speaker cannot decide whether to trust his sorrow, which he knows well, or dismiss the blind whispers of Sorrow. Blindness is the main image in this poem, which comes when one’s equilibrium is threatened. Tennyson illustrates this memorably, for there is no resolution in this section. It ends on a question.

Source:

Tennyson, Alfred Lord, ed. Robert H. Ross, In Memoriam (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1973).

The copyright of the article Examining Section 3 in Tennyson's In Memoriam in British Poetry is owned by Jillian Bost. Permission to republish Examining Section 3 in Tennyson's In Memoriam in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.