HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/schoolsucks/regrets.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 5KB | 71 lines

Regret:  A Hopeless Quality
Tenets of Tenneyson in Tithonus


    ôTithonusö was written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  The poemÆs setting is the ancient story
of Tithonus.  Tithonus fell in love with Eos, goddess of the dawn, and asked her for immortality.
Unfortunately for Tithonus he did not ask for eternal youth, only eternal life.  He, therefore,
grows old but never dies while Eos not only never dies but also never grows old.  What makes
TithonusÆs situation worse is that ôthe gods themselves cannot recall their giftsö (49).  This
dramatic monologue is characteristic of Tennyson.
    Tithonus is an excellent example of a dramatic monologue.  There is a speaker, Tithonus,
who is not the poet.  There is an audienceùthe gods.  Another characteristic of a dramatic
monologue found in Tithonus is an exchange between the speaker and the audience:  ôI asked
thee, æGive me immortality?Æö (15).  A character study is when the speaker speaks from an
extraordinary perspective:  Tithonus is looking back on his decision, a decision which the reader
will never be able to make but can only dream of making.  His portrayal of his decision causes the
common response to be rejected:  most people would want eternal life, but Tithonus proves this
short-sighted.  Tithonus proves the wish for immortality vain by stating that:
Why should a man desire in any way
To vary from the kindly race of men,
Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance
Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?  (29-31).
Another trait of the dramatic monologue is the dramatic, or critical, moment.  In Tithonus this
moment is when Tithonus decides that he does not want immortality: ôtake back thy giftö (27).
ôTithonusö has all of the basic traits of a dramatic monologue: a speaker who is not the poet, an
identifiable audience, an exchange between the two, a critical moment, and a character study of
the speaker.
    One other trait of a dramatic monologue is a dramatic tension.  This tension is between
harsh judgment and sympathy.  This tension makes the audience see objectively rather than
subjectively.  The audience has sympathy for Tithonus, because he suffers:  ôstrong hours
indignant worked their wills, and beat me down and marred and wasted meö (50)  His telling the
story also bring sympathy from the audience.  The audience must judge Tithonus negatively,
because he has made an error.  His error was his will ôto vary from the kindly race of menö (29).
The dramatic tension in ôTithonusö is caused by the clash of the audienceÆs sympathy with the
need to judge TithonusÆs actions.
    ôTithonusö has many of the traits characteristic of Tennyson.  One such tenet is world
weariness and the expression for rest, this is portrayed by TithonusÆs desire to grow old and die.
Didacticism, or instructiveness, is found in the statement, ôhappy men. . . have the power to dieö
(70).  Another tenet of Tennyson present is it is a form of a narrative, a monologue.  ôTithonusö
also contains the fulfillment of the responsibility as a poet to teach the masses:  Tennyson teaches
that manÆs mortality is a blessing.  The great Romantic and Victorian theme of the past is also
prevalent in TithonusÆs will to undo the curse of immortality:  ôtake back thy giftö (27).  One very
obvious tenet of Tennyson is the recasting of ancient myths:  Tennyson tells the ancient story of
Tithonus.  Isolation and estrangement, another tenet of Tennyson, is present in TithonusÆs part
man and part god status which alienates him from both:  ôimmortal age beside immortal youthö
(22).  Tennyson also uses elevated, stately, medieval diction: ôthine,ö ôthy,ö and ôtheeö (6, 27,
53).  In ôTithonusö Tennyson shows that he is a poet of progress and change:  ôthe woods decay,
the woods decay and fallö (1).  Tennyson also portrays social awareness of the importance his
message has to the culture:  he shows the social significance of immortality, a dream many people
have, and the alienation it causes by varying man ôfrom the kindly race of menö (29).  This poem
indirectly suppresses sexuality by showing a negative outcome of lust between two individuals.
This esoteric poem offers a didactic statement of the poetÆs moral and social commitment:
ôWhere all should pause, as is most meet for allö  (31).  ôTithonusö has an underlying sense of
escapism in that Tithonus wishes to escape the endless frustrations of life:  ôrelease me, and
restore me to the graveö (72).  Through this quote, Tennyson also shows his yearning for
permanence, the permanence of death.  Tennyson also depicts his patriotism, patriotism to the
ôrace of menö by trying to teach others not to wish to vary from it (29).  ôTithonusö contains
most of the major tenets of Tennyson.
    In the end, this poem is about decision making and the eternal consequences of decisions.
Through TithonusÆs misadventures of immortality, the audience learns that immortality is not for
man, and it is through the dramatic tension that the audience sees this objectively.  Tennyson
stresses the art of good decision making and the importance of our decisions because of the
possibly eternal significance they have.



    I have neither given nor received any aid on this paper.