Alfred lord tennyson the lotos eaters. The Lotus 2022-10-13
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Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters" is a rich and evocative work that explores the theme of escapism and the allure of a life of ease and pleasure. The poem takes its name from the ancient Greek myth of the Lotos-Eaters, a group of sailors who landed on an island where the lotos plant grew. The plant was known for its intoxicating and addictive qualities, and those who ate its fruit became so enamored with the easy, carefree life on the island that they never wanted to leave.
In Tennyson's poem, the narrator and his companions are also sailors who have landed on an island, and they too are tempted by the sweet, seductive fruit of the lotos. They are drawn in by the promise of a life free from pain, suffering, and the demands of the outside world. They feel a sense of peace and contentment that they have never known before, and they are hesitant to leave this paradise.
However, the narrator is also aware that this life of leisure and ease is not sustainable. He recognizes that the lotos-eaters are "idle" and "faint," and that they have lost their sense of purpose and ambition. He realizes that they have become "sluggish" and "indolent," and that they are in danger of losing their will to live.
Despite this, the narrator is also tempted by the allure of the lotos fruit. He recognizes that it would be easy to succumb to its charms and give in to a life of idleness and pleasure. But he also knows that this would ultimately lead to a life of emptiness and despair. He struggles with the decision to stay on the island or return to the demands of the outside world.
In the end, the narrator decides to leave the island and return to the demands of the real world. He recognizes that while the life of the lotos-eaters may be easy and pleasurable, it is also shallow and meaningless. He chooses to embrace the challenges and hardships of the outside world, knowing that it is through facing and overcoming these challenges that we find true meaning and purpose in life.
In conclusion, "The Lotos-Eaters" is a powerful and thought-provoking poem that explores the theme of escapism and the allure of a life of ease and pleasure. Through the narrator's struggle to choose between the demands of the outside world and the temptations of the lotos fruit, Tennyson suggests that it is only through facing and overcoming challenges that we can truly find meaning and purpose in life.
Tennyson’s Poetry “The Lotos
Although the taste of the lotos and the vision of life it offers is seductive, the poem suggests that the mariners may be deceiving themselves in succumbing to the hypnotic power of the flower. These sailors are tired of wandering and want to rest, the way other things in this world do. Their hearts are worn out from fighting wars and navigating the seas by means of the constellations, and thus they prefer the relaxing death-like existence of the Land of the Lotos to the confusion that a return home would create. This image of cutting into the ground makes even working for a living seem hard and violent. What is it that will last? Tennyson provides a tempting and seductive vision of a life free from toil. Lines 149-150 Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown. We have had enough of action, and of motion we, Roll'd to starboard, roll'd to larboard, when the surge was seething free, Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.
The Lotos Eaters by Alfred Tennyson Summary & Analysis
Their return would only spoil their joy. The Lotos-Eaters comes from Homer's Tennyson ironically invokes The Lover's Tale line 118, "A portion of the pleasant yesterday", in line 92 of The Lotos-Eaters: "Portions and parcels of the dreadful past". Wars between the gods which the Greeks thought were responsible for human problems are tough to fix. They just want to be left alone. Did everybody get it? The new stanza describes how someone may have the feelings of wholeness even when there is great loss. Yet in this poem, fruit the lotos provides a release from the life of labor, suggesting an inversion of the biblical story. Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave? Line 155 On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.
In this place, apparently, even waterfalls take their sweet time. Opium has been used for centuries to ease pain and bring on sleep. Everything, the sea, and the wandering foam seemed to them weary. Lines 82-83 Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil, Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil. In terms of story, The Lotos-Eaters is not obscure like "The Hesperides" nor as all-encompassing as Oenone but it still relies on a frame like the other two. How they got home you must read in Homer: — Mr Tennyson — himself, we presume, a dreamy lotos-eater, a delicious lotus-eater — leaves them in full song.
Remember, the singing sailors are obsessed with how much more relaxed everything else in the world is. Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave? Then the description breaks off at the end of the line. Lines 3-4 In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. Keep an eye out for it, because Tennyson uses it a bunch in this poem. Lines 172-173 Than labour in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar; O, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more.
Apparently these guys have wound up in a valley, with a full moon above them. Time driveth onward fast, And in a little, while our lips are dumb. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1988. The reader is able to return to being sympathetic with the mariners when they seek to be united with the world. My gmail address is vin123pen gmail.
That last bit is a metaphor for their families forgetting about them. All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave In silence; ripen, fall and cease: Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease. The point is that these guys are under the influence. A crew of sailors is close to arriving during a new and strange country. In the song, there are many images that are supposed to appeal to the reader.
Seems like these sailors have found a shortcut to Elysium which was reserved for great heroes. Their feet are coming down, and the tents are going up. They never moved or roamed about. Although the thought of life without toil is certainly tempting, it is also deeply unsettling. . This blog comprises valuable information of literature and criticism.
Sure, they miss their wives, but they think that things have probably changed at home. Those who eat the lotos feel as if they have fallen into a deep sleep; they sit down upon the yellow sand of the island and can hardly perceive their fellow mariners speaking to them, hearing only the music of their heartbeat in their ears. Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be? Form This poem is divided into two parts: the first is a descriptive narrative lines 1—45 , and the second is a song of eight numbered stanzas of varying length lines 46—173. Lines 86-87 Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be? What they really want to avoid is suffering. Lines 55-56 And in the stream, the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge, the poppy hangs in sleep.
All of them start singing justifying their desire to live there on the island. A land of streams! They want to live the life of the Lotos-eaters. This relationship continues until the very end when the narrator describes their brotherhood as they abandon the world: Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Perfect rest and perfect silence until they die.
The speaker imagines dark pine trees climbing up above the trees below them. In the reversal, the idea of time as a protector of an individual is reversed to depict time as the destroyer of the individual. This poetic strategy of spreading a sentence out over multiple lines is called enjambment, and Tennyson is clearly a fan. All they need to do is hear it. There is also a twist of the traditionally comic use of repetition within the refrain "Let us alone", which is instead used in a desperate and negative manner. Here they imagine their eyes being half-closed under a dark sky.
