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| Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809--1892) |
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| Mariners in Lotos-Land |
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| Lotos-Land |
Alfred Tennyson was one of the most famous poets of the
Victorian era. He held the position of Poet Laureate for forty-two years from
1850 till his death in 1892. He produced many famous works. “In Memoriam
(1850)” is an elegy composed on the untimely death of his dear friend, Arthur
Hallam, and it consists of 2,916 lines with 33 cantos and is judged as one of
the best poems. (1850). “Idylls of the
king” (1859) is a series of twelve connected poems describing the legend of
Arthur from his falling in love with Guinevere to the ultimate ruin of his
kingdom. In his dramatic dialogue “Locksley Hall” written as a set of
ninety-seven couplets in 1832 and included in (1842 collection”), the poet
described his nostalgic feelings about his childhood home and about his failure
to marry his cousin, Amy. He concludes the poem by wishing that a storm would
destroy the Locksley Hall. “The Princess” is a narrative poem exploring the
theme of women’s education.
He also wrote dramatic monologues on mythological and
legendary themes like “Ulysses”, “Tithonus” and “Lotos-Eaters”. He also
composed shorter lyrics like “The lady of shallot”, “Mariana” “tears, idle
tears”, “Break, Break, Break”, “the Charge of the Light Brigade”, “Ring out
wild bells” and “Crossing the Bar”.
In his works Tennyson dealt with themes of loss, love,
Nature, faith, and the role of the artist. Tennyson’s poetry is lyrical and
meditative and shows the influence of Romantic poets. His poetry is sensuous
with beautiful imagery and melodious sounds. He experimented with various
meters and sound effects. His poetry reflects the moral and social issues of his age. Along with realistic descriptions, he used his imagination
to portray mythical and legendary figures and tried to capture the glory of the
past. He captured the spirit and complexities of the Victorian times.
The poet along with his bosom friend Arthur Hallam, went to
Pyrenees valley in Spain which attracted his attention and inspired many of his
marvelous poems “Oenone”, and “Lotos Eaters, and many poems in “Idylls of the
king”. The beautiful waterfall, valleys and the surrounding hills near the
village Cauterezource, remained a source of inspiration for many of his poems. This poem “Lotos Eaters” by Alfred Lord
Tennyson (1809-1892) was published in his “1832 Collection”. Tennyson’s poetry
is lyrical and meditative and shows the influence of Romantic poets.
This poem is in dramatic monologue form just like Tennyson’s
poem “Ulysses”. Unlike Browning’s dramatic monologues, they are meditative and
lyrical without much action and dramatic characterization. The mariners’
arguments resemble the words spoken by Despair in Edmund Spenser’s poem” The
faerie queen” (Book I). Time is depicted as destroyer of the individual. The
phrase “let us alone” is used as a refrain in a desperate and negative sense. Homer
writes about a storm that blows the great hero’s mariners off the course as
they attempt to journey back from Troy to their homes in Ithaca. Tennyson
powerfully evokes the mariners’ yearning to settle in to a life of peacefulness,
rest and even death. They come to a land where people do nothing but eat Lotos (the
Greek word for flower) a flower so delicious that the mariners are tempted to
settle in the land of the lotos. In the Bible, Adam ate the fruit of knowledge
and was condemned to labor by the sweat of his brow. In contrast the lotos
fruit provides a tempting and seductive vision of life free from toil.
The poem is divided into two parts; the first is a
descriptive narrative in 45 lines) and the second part is a song of eight
numbered stanzas of varying lengths (46 to 173). The first part is written in
nine-line Spenserian stanzas with rhyme scheme (ABABBCBCC) with first eight
lines in Iambic pentameter with the final line in six iambic feet. The choric
song is loose in structure and the rhyme scheme varies widely in the eight
stanzas. This poem is based on the story of Odysseus’ mariners described in scroll
IX of Homer’s epic “Odyssey. The protagonist, Odysseus had to drag his men away
who lost their desire to return to Ithaca and wish to remain only in the land
of Lotos flowers.
This poem is about the conflict between isolation and community life. The mariners argue that death is the completion of life, and they want to spend a tension-free life. They are tempted by the sweet and soporific music of the land which is compared to petals falling on tired eyelids. In the first stanza the poet describes the dreamy and weird landscape of the Lotos Eaters land where there is always dim light, and the languid air produces sleep and dreamy sense. The moon shines bright above the valley and a slender stream flows downward like vapor pausing and flowing slowly from the cliffs.
In the second stanza the poet continues the description of the mountain streams which flow down like “slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn” rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below. The three mountain tops covered with aged snow shine with red color by falling sunrays. Several pine trees with copses are seen on the mountain sides. The island’s landscape is seen with bordered yellow down with green meadows and slender creepers. No change is seen. A static landscape where “all things seemed the same” with various vales.
The inhabitants of the lotos land welcomed the mariners with lotos flowers and fruits. After eating them there was a change in their sensations and feelings. The sound of rushing waves sounded somber and alien. The voice of the mariners sounded feeble as if coming from a grave. They felt themselves weary and tired. Though they thought of their family, they felt reluctant to leave the island. The phrase “return no more” is repeated to suggest their complete hypnotic spell of the alien land. “Our island home/ Is far beyond the wave; we no longer roam.”
The mariners question why man is the only creature in Nature who must toil. They argue that everything in Nature enjoys rest and stay still; but man is tossed from one sorrow to another. Man’s inner spirit tells him that tranquility is the only joy and yet he is destined to toil and wander all his whole life.
In the third stanza they declare that everything in nature is allotted a lifespan in which to bloom and fade. They give examples of the folded leaf and the fallen full-juiced apple.
In the fourth stanza the mariners question the purpose of a life of labor since all their accomplishments lead them nowhere. Everything in life is fleeting and therefore futile. They also express their desire for “long rest or death” either of which will free them from a life of endless labor. They merely wish to escape from reality and even are ready to die without gaining experience, growth and completion and without fulfilling their worldly duties and obligations.
The fifth stanza echoes the first stanza’s desire to lead a life of luxurious self-indulgence. They declare how sweet it is to live a life of continuous dreaming doing nothing all day except sleep, dream, eat lotos fruits and watch the waves on the beach. Such an existence would enable them peacefully to remember all those individuals they once knew who are either buried or cremated.
In the sixth stanza, the mariners reason that their families have probably forgotten them or their homes fallen apart. So, they can stay in the land of lotos eaters and let “what is broken, so remain.” Their sons might have inherited their property and it would cause unnecessary confusion and disturbance if they return now. Their hearts are worn out from fighting wars and navigating the seas by means of constellation and now they prefer the relaxing death.
In the seventh stanza as in the first and fifth stanzas the mariners bask in the pleasant sights and sounds of the island. They imagine how sweet it would be to lie on beds of flowers while watching the river flow and listening to the echoes in the caves.
Finally, the poem closes with the mariners’ vow to spend the rest of their lives relaxing and reclining in the “hollow lotus land.” They compare the life of leisure they enjoy in the lotos Land to the carefree existence of the gods who do not care about the famines, plagues, earthquakes and other natural disasters that plague human beings on earth. These gods smile upon men who till the earth and harvest crops until they die. Then they suffer in hell and some dwell in the Elysian valleys of heaven. They have concluded that “slumber is more sweet than toil; they resolved to stop wandering on the seas and to settle instead in the land of the Lotos eaters.
In the second section of the poem the poet used irregular lines to describe their determination to settle down. “There is sweet music her that softer falls/ Than petals from blown roses on the grass. “Music that gentlier on the spirit lies/ Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.” They justified their decision by saying that why they should toil when other creatures enjoy themselves in a leisurely way. In Nature too, the plants grow green and bear flower and fruits without any toil and care. All creatures have a limited span of life and time runs fast. “All things have rest; why should we toil alone” So, it would be better to spend life with comfort and ease. Hence, they determined to spend their days dreaming in the dim light listening to the music of the gentle flowing stream and eating lotus fruits watching the ripples on the beach in dim light and remembering the faces of friends and relatives who had passed away and become a handful of dust or ashes in an urn. Though they love their family members, their long absence from their homes would have made them remain as memories. Even if they go to their homes they may appear as strangers. So, it would be better to let things remain as they are without disturbing the present state.
The whole order is in a disturbed state which they cannot change. They are already exhausted due to wars and long tiresome journeys on the sea filled with dangerous sea-monsters. They decided to spend the rest of their lives in the lotus-land like gods who enjoy themselves caring least about mankind who lead miserable lives affected by natural calamities, wars, diseases and work hard to earn their livelihood. “Death is the end of life; ah, why/Should life all labor be?” The gods smile at the sufferings of mankind which seems to them a tale of little meaning. Even after death men’s souls must endure the torments of hell while very few enjoy their stay in heaven.
So, the sailors consider that life without action is better than labor. It would be better to spend the remaining years of life in the lotus-land resting on the flowery bed of sweet- smelling amaranth in half-sleep under the dim light watching the gliding streams flowing down the purple hills and listening to the gentle music of the emerald- colored water flowing down ravines and caves. They decided to stay “In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined/ On the hills like Gods together careless of mankind. They wish to lie on emerald grassy slopes, dream, eat lotos fruits and watch the waves on the beach. Such an existence would enable them peacefully to remember all those individuals they once knew who are either buried or cremated.
Tennyson’s description of Lotos Land reveals the idle pleasures just like in Milton ‘s poem “La Allegro” and Marvel’s Poem “Garden”. The mariners are deceiving themselves in succumbing to the hypnotic power of the Lotos and abandoning external reality and living in a world of appearances.
The conflict between the sense of reality and illusory world of rest and sensual pleasures is described. In contrast “Ulysses” is the antithesis of “The Lotos-eaters” where Tennyson emphasizes the value of life and that man has to make proper use of time as “death closes all”. “How dull it is to pause, to make an end/To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!” ‘Old age hath yet his honor and his toil/Some work of noble note, may yet be done/Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.” One has “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” The Lotos land like Eliot’s “The Wasteland” is a land of spiritual barrenness without any change and growth.
The lyrical and melodious quality of the poem has inspired many composers like Edward Elgar to set the poem to music. The use of Spenserian stanzas with close-knit rhymes and extra poetic foot slows down the languorous mood of sailors. The irregularity of the choric poem is appropriate to the slackness induced by Lotos. The use of (repetition enhances the musical quality of the poem. Tennyson wrote pure poetry without any direct message. Use of figures of speech such as Assonance (repetition of vowel sounds), consonance (repetition of consonant sounds), alliteration (repetition of consonant sound at the beginning or nearby words) shows the poetic talent of the writer who gave a very tempting picture of sensual pleasures. Repetition of the phrase “Let us alone” and use of sibilant sounds(S) suggests the lethargy and laziness of the mariners.
In this aspect this poem resembles Keats’ poem “Ode On Autumn “and Shelly’s enchanting poem “Ode to a skylark”. Tennyson is a master of vivid image-driven language. The poem’s first section is an elaborate visual description of the island of Lotos-eaters. The poem’s abiding focus on the senses powerfully reflects the experience of the mariners and the hypnotic influence of the Lotus eaters. The poet also emphasizes the sweetness of the island’s music. The symbol of lotus-eaters is a symbol of temptation and represents the desire to detach from reality and enter a blissful state of oblivion. Using this symbol Tennyson explores the human inclination toward seeking refuge from life’s struggles and challenges. The whole poem shows the mariner’s struggle between duty and desire, obligation and pleasure.
Some critics think that the attitude of mariners shows rejection of duty, heroism and the struggles inherent in life. The poem focusses on tempting inaction and escape from their responsibilities. The poem’s rich and sensual descriptions of the Lotos Land seem to glorify inadvertently the state of languor and detachment from reality. The poem is primarily descriptive and reflective lacking in dramatic action. The poem indicates the ambiguity of the poet’s stance towards one’s own duties and sense of courage to face the struggles in life. The beauty and sensuous imagery of the verse seems to overshadow the thematic depth and moral implications of the mariners’ decision and judgement values. Some others think that the poet criticizes the relentless work of Victorian society. This poem shows Tennyson’ mastery of the language, keen observation of Nature and his mastery of the verse and rhythm.
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4th July 2025 Somaseshu Gutala
