- He was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, the son of a clergyman. He had several siblings, including a sister, Emilia, who married his friend, the poet Arthur Hallam, and a brother Edward, who was in a mental institution.
- Tennyson's first published work was in co-operation with two other brothers, Charles and Frederick. It was called Poems by Two Brothers and was published in 1827 when Alfred was 17. It wasn't a success.
- While at Cambridge, he was a member of a secret society called the Cambridge Apostles.
- In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for Timbuktu.
- He published his first solo poetry collection in 1833, which included his famous poem, The Lady of Shallot. However, the book received so much criticism that he didn't publish another for ten years.
- He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1850, succeeding William Wordsworth. He held that post until he died in 1892, and remains the longest serving Poet Laureate. Although Queen Victoria dismissed him as "peculiar looking" and "oddly dressed" the first time they met, she loved his poem, In Memoriam A.H.H. which was written about his friend Arthur Hallam, who'd died suddenly. The Queen said she found it a comfort when Prince Albert died. Being Poet Laureate gave Tennyson enough financial security that he could finally marry his childhood sweetheart Emily Sellwood.
- He was first offered a baronetcy in 1865 and 1868 by Disraeli, but turned it down. Gladstone persuaded him to accept the honour in 1883 and he was made Baron Tennyson, of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. He was the first person to be raised to a British peerage for his writing. Even so, he wasn't all that comfortable as a peer. It is widely believed he only took the title to secure a future for his son.
- Virginia Woolf, Thomas Edison and Walt Whitman were fans of his work. Whitman called him "the boss" and Edison made sound recordings of Tennyson reading a few of his poems, including The Charge of the Light Brigade.
- He died at the age of 83 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. His last words were, "Oh that press will have me now!"
- He is one of the most quoted poets, having given us the quotations "'Tis better to have loved and lost/than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die" and “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” He also gave us the expression “airy fairy”. In Tennyson's time this meant ethereal, enchanting and magical, while now it is a derogatory term for something light and insubstantial. The Charge of the Light Brigade inspired Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927), and more recently Iron Maiden’s The Trooper. It's even been quoted in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
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