What optimistic belief of Tennyson do you find in the poem Locksley Hall?
In the poem “Locksley Hall”, Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) shows the struggle of a young speaker to let go of his past and embrace the future. Tennyson blends optimistic thoughts with his speaker’s pessimism skillfully.
Standing in front of Locksley Hall, the speaker bitterly recalls that his childhood love Amy is no longer his. She married a wealthy man because of her father’s demands. The speaker struggles to let go of the past and blames Amy, that she never loved him.
The speaker’s struggle continues as he predicts the society’s future; the future nations will become obsessed with money and will wage war with one another. After thinking of primitive society’s goodness and more struggle, the speaker shows optimism. He seems to let go of the past sorrow and decides to accept a more advanced society. He becomes ready to accept the change and to hope for good.
Tennyson’s optimistic note lies in the following lines.
“Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us range,
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.”
With optimistic notes, Tennyson means to say that one must put aside their sorrowful past and move forward to accept the future, whatever it might be.
