Status Updates From The Poems of Alfred Lord Te...

Dramatic Monologues: Maud, Part I, Sections XVI-XX
Oh is she stringing him along?
Is this unhappy wretch going to regret his love for her?

Dramatic Monologues: Maud, Part I, Sections XI-XV
Darker still. More like lamentations than monologues.

Dramatic Dialogues: Maud, Part I, Sections VI-X
Favorite line so far and it’s at the end of Section X —
“Whatever they call him—what care I?—
Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat—one
Who can rule and dare not lie!”

Dramatic Monologues: Maud, Part I, Sections I-V.
A tragic tale unwinds.

A similarity I’ve noticed between Tennyson and Byron: sets of three words used to describe the tension, stress, or actions of the speaker or other characters in the work. Done theatrically and to great effect.

Ballads: Oriana; The Lord of Burleigh; The Sisters’ Shame

These three are very dark ballads. No happy endings in these lines.

The Sea: The Sailor Boy; The Islet; Break, Break, Break

The pictures he paints with words.

The Muse: Merlin and the Gleam;
The Sea: The Kraken, The Merman, The Mermaid

Read between the lines, folks.
Tennyson knew how to tease with words, and we’re just getting started on this collection.