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Laureate envy: T.S. Eliot on Tennyson. (Alfred Tennyson)(T.S. Eliot at 110)

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From: ANQ
Date: 19980622
Author:Kolb, Jack

Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson fostered a dilemma of status and literary achievement for T.S. Eliot. Although inspired by Tennyson, Eliot was envious of Tennyson's Poet Laureate status, separated by a single generation. Similarities in their poetic careers emphasized the rivalry, such as their devotion to the works of Virgil, a trait shared by many prominent Laureates.

"The burden of the past" is W. J. Bate's term for the double bind that afflicts all artists contending with their predecessors. The ancients were first, and they did what they did best. By definition: otherwise they wouldn't be ...

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