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Tennyson's 'The Kraken.' (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19930922
Author:George, Stephen

Alfred Lord Tennyson's 'The Kraken' and William Butler Yeats's 'The Second Coming' both deal with the coming of a beast or monster according to biblical prophecy. Both poems employ similar themes, biblical allusions and imagery. However, Tennyson's early 19th-century poem ends positively in a hopeful tone, while Yeats's early 20th-century poem ends in a grim sense of foreboding. Yeats's mood is most likely a reflection of resignation and despair as an aftermath of World War I. Tennyson's hopeful tone is established in 'The Kraken' and prevalent throughout his later work.

Tennyson's "The ...

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