Volume 19 213Starting from the beginning, this does not seem
at first to be a poem about grief, but about God.
The first nine stanzas, spanning thirty-six lines,
deal solely with the relationship between humans
and God, focusing on the mysteries that lie beyond
this life, and the proper attitude that one should take
when contemplating the subject of the Almighty.
This extended section, while seeming to be about
praise, actually raises some questions about the
speaker’s devotion. The first is, of course, in the
first line, which implies that the poet’s verse might
be aimed at someone other than who it identifies.
On its own, the phrase “Son of God” traditionally
refers to Jesus, who is described in these words in
the New Testament. It is unusual though that the
poet should address the Son of God here while the
rest of the poem speaks of the reverence that is usu-
ally accorded to God proper, but it is not unusual
enough to affect any reading of the poem. It is,
however, coupled with “immortal Love” on the
same line. This again could be explained as a de-
scription of Jesus, whose philosophy is described
as being based on love, but it is a noticeably odd
reference, and, coupled with the first phrase (and
the fact that Tennyson has begun the poem with
“strong,” as if God’s power is in any way compa-
rable to anything) leaves the impression that the
poem has another agenda than just calling on God
for the sake of praise.
When the tenth stanza mentions “my grief for
one removed,” the poem’s uncertainties come into
sharper focus. Much of the talk of God up to that
point has centered on death, and that, like the
strange references in the first line, could be con-
sidered appropriate, but still seems strangely nar-
row. A reader who knows this poem to be part of
a memorial already knows that the death of a friend
is the reason for its existence, but without this fore-
knowledge, the first nine stanzas build a mystery
about the speaker’s obsession that the tenth and
eleventh explain. The introduction of personal
emotion at this late point shades what came before
it. Suddenly, the poem is less a song of praise for
God than it is a hopeless rant, as if the speaker has
been trying in vain to ignore the looming subject
of his friend’s death and, in the end, can no longer
suppress it.
This is why the most crucial aspect to “Proem”
may well be its entreaties for forgiveness. These
pop up suddenly and increase frequently: “forgive”
starts the last three quatrains, and one additional
occurrence starts the third line of stanza eleven,
leaving readers with a final stanza in which half of
the lines ask God for forgiveness. Despite the praiseof God mixed with acute consciousness of death in
the first three quarters of the poem, and despite the
grief that comes up quickly in the last section, when
the death of the speaker’s friend has finally been
brought out into the open, the one overriding emo-
tion that readers are left with is the author’s hu-
mility. For a person to fall prostrate before God like
this is not at all unusual in poetry; what is unusual
is that the pleas for mercy come only as the poet’s
love for his departed friend comes out. The impli-
cation is that God would be displeased with the un-
controllable affection that the poem’s speaker has
for another person. Coming after so much discus-
sion about the proper way to revere God, there is
certainly more than a hint that the speaker’s worldly
love for his friend would detract from his rever-
ence. Directly praising or lamenting his friend
could never draw readers to understand the depth
of emotions as are conveyed here; readers have to
put the pieces together in order to see that the
speaker of this poem is so powerfully grief-stricken
that he fears that God will feel slighted or jealous,
and he needs to beg forgiveness for the emotions
that he cannot control.
These facts come from “Proem” itself; the rest
ofIn Memoriamdescribes Arthur Hallam in a dif-
ferent way, and develops themes that are not yet
begun in this opening section. To understand the
poem in the larger context might be useful. Then
again, it could be distracting: much of what makes
the eleven stanzas of “Proem” effective is found in
the delicate balance and pacing that these ideas
have among each other. One need not know who
Tennyson lost, how long he grieved, or how long
he worked on the poem that follows this introduc-
tion in order to feel the poet’s apprehension aboutProemFor a person to fall
prostrate before God like
this is not at all unusual in
poetry; what is unusual is
that the pleas for mercy
come only as the poet’s love
for his departed friend
comes out.”67082 _PFS_V19proem 205 - 236 .qxd 9/16/2003 9:54 M Page 213