Something that Tennyson continually runs up against in In Memoriam is his inability to adequately express what he's thinking or feeling. In some ways, this is right on, since he's dealing with lots of difficult concepts: grief, religion, man's place in the universe—oh my! But in another way, this is frankly total bunk. We all know Tennyson is the bomb when it comes to using words. He wouldn't have been made Poet Laureate of England if that weren't the case. So this anxiety about expressing himself is also just a pose to get us to reflect on the natures of words, language, and communication themselves.
Questions About Language and Communication
- Why do you think Tennyson uses some purposefully archaic words, like "burthen" and "twain" and "kine" (plural for cow)?
- How does enjambment contribute to the feeling of the speaker not being able to express himself the way he wants to?
- What are the "silent-speaking word" and "dumb cry" in lines 1946 and 1947?
Chew on This
This whole having-problems-expressing-himself thing in the poem is just a cheap ploy. Tennyson is trolling for compliments.
When words most break down in the poem are the places where we can see the speaker struggling the most with his grief and anxiety.