How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
'Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all. (1595-1596)
Experiencing the kind of deep friendship (bromance?) that existed between Tennyson and Arthur makes the pain he's going through now worth it. Do you agree?
Quote #5
Yet less of sorrow lives in me
For days of happy commune dead;
Less yearning for the friendship fled,
Than some strong bond which is to be. (2597-2500)
The speaker is starting to get over his grief. He now is less sad about his lost friendship than he is yearning for a new bond that might come along. So, this experience hasn't totally put him off of friendship.
Quote #6
Like Paul with beasts, I fought with Death. (2556)
This is a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:32 in the Bible. Like Paul, Tennyson has fought against something savage. He's fought death through struggling to overcome, and make sense of, his grief.