SUFFERING OF WOMAN IN THE POETRY OF ALFRED TENNYSON

Woman was and stills the center of any family; consequently she is the center of the whole society. The social suffering of women was of different forms which varied from suppression in education to isolation, deprivation of love and market-marriage. Woman in all societies lived in hard circumstances and was yoked to enslavement to man's prejudice and proud feeling of superiority. Alfred Tennyson highlighted woman's torture and problems trying to get his people acquainted with such suffering and open his people's eyes and minds to the tragedy of woman's maltreatment. He used his poetry to exhibit his beliefs in such plights. This paper deals mainly with Tennyson's treatment of woman's issues. First, it gives a biographical sketch of Tennyson's life, emphasizing those incidents and situations that affected his outlook towards woman which he depicts in his poems that defend her issues in society. Of those poems are “The Princess”, “, “Mariana” and “The Lady of Shalott”. The paper casts a light on one of these poems which is "The Princess" and ends with a conclusion that brings the final findings of the study out where the reader can make use of Tennyson's ways of understanding and presenting woman's problems.


Alfred Tennyson
Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire (England) 1809 in a prospering rustic area which bred in him an abiding love for nature. It was a little, isolated and confined place as to give him as a boy much entertainment. Therefore, this period of his life was a relatively happy one, which he would permanently recall with a sad nostalgia. What he had missed in the society, he found in his own home in the company of his six brothers and five sisters. They lived in an isolated and limited world that they tried to activate mainly with their imaginative thoughts, with books and talking about books, with poetry and music. Further, they much benefited from their father's big library to enlarge their knowledge. Remarkably, Alfred was the most sensitive one of the eleven children and surely the most gifted. His father loved him too much and found in him "his readiest pupil, and became his special pride." 1 It was clear that poetry came naturally to Tennyson at a very early age almost at the age of five. At the age of twelve, he wrote an epic poem of six thousand lines. When he was composing poetry, he used to cite them outside in the fields.
Tennyson had a serious feeling of uneasiness and concern, and that was why he sensed himself at home only with women who made him feel in tranquility like his mother, wife or sisters. He remained afraid of meeting unfamiliar people during his long life, it was his wife Emily who endeavored to defend him against strangers. The feeling of uneasiness and anxiety with conventional people, men and women, was apparent. He said "I was always shy with false or conventional people." 2 This might be due to his feeling of anxiety and apprehension in the community he lived in. His wife, Emily, spent every moment of her life to grant him encouragement and trust. She did whatever she could as a dutiful and faithful partner:

‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬
She, with her tender, spiritual nature and instinctive nobility of thought, was always by his side, a ready, cheerful, courageous, wise and sympathetic counselor. It was she who shielded his sensitive spirit from the annoyances and trials of life, answering the innumerable letters addressed to him from all parts of the world. By her quiet sense of humour, selfless devotion … , she helped him also in his depression and his sorrow. 3 Another support to him was presented by his mother who was "one of the most innocent and tender-hearted ladies." 4 The kindness of his mother filled her children's lives with love and trust. For Tennyson, she was "the most angelic nature on God's earth." 5 Tennyson's inclination of relying on women or the need of women's support later developed to maintain women. It should be remembered that only Tennyson among his brothers was to remain for long time at home with his mother and sisters. However, after the death of his father in 1831, the two eldest brothers being away, it became his task to take care of his mother and sisters. Tennyson came to present himself as a protector to his mother and sisters on the one hand, and also women in general on the other hand. He behaved in gallantry as a knight. The noble feeling might be seen in those lines from "In Memoriam" in which Tennyson talked about his sister, Emily, and about himself as her hero: And I must give away the bride; She fears not, or with thee beside And me behind her, will not fear.
For I that danced her on my knee, That watched her on her nurse's arm, That shielded all her life from harm At last must part with her to thee. 6 The frequency of women figures was the prominent feature of Tennyson's first collection of poems (1830 -1832). The volume was copious with images of beautiful women and musical names. He was regarded as "the poet of women." 7 Tennyson's personality as a man was impressed by his memories of childhood at home with his kind and emotional mother and ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ sisters around him, surrounding him with their tender and warm emotion. These inner psychological imprints were plainly reflected in his later relations with women. with greater love for all women and prepared him to defend them against injustice and prejudice. This idea was focused in his mind more and more when he had seen the false position of women in society. Remarkably, Tennyson was considered as "a philosopher and seer, the supreme interpreter of his age, the great voice of Victorian England." 8 He was trying to be a reformer or a social moralist; therefore, he gave much thought to the Victorian society, and to the inclinations in which that society was likely to grow. Treating such problems of his age, it should be notable that "he did not twist facts to suit his own prejudices." 9 If a poet limited himself, or failed to respond properly to the spiritual needs of his contemporaries' issues, he might be selfish. It should be acknowledged that the poetry of Tennyson had provided great solace to many unhappy women. His duty was to appreciate and reveal to his readers the true inwardness of his age since he was the laureate poet for more than forty year.
Issues like the education of women and personal independence d had become highly controversial topics by 1831. It evoked so much "passion, prejudice, and selfishness and such bitter and rooted hostility" 10 that a calm discussion of the subject was considered almost impossible. It was this difficult impossibility that Tennyson achieved in "The Princess" "The Princess" His poem "The Princess" (1847) had been first entitled "The University of Women" 11 . Tennyson believed that the story of "The Princess" was realistic and owed to the earlier writers like Margaret Cavendish with her "The Female Academy" and Samuel Johnson whose princess (at the end of

Rasselas)
proposed a college of women, over which she would preside to raise "models of prudence and patterns of piety for the succeeding age." 12 The content of the poem was greatly impacted by Tennyson's realization of the current socialist theories about the role of women adopted by "the French Simonians," 13 and by his assessment of the feminist inclination that prevailed among the Cambridge Apostles, including Arthur Hallam and F.D. Maurice; and by "his interest in the scientific discoveries and theories which seemed to reinforce the socialist and feminist point of view." 14 In spite of the fact that many writers called for women's rights and education, there was no actual organized movement that could really defend this serious issue until 1848 when Queen's College was established. Tennyson had focused on the important role of woman in "The Princess" before the foundation of Queen's College of higher education for girls. He thought and endeavored to prove practically that poetry should contribute to the solution to the main problems and issues of the society. Thus, he wrote "The Princess" to treat the most important subjects like women's rights in higher education. Despite the fact that there were some brave calls for women's education, but yet Tennyson preferred not to express the subject clearly. He conceived that "the people of England were not ready for such a demand and many conservatives refused the notion that a woman should take her stand on the masculine ground of intellect." 15 Tennyson endeavored to solve this problem or at least provide a compromise: Then rose a little feud betwixt the two, Betwixt the mockers and the realists: And I, betwixt them both, to please them both, And yet to give the story as it rose, I moved as in a strange diagonal, And maybe neither pleased myself nor them. 16 ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ "The Princess" was a romantic poem. It speaks about women's ambition to join a university. The story was concerning a princess named Ida, who established a university for women, and in order to maintain it from the trespass of men, she decided a death punishment upon any intruder from men. But a prince who was coming from another realm with his companions entered as they were disguised; and finally the Princess was forced by circumstances to confess her failure and accepted the Prince's love.
Remarkably, "The Princess" manipulated such a pivotal subject at a time when there was rarely a poem speaking about such a topic. By the character of the Princess, Tennyson could show an example of a woman who was self -trusted: They haled to the Princess where she sat High in the hall: above her drooped a lamp, And made the single jewel on her brow Burn like the mystic fire on a mast -head, Prophet of a storm: a handmaid on each side Bow'd toward her, combing out her long black hair.
(II. 270_275) Woman's education and her commitment to the domestic duties should go hand by hand to establish a better society. To Alfred Tennyson, woman should take her role in the scientific development of the age for she should have a participation in the progress of the human race. She should be educated appropriately to enlarge her mental and intellectual capabilities provided not on the regards of her commitments as a mother or wife.
Alfred Tennyson commenced " The Princess " with a festival of the Mechanics Institute whose patron was Sir Walter Vivian. The image of the institute reflected the development of the Industrial Revolution. While the women were happy with their usual life, Vivian's daughter, Lilia, complained from the bitterness and unfair position of women in society. Woman was ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ kept at home with little or sometimes no education, and at best cases treated as a doll, yet kept within the same milieu. She did not have the opportunity to get what man had got from knowledge: It is but bringing up; no more than that: You men have done it: how I hate you all ! Ah ! were I something great ! I wish I were Some mighty poetess, I would shame you then, That love to keep us children ! (Prologue, 129 -133) Women's weakness and minority, in Tennyson's view, would certainly come to its end, and one day they might occupy their proper and fair status in promoting the society they were living in. Tennyson challenged man's repression for women and he implied that time would ultimately abolish the predominant law of male superiority. Man's position was highly raised that in the poem, the Prince was enabled to "compare the male specialty, war, with an old mammoth." (V, 142). Man was used to practice his arrogance freely: Man is the hunter; woman is his game: The sleek and shining creatures of the chase, We hunt them for the beauty of their skins; They love us for it, and we ride them down.
(V, 2255 -2258) One of the main characters in the poem, Lady Psyche "traced the history of the universe from its nebular origin, and connected the subjection of women with the most primitive stage of human development:" 17 …then the monster, then the man ; Tattooed or woaded, winter -clad in skins,

‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬
Raw from the prime, and crushing down his mate; (II, 105 -107) Therefore, in order to prove their presence, Ida asked her women to "lose the child" (I, 136) inside themselves referring to their simplicity and innocence and demanded to stop being a doll or exploited like an animal or primitive creature. Such repressive practices were not accepted by Tennyson who called for the equality between man and woman by granting women their social and legal rights. Supporting the equality between man and women, he believed in "the high role of women in redeeming society from its errors," 18 This was obviously shown in the two decisive ways of looking at the question of women: the purely comic and the purely serious. To some "the issue of women's emancipation looked ludicrous, and they required that the poet should write his poem by the mode of mock -heroic gigantesque" 19 in order to remove the whole idea of female equality and independence. But the women in the poem wanted the poet to make their Princess truly heroic and truly sublime. Tennyson in order to avoid plain confrontation "moved diagonally between the mockers and the realists," 20 and showed a middle view which allowed women to conceive their intellectual aspirations and end their repression without undermining the basic form and the sacred constitution of family. Presented in such way,the poem showed Tennyson's concern for tradition and his desire to woo the present without repudiating the past.
Tennyson sincerely expressed the feeling of suppressed women of his age. He explored their concerns, fear, and ambitions. They wished men to respect them "not as vassals or babes to be dandled, but as living wills, whole in themselves and owed none." 21 On the other hand, Ida told the disguised Prince how women were trodden down, "cramped under worse than Southsea -isle taboo." ( III. 261) They endorsed "we are different from men but equal." (III. 367).

‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬
Trying to obtain the same social position of the men and raise their intellectual status in society, the women had to start a daring step that was unprecedented in the age. They took decisive decision to have an education which makes them equal with men. According to them, their mutiny was justifiable to get rid of their regressive state of mind. They demanded to be respected and to give them full consideration. Their university was a real uprising against the social restrictions which limited their lives. They considered it a possible loophole to vent and breathe through, and prove their presence. Such ambition was obviously reflected in the Prologue.
Lilia protested against men for this suppressive life. She tried to change her miserable life to a completely different type, a heroic one that was represented by a lady from the chronicle of Vivian's family. This great lady did not surrender, but fought against her opponent bravely. So, she would be immortalized forever by poetry: And mixt with these, a lady, one that arm'd Her own fair head, and sallying thro' the gate, Had beat her foes with slaughter from her walls.
(Prologue, II. 32 -34) Lilia spoke bitterly about such a lady, for there were numerous number of ladies who were ready to rise and improve their lives and achieve their ambitions and dreams. However, it was the society that spoiled their hopes and dream: There are thousands now Such women, but convention beats them down.

‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬
Lilia's feeling of frailty was prominent that she could not get rid of or ignores it. Thus, she needed a kind of rebellion or magical forces that might turn her into a queen to achieve her desires in teaching her friends to enlarge their knowledge and improve their circumstances: ….Oh I wish That I were some great princess, I would build Far off from men a college like a man's And I would teach them all that men are taught; We are twice as quick ! (Prologue, II.133 -137) Such event recalled the story of a proud princess Ida who established a university for women where no man was permitted to encroach its boundaries. This university was "further fortified with ramparts and towers. It had beautiful lawns, fountains and sculptures." 22 The sculpture here refers to the "female strength and superiority." 23 In order to fulfill her aims, she had to put hard rules; therefore, she behaved firmly. She managed the academy like a true martinet, and the students seemed to suffer under the yoke of its hard and stiff vows: Not for three years to correspond with home; Not for three years to cross the liberties; Not for three years to speak with any men.
(II. 56 -58) This created a new problem for them, Ida herself, began to practice her suppression and tyranny which eventually led to "emotional vacuum and waste, a feeling that their youth and beauty might fade unnoted and unadmired." 24  The emphasis on education of women was One of the important phases of "The Princess". The greatest majority of the women were illiterate and ignorant. A limited and few number of them -the middle and high classeswere of little education that they became minor to men. This problem was of emergent importance in Early -Victorian England. Tennyson who considered it one of the basic social questions of his time, was "more prepared to understand than to mock …. Though Ida's university seemed an ill -conceived and at times altogether ludicrous experiment, Ida herself was far less an object of ridicule than was the Princess's father, who saw woman simply as the helpless, fair -skinned prey of the bold male animal" 25 : Man for the field and woman for the hearth; Man for the sword, and for the needle she; Man with the head, and woman with the heart; Man to command, and woman to obey; All else confusion.
Knowledge, for Ida, was the sole path to improve woman's deteriorated state. She was successful and highly appreciated, so her ladies surrounded her with respect and glorification. She gave a motive to the new liberated woman who called for the equality of man and woman in the rights: Believing that eradication of ignorance was the appropriate way to save women from the slavery , Ida sought their intellectually imancipation faculties. The curriculum of her college included important subjects like Astronomy, electric , Biology, Geology and chemic laws. She defied the scientific theories at that time which claimed that woman's mind was inferior to man's. She and her ladies indeed believed that: "None lordlier than themselves but that which made / Woman and man."(II. 130 -131).
Knowledge could create a paradise out of life, for Ida and her friends. However, this might be both a "twisted snake and now a rain of pearls." (Prologue, 62) This referred that the scientific development would prove both evil and good worlds. This might be as a hint to what would happen to Ida at the end of the poem when she would conceive that knowledge alone would not be enough to change hard and sad life into a happy one.
Ida opposed the emotional feeling because "that great year of equal might and rights" (IV. 56) would never come through submission. Thus, she refused the relationships of marriage and maternity for they might probably retard her. She did not resemble the beautiful and kind tutor , Lady Psyche who was as educated as Ida herself. Psyche had not refused the Prince and his comrades when they entered the university in disguise as Ida and her ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ ladies had done and fought them. Instead, Psyche turned to her true nature, and submitted to Cyril's love who was the Prince's friend and could attract her.
Ida urged her supporters to fight for their fair issue and die for it. This was solely the way to prove their presence and entities and to emancipate of man's control and suppression: What fear ye, brawlers ? am not I your Head ? On me, me, me, the storm first beaks: I dare All these male thunderbolts: what is it ye fear ? Peace ! there are those to avenge us and they come: If not, myself were like enough, O girls, To unfurl the maiden banner of our rights, And clad in iron burst the ranks of war, Or, falling, promartyr of our cause, Die: yet I blame you not so much for fear: Six thousand years of fear have made you that From which I would redeem. (IV.344-354) According to the significance of the social instructions for Tennyson, he did not indulge himself to excessive extents in woman's emancipation. He never left things loose or unbridled, thus, he cast particular importance on woman's domestic life and her central role in the family . He paid attention to both sides making splendid equilibrium. Due to his view, domesticity was a matter of necessity for the stability of the family and whole society, without which it would come into entire social and moral collapse, that's why he led the Princess and her followers to be moderated at the end with the call of love.
As soon as the Princess saw the Prince injured, a new sensation awakened in her heart and a new emotional feeling crept within her soul. It was the ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ warmth of love. Love got her out of her ivory tower to live passionately with the person she had loved. She conceived that she was really in need of "the companionship and love of man." 26 She accepted to quit her pride and arrogance to live with her lover in harmony and happiness. On the other hand, Melissa, Lady Blanche's daughter "left her tough and jealous" 27 temper to find comfort and love with Psyche's brother, Florian, too. At the end, they submitted to the power of love.
Finally, she confessed her love for the Prince, and declared that man and woman represent one perfect entity, and both should complement each other to make a stable family: Seeing either sex alone Is half itself, and in true marriage lies Nor equal, nor unequal; each fulfills Defect in each, and always thought in thought, Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow, The single pure and perfect animal, The two -cell'd heart beating, with one full stroke, Life.
(VII. 284 -291) It was important that woman should be ready: To live and learn and be All that not harm her distinctive womanhood.
(VII. 259 -260) That balance between the passion and the intellectual sides within woman Tennyson sought was very important. It was the distinctive route he took to assert the idea that "Man would be more of woman, in sweetness and in ‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬ moral height; from him she would gain in mental breadth, nor lose the childlike in the larger mind:" 28 And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time, Sit side by side, full -summed in all their powers, Dispensing harvest, sowing the To -be, Self -reverent each and reverencing each, Distinct in individualities, But like each other even as those who love; Then comes the statelier Eden back to men: Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm: Then springs the crowning race of human kind.
(III. xxvi, 248) Tennyson stated that woman is different from man, but each sex should complement the other to constitute in the end one whole entity. Ida convinced that she had extreme views and she became ready to change herself. She was reluctant to surrender to the Prince, whom she thought he would not work properly for the sake of woman. But the Prince told her that: Henceforth thou hast a helper, me that know The woman's cause is man's; they rise or sink Together.
(VII. 242 -244) The Princess gave "her true role as a vital human being, strong still in intellect but responsive now to the logic of the heart." 29 She was not expected to oppose her normal female nature. Eventually, The Prince managed to "drag" her "down from" her "fixed height to mob" (VI. 288 -290).

‫اﻟﻌﺎﺷر‬ ‫اﻟدوﻟﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻣﻲ‬ ‫اﻟﻣؤﺗﻣر‬ ‫واﺳط‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬ / ‫اﻟﺗرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ‬
finally, love overwhelmed her for she submitted that "something wild within her breast, / A greater than all knowledge, beat her down." (VII. 222 -223).Tennyson did not deal with impure and unreal love which could be evil and a source of troubles and mischief, instead, he called for "a conjugal love," 30 a love that was controlled by "law, order, discipline and selfcontrol." 31 He "saw Paradise obtained not in a monastery, but in a home." 32 Ida likely was subject to two overt types of persecution: outer and inner. The first one (outside) was that of the strict society around her, whereas the second one (inside) was that which she imposed on herself and her mates by suppression of the maternal instincts and love till she "lost all feminine sensibility." 33

Conclusion
Inferiority of women was greatly attributed to old religious concepts. Such concepts reflected the sense of inferiority which folded her with utter humiliation and repression. She was considered a main source of evil and temptation. Woman's suffering and difficult conditions aroused some concern and sympathy in the writings of some poets. Alfred Tennyson, in England, was one of those poets supported woman and highlighted her plights in their poems, called for liberating her from the yoke of unjust social conventions and giving her the rights.
Tennyson focused on woman's issues in many of his poems that he was called later the poet of woman. The issues he mostly dealt with were education, love, and marriage. However, Tennyson realized that discussing such ideas overtly would certainly be faced with strong opposite reaction against him. The Victorian age was generally reserved and puritan in its religious tradition and ethical principles. Therefore, he manipulated woman's perscution and plights quite vigilantly and carefully. He also concentrated on the necessity of respecting the old established system which dominated the whole society. Thus, he went in-between to gratify all parties.
Tennyson endeavored to awaken the conscience of the men in his society, and show them that the maltreatment of woman have to be redressed, and her repression should come to an end. She should occupy her right position so as to live properly and establish a healthy society in cooperation with man to form at the end the crowning race. Tennyson's reflection of woman's fair aspirations was in a number poems like "The Princess", "Maud", "Mariana", and "The Lady of Shallot". In this paper the searcher demonstrated the great skill of the most famous poet in Victorian period in one of his long poem "The Princess". Tennyson implied his protest and condemnation of persecution of women in education and in love, emphasizing that the sole acceptable criterion should be love. Man and woman could not be happy just