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Arthur Hallam
Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, In Memoriam, by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the jeune homme fatal (French for "deadly [seductive] young man") of his generation.
Hallam was born in London, the son of the historian Henry Hallam. He attended school at Eton, where he met the future prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Hallam was an important influence on Gladstone, introducing him to Whiggish ideas and people. Other friends included James Milnes Gaskell.
After leaving Eton in 1827 Hallam travelled on the continent with his family, and in Italy, he became inspired by its culture and fell in love with an English beauty, Anna Mildred Wintour, who inspired eleven of his poems.
In October 1828, Hallam went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met and befriended Tennyson. As Christopher Ricks observes, "The friendship of Hallam and Tennyson was swift and deep".
Hallam and Tennyson became friends in April 1829. They both entered the Chancellor's Prize Poem Competition (which Tennyson won). Both joined the Cambridge Apostles (a private debating society), which met every Saturday night during term to discuss, over coffee and sardines on toast ("whales"), serious questions of religion, literature and society. (Hallam read a paper on "whether the poems of Shelley have an immoral tendency"; Tennyson was to speak on "Ghosts", but was, according to his son's Memoir, "too shy to deliver it" – only the Preface to the essay survives). Meetings of the Apostles were not always so intimidating: Desmond MacCarthy gave an account of Hallam and Tennyson at one meeting lying on the ground in order to laugh less painfully, when James Spedding imitated the sun going behind a cloud and coming out again.
During the Christmas holidays, Hallam visited Tennyson's home in Somersby, Lincolnshire; on 20 December he met and fell in love with Tennyson's eighteen-year-old sister, Emilia, who was seven months younger than Hallam.
Hallam spent the 1830 Easter holidays with Tennyson in Somersby and declared his love for Emilia. Hallam and Tennyson planned to publish a book of poems together: Hallam told Mrs Tennyson that he saw this "as a sort of seal of our friendship". Hallam's father, however, objected, and Hallam's Poems was privately published and printed in 1830. In the summer holidays, Tennyson and Hallam travelled to the Pyrenees (on a secret mission to take money and instructions written in invisible ink to General Torrijos who was planning a revolution against the tyranny of King Ferdinand VII of Spain). In December, Hallam again visited Somersby and became engaged to Emilia. His father forbade him to visit Somersby until he came of age at twenty-one.
In February 1831, Tennyson's father died, with the result that Tennyson could no longer afford to continue at Cambridge. In August, Hallam wrote an enthusiastic article "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" for the Englishman's Magazine. He introduced Tennyson to the publisher Edward Moxon.
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Arthur Hallam
Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, In Memoriam, by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the jeune homme fatal (French for "deadly [seductive] young man") of his generation.
Hallam was born in London, the son of the historian Henry Hallam. He attended school at Eton, where he met the future prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Hallam was an important influence on Gladstone, introducing him to Whiggish ideas and people. Other friends included James Milnes Gaskell.
After leaving Eton in 1827 Hallam travelled on the continent with his family, and in Italy, he became inspired by its culture and fell in love with an English beauty, Anna Mildred Wintour, who inspired eleven of his poems.
In October 1828, Hallam went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met and befriended Tennyson. As Christopher Ricks observes, "The friendship of Hallam and Tennyson was swift and deep".
Hallam and Tennyson became friends in April 1829. They both entered the Chancellor's Prize Poem Competition (which Tennyson won). Both joined the Cambridge Apostles (a private debating society), which met every Saturday night during term to discuss, over coffee and sardines on toast ("whales"), serious questions of religion, literature and society. (Hallam read a paper on "whether the poems of Shelley have an immoral tendency"; Tennyson was to speak on "Ghosts", but was, according to his son's Memoir, "too shy to deliver it" – only the Preface to the essay survives). Meetings of the Apostles were not always so intimidating: Desmond MacCarthy gave an account of Hallam and Tennyson at one meeting lying on the ground in order to laugh less painfully, when James Spedding imitated the sun going behind a cloud and coming out again.
During the Christmas holidays, Hallam visited Tennyson's home in Somersby, Lincolnshire; on 20 December he met and fell in love with Tennyson's eighteen-year-old sister, Emilia, who was seven months younger than Hallam.
Hallam spent the 1830 Easter holidays with Tennyson in Somersby and declared his love for Emilia. Hallam and Tennyson planned to publish a book of poems together: Hallam told Mrs Tennyson that he saw this "as a sort of seal of our friendship". Hallam's father, however, objected, and Hallam's Poems was privately published and printed in 1830. In the summer holidays, Tennyson and Hallam travelled to the Pyrenees (on a secret mission to take money and instructions written in invisible ink to General Torrijos who was planning a revolution against the tyranny of King Ferdinand VII of Spain). In December, Hallam again visited Somersby and became engaged to Emilia. His father forbade him to visit Somersby until he came of age at twenty-one.
In February 1831, Tennyson's father died, with the result that Tennyson could no longer afford to continue at Cambridge. In August, Hallam wrote an enthusiastic article "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" for the Englishman's Magazine. He introduced Tennyson to the publisher Edward Moxon.