Tenets of Tenneyson in Tithonus
“Tithonus” was written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The poem’s setting is the ancient story
of Tithonus. Tithonus fell in love with Eos, goddess of the dawn, and asked her for immortality.
Unfortunately for Tithonus he did not ask for eternal youth, only eternal life. He, therefore,
grows old but never dies while Eos not only never dies but also never grows old. What makes
Tithonus’s situation worse is that “the gods themselves cannot recall their gifts” (49). This
dramatic monologue is characteristic of Tennyson.
Tithonus is an excellent example of a dramatic monologue. There is a speaker, Tithonus,
who is not the poet. There is an audience—the gods. Another characteristic of a dramatic
monologue found in Tithonus is an exchange between the speaker and the audience: “I asked
thee, ‘Give me immortality?’” (15). A character study is when the speaker speaks from an
extraordinary perspective: Tithonus is looking back on......
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Approximate Word Count: 880
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |