ScholarWorks@동국대학교

초록

rd of Hell!” might at first seem far removed from the literature of the fin de siècle, with its emphasis on aestheticism and decadence. However, this paper argues that Tennyson’s poetry reveals many of the same traits associated with the fin de siècle. In Degeneration, Max Nordau characterizes this period as marked by moral decline, bestial tendencies, and a pervasive sense of pessimism--symptoms that can be traced throughout Tennyson’s work. First, in Idylls of the King, King Arthur might appear to be the victim of Guinevere’s moral failings. Yet from another perspective, Arthur himself bears responsibility for the collapse of his kingdom due to his detachment from the moral weaknesses of ordinary people. Poems like “The Lotos-Eaters” and “Despair” offer no clear moral guidance, and “Vastness” even evokes a sense of existential meaninglessness. Second, In Memoriam A.H.H. hints at the unsettling closeness between humans and beasts, blurring the line of evolutionary distinction. In Idylls of the King, Arthur, who once established his kingdom by triumphing over the beasts, now faces the possibility of his world slipping back into that primal chaos. In “Lucretius,” the speaker is driven to suicide, unable to reconcile himself with the primal, animalistic desires he experiences in dreams. Finally, a tone of deep pessimism runs through much of Tennyson’s work. Immortality, which may be seen as the ultimate Christian blessing, becomes a curse for Tithonus, who begs not to live forever, but simply to be allowed to die. In conclusion, the themes Nordau identified as defining the fin de siècle—moral decay, animalistic impulses, and existential pessimism--are all present in Tennyson’s poetry.

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