Maud

poem by Tennyson

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Maud, poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, composed in 1854 and published in Maud and Other Poems in 1855.

The poem’s morbid narrator tells of his father’s suicide following financial ruin. Lonely and miserable, he falls in love with Maud, the daughter of the wealthy neighbour who led his father into bankruptcy. After he kills Maud’s brother in a duel, the narrator flees the country; he goes mad when he learns of Maud’s death but recovers his sanity through service in war.

The poem provoked a storm of protest. Many of the poet’s admirers were shocked by the morbidity and hysteria of the poem and by the bellicosity of the hero. It nonetheless contains some of Tennyson’s most lyrical passages.

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.