Idylls of the King

Tennyson's Life: A Timeline

1809 -- born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, England; fourth of twelve children
1820-1827 -- educated at home by his father
1821 -- Tennyson composes a 6,000 line epic poem
1823-1824 -- composes "The Devil and the Lady"
1827 -- enters Cambridge University
-- publishes, with brother Charles, Poems by Two Brothers
1829 -- meets his best-friend-to-be, Arthur Henry Hallam
-- wins Chancellor's Prize Medal with his poem "Timbuctoo"
1830 -- publishes Poems, Chiefly Lyrical
-- with Hallam, joins insurgent army in Spain for a time
1831 -- father dies
-- Tennyson leaves Cambridge
1833 -- publishes Poems
1836 -- begins courtship of Emily Sellwood
1842 -- republishes Poems,with additions; Tennyson's fame established
1850 -- publishes In Memoriam (to the memory of Arthur Hallam)
-- marries Emily Sellwood
-- Queen Victoria appoints poet laureate of England
1851 -- the Tennyson's first child is born dead
1852 -- birth of his eldest son, Hallam Tennyson (to become the 2nd Lord Tennyson)
1855 -- publishes Maud, and Other Poems
1859 -- publishes first poems of Idylls of the King ; 10,000 copies sell in one month
1864 -- publishes Enoch Arden
1865 -- Tennyson's mother dies
1869 -- publishes The Holy Grail and Other Poems
1871 -- publishes "The Last Tournament"
1872-1874 -- Tennyson completes Idylls of the King (except for "Balin and Balan")
1880 -- publishes Ballads and Other Poems
1883 -- Tennyson made a Baron
1885 -- publishes Tiresias and Other Poemss
1889 -- publishes Demeter and Other Poems
1892 -- Tennyson dies after a long illness