Typology in "In Memoriam"

Paper Summary:

The author of this paper shows how Alfred, Lord Tennyson uses the concept of types in his lyric poem "In Memoriam" to illustrate his evolving opinion of religion and of man's role in the universe.

From the Paper:

"While Tennyson's personal definition of a type evolves throughout the poem, George P. Landow of Brown University notes that a type can be defined two primary ways. A type, in its primary and literal meaning, simply denotes a rough draught, or less accurate model, from which a more perfect image is made; but, in the sacred or theological sense of the term, a type may be defined to be a symbol of something future and distant, or an example prepared and evidently designed by God to prefigure that future thing.* The primary (evolutionary) meaning is used by Tennyson in poem 56, and is juxtaposed by the use of the alternate definition later in the work, notably in poems 73, 74, 118, and the concluding stanzas of the epilogue. As Tennyson comes to terms with the death of Hallam using typology, he also renews his faith in God."

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