Resumo de Locksley Hall

Locksley Hall is a dramatic monologue in which, according to Tennyson himself, he presents 'young life, its good side, its deficiencies, and its yearnings. 'Locksley Hall is an imaginary play, and the hero has some resemblance to Tennyson's elder brother. Thus, there is an element of autobiographical hint. This poem covers personal issues as well as social concerns. The poem begins with the youthful speaker lamenting the loss of his beloved cousin Amy. This loss makes him feel the loss of his creative ability as well. The poem ends with a successful resolution of the psychological problem through a revived self-confidence. There is also belief in social progress at the end of the poem. The poet turns an earlier melancholic statement of hopelessness into the absolute declaration that the best is yet to come for: "I dipt into the future far as human eye could see/Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be."
The young speaker works through his personal sense of anxiety and hopelessness by finding the spiritual message in the forces of Nature, and leave the imaginary world of Locksley Hall in possession of his creative capabilities.
The poem is full of energy and transforms new and disturbing experiences. Tennyson uses language that transforms doubt and despair into vision of great possibilities. "When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed;" is transformed into "O, I see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set, /Ancient founts of inspiration well thro' all my fancy yet". As in Ulysses, dramatic monologue creates a certain distance between the speaker and the audience. But there is a far greater use of metaphor in Locksley Hall. One of the most recurring metaphors is a rocking horse, which shows the changing moods. In the opening lines, the young man wavers between sadness caused by and the possibility of future action: The autographical, element as mentioned above, shows the parental insensitivity towards true love. There is imposition of parents' narrow concern, "Puppet to a father's threat".
The crisis, as a result of parental dominance, is expressed through pathetic fallacy by creation of moody landscape, which reflects the man's anguish. In such a place, the hero shows his depression, and there is no hope of spring. The references to great Orion and Pleiads, are significant. These constellations are brilliant in winter and spring, but in this poem they become symbols of a landscape that mirrors the hero's depressed feelings. Moreover, the story of Orion is quite parallel to that of Locksley Hall.
The poem also contains images of the cruelty of time and its speed, -Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden sands-, and this time ravages both the relationship between lovers as well as the lover's creative abilities. "Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might;" and in doing so destroys the harmony which is symbolized by harp. The use of the word smote shows the sense of violence. The hero realizes the loss of his beloved, and worries about his fate when she marries a person whom her father finds acceptable: The jilted lover predicts that she has to bow to the desire of the undesirable husband:- As the husband is, the wife is; thou art mated with a clown, /And the grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.
According to the hero the only way out of the situation is suicide: " This sense of dejection bordering on suicidal tendencies makes the hero turn to social injustice. His attention goes from individual to society: "Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth!/Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth?" These grievances are combined with personal relationship, and the hero now perceives the truth of the maxims. For him the harm by unsympathetic parents is only one aspect of social injustice:" O, the child too clothes the father with a dearness not his due./ Half is thine and hal; it will be worthy of the two." This line reminds us of Wordsworth when he writes in his ode on Intimations of Immortality "The child is father to man/ And I could wish my days to be/ Bound each to each by natural piety". This social awareness makes the hero have a new vision of future: " The hero is full of energy and is ready to face life. The poem ends with the hero feeling powerful and creative, and he leaves Locksley Hall fully renewed with a promise not to pore over miserable books but to read Nature, which is the real source of strength. Thematically, the poem is a poem of regeneration and revival of confidence.

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