Born on this day in Somersby, Lincolnshire, Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) was the most celebrated poet of the Victorian age. Known for expressing the ideas of his time, his poetry was deeply admired by Queen Victoria, who said that next to the Bible, she valued his words for their morality and faith in humanity.

"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," he once wrote, offering timeless wisdom.

One of eleven children and the son of an Anglican rector, young Alfred was inspired by Byron and Shelley. "Love is the only gold," he declared in early verse.

Appointed Britain’s Poet Laureate in 1850, Tennyson was revered for his creativity and mastery of rhythm, mood, and imagery. As a child, he was captivated by Malory’s tales of King Arthur, which inspired him to write his legendary Idylls of the King — twelve connected poems recounting the rise and fall of Camelot.

"I tried in my Idylls to teach men the need of an ideal," he explained. He also wrote Ulysses (1842), In Memoriam (1850), and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854), capturing heroism, mourning, and the epic grandeur of the human experience.

His contemporary Henry Van Dyke predicted, “When men call the role of poets who have given splendor to the name of England, they will begin with Shakespeare and Milton— and who shall have the third place, if it be not Tennyson?”

Tennyson once wrote, “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.” He lived those words — not just as a poet, but as a soul who strove to uplift humanity through rhythm and the clarity of purpose that comes from a pure heart.