The Lotos Eaters by Alfred Lord Tennyson: Critical Analysis

The Lotus Eaters is a striking poem which begins with a heroic line: “courage! He said and pointed towards the land”. The poem is looking at the human condition and its interest centers in the conflict between the sense of responsibility and desire to take pleasure.

At the same time it empress dissatisfaction with the Victorian passion for the progress. The poem as a whole can be dealt under two headings: the first few stanzas are descriptive but poem switches on to philosophical tone in the later part. The choric song of the second part is about the effect of inaction upon Odysseus’ brave soldiers.

The Narrative

In the course of Odysseus’ voyage he sighted the land of the lotus-eaters one afternoon, and encouragingly pointed it out to his fatigued sailor. The atmosphere of the land was dull, and a kind of faintness seemed to surround it. The air was like the sigh of a man seeing a painful, long dream. Nature was indolent and sluggish: the place seemed to create a feeling of aversion for active life. The whole place looked charming in the glow of the setting sun. But it was a land where nothing seemed to change. Dull faced native inhabitants came near the ship and gave them the lotus plant with flowers. Those who tasted it felt its effect and consequently passed into a dreamy state in which all exertion became disgusting. The sailor after eating the lotus sat on the yellow sand and began to dream of their native land and dear relations there. But they no longer desired to undertake another voyage to return home.

The Choric Song

The foregoing five stanzas of regular nine lines each are descriptive and present a beautiful picture of a strange land where Odysseus and his party of sailor reached by chance. Everything in the lotus-land shows signs of drowsiness, and every object of nature induces sleep. The sailors are completely charmed by the atmosphere of the lotus land and its calmness infects them. They find it useless to labor or undertake any kind of toil when nature is calm and tranquil. They ask why man, the superior being should be condemned to toil when everything in nature is restful. Leaves flower and fruits grow, fade and then die away. But they don’t have to labor and undergo any toil. There is no struggle in their life process. Man has to learn a lesson from them. The sailors effectively bring out the contrast between the life of man and that of the objects of nature in their song. Death is the end of life; man cannot escape it. Then why should life be full of labor? When everything is domed weary labor is the mockery of life, let us enjoy peace and die quietly. Sailors do not desire to return home, but want to cherish its memory only from a distance.

Finally, the sailors resolve to stay on the lotus land and live there like gods banishing all care and anxiety from their hearts. Just as the gods are unmindful of human misery and sorrow, the sailors too would live alone oblivious of social obligations.

The technical aspect of the present poem is exemplary of Tennyson’s mastery of many types. The dull and dreamy life in the dullness-inducing atmosphere of the island is reinforced by the sound symbolism, of which Tennyson is a perfect master. The sound of the words like pale, mild also reinforces the meaning and effect of the lulling atmosphere. The soldiers neglect all social responsibility; languorously they seek to lose themselves in a “half-dream” of quietude. They envy the natural spontaneity. The very syntaxes are also long and languishing. This poem exhibits many exhibits qualities and sound symbolism.
The debates provoked by the poem are another important thing to be commented. The poem creates a thematic tension between responsibility and freedom. The memory of old responsibilities shadows their peace. And an ill-concealed sense of guilt lurks behind their resolution to war no more with evil.

The poem begins with the leader’s exhortation to the intoxicated soldiers: “Courage!” he said, and pointed towards the land.” “This mountain wave will roll us shoreward soon.” But that (courage) is what they all lack, or they no longer want to make the mode of their lives. In this poem Tennyson dramatically express the mood of the human mind in which one seriously doubts whether the fruits of the struggle for existence in life are worth the toil and trouble which it involves.

By appropriate imagery and subtle use of significant words, the poet has been successful in creating an atmosphere of drowsiness and languor. Tennyson is supreme in creating an apt atmosphere. The luxuriance of imagery is remarkable. The landscape is obviously unreal and imaginary but the details of the scenery are taken from things seen in the pyrenes. Everything in nature is slumberous. The atmosphere seems to be infectious. The choices of diction, the pictorial effect, the sound of the lines in perfect tune with the mood, are all exquisite. The beauty of the landscape combines with the beauty of emotion. The description of the gods at the end is very opposite.

The poem is superbly musical, and its execution betrays a sense of craft-perfection. It is only a passing mood of the poem for it certainly does not represent Tennyson’s considered philosophy of life. His real philosophy of life is to be found in his ‘Ulysses’, Tennyson has merely taken this classical story to the lotus-eaters, but otherwise adapts it to represent essentially a mood of the modern mind with which we can all sympathize some time or another.

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Shrestha, Roma. "The Lotos Eaters by Alfred Lord Tennyson: Critical Analysis." BachelorandMaster, 21 Oct. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-lotus-eaters.html.