Arthur Hallam

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Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, "In Memoriam A.H.H.", by his best friend and fellow poet, Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the jeune homme fatal (French for "fatal young man") of his generation.

Biography

Hallam was born in London, son of a historian, Henry Hallam. He attended school at Eton, where he met future British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (he also knew Frederick Tennyson). Gladstone and Hallam were good friends until Hallam left to travel in Italy and Gladstone went up to Oxford. As Christopher Ricks observes, 'The friendship of Hallam and Tennyson was swift and deep.'[1] It is hard to separate his short life from that of Tennyson's.

1829 April - Tennyson and Hallam, both at Trinity College, Cambridge, became friends. They both entered the Chancellor's Prize Poem Competition (which Tennyson won). In May Tennyson and Hallam were members of a secret debating society (nicknamed ‘The Apostles’), which met every Saturday night during term to discuss, over coffee and anchovy sandwiches, serious questions of religion, literature and society. (Hallam read a paper on ‘Whether the poems of Shelley have an immoral tendency; Tennyson was to speak on ‘Ghosts’, but he was so nervous that he tore up most of what he had written and threw it on the fire. When the other members arrived in his rooms he resigned his place in the society). During the Christmas vacation, Hallam visited Tennyson’s home (in Somersby, Lincolnshire) and on December 20th met and fell in love with his eighteen-year-old sister, Emily (she was just seven months younger than Hallam).[2]

1830 Hallam spent the Easter vacation with Tennyson in Somersby and declared his love for Emily. Hallam and Tennyson planned to publish a book of poems together: Hallam told Mrs Tennyson that he saw this ‘as a sort of seal of our friendship’.[3] Hallam’s father, however, forbade it (he disliked and objected to some of his son's poems). Tennyson published on his own: Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. In the summer vacation, Tennyson and Hallam travelled to the Pyrenees (on a secret mission to take money and instructions written in invisible ink to General Torrijos who was planning a revolution against the tyranny of King Ferdinand VII of Spain). December – Hallam visited Somersby and became engaged. His father forbade him to visit Somersby until he has come of age (21 years-old).

1831 February, Tennyson’s father died. He could afford to continue at university. In August, Hallam wrote an enthusiastic article On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson for the Englishman’s Magazine. He introduced Tennyson to the publisher Edward Moxon.

1832 In February, Hallam visited Emily. ‘I love her madly.’ She was charmed by his 'bright, angelic spirit and his gentle,chivalrous manner.’[4] In July Tennyson and Hallam travelled to the Rhine. In October Hallam entered the office of a conveyancer, Mr Walters, of Lincoln's Inn Fields. In December, thanks largely to Hallam’s support and practical help, Tennyson’s second volume of poetry was published.[5] Hallam spent Christmas at Somersby.

1833 July – Hallam visited Emily. On 3 August, Hallam left with his father for Europe. On 13th September, Henry Hallam and his son went to Vienna, with Arthur complaining of fever and chill. It was apparently a recurrence of the ague he had suffered earlier that year, and, although it would delay their departure to Prague, there seemed to be little cause for alarm. Quinine and a few days rest were prescribed. By Sunday 15th, Arthur felt sufficiently better to take a short walk with his father in the evening. When he returned to the hotel he ordered some sack and lay down on the sofa, talking cheerfully all the time. Leaving his son reading in front of the fire, his father went out for a further stroll. He returned to find Arthur still on the sofa, apparently asleep. Only after a short time did Henry Hallam notice the odd position of his head. He called to his son. There was no response. All efforts to rouse him were in vain. Arthur Hallam was dead at age twenty-two.[6]

The medical report on the death certificate listed ‘Schlagfluss’ –that is, a stroke. A blood-vessel near the brain had suddenly burst. The autopsy revealed that ‘a weakness of the cerebral vessels, and a want of sufficient energy in the heart.’[7] The coffin was quickly sealed and sent to the nearest seaport, to be returned to English earth for burial.

In the first week of October, came a letter from Arthur Hallam’s uncle, Henry Elton:

Addressed to Alfred Tennyson Esqre: if Absent, to be opened by Mrs Tennyson Somersby Rectory Spilsby Lincolnshire Clifton. 1 Octobr. 1833

My Dear Sir—

At the desire of a most afflicted family, I write to you because they are unequal from the grief into which they have fallen to it themselves. Your friend, Sir, and my much—loved Nephew, Arthur Hallam, is no more—it has pleased God to remove him from this his first scene of Existence, to that better world for which he was Created. He died at Vienna, on his return from Buda, by Apoplexy, and I believe his Remains come by Sea from Trieste. Mr Hallam arrived this morning in 3 Princes Buildings. May that Being in whose hands are all the Destinies of Man—and who has promised to comfort all that Mourn pour the Balm of Consolation on all the Families who are bowed down by this unexpected dispensation! I have just seen Mr Hallam, who begs I will tell you that he will write himself as soon as his Heart will let him. Poor Arthur had a slight attack of Ague— which he had often had—Order’d his fire to be lighted— and talked with as much cheerfulness as usual—He suddenly became insensible, and his Spirit departed without Pain—The Physician endeavour’d to get any Blood from him—and on Examination it was the General Opinion that he could not have lived long—This was also Dr Holland’s opinion—The account I have endeavour’d to give you, is merely what I have been able to gather, but the family of course are in too great distress to enter into details—

I am, dear Sir— your very Obt. Servt.

Henry Elton.[8]


There was a long pause as Tennyson read the letter. He then left the dining-room and asked to speak to Emily, to whom he told the contents of the letter. He caught her as she fainted.[9]

Hallam’s friend Gladstone received the news on 6th October: ‘When shall I see his like?’ he wrote. ‘I walked upon the hills to muse upon this very mournful event, which cuts me to the heart. Alas for his family and his intended bride!’[10]

To all his friends, Arthur’s death came as ‘a loud and terrible stroke from the reality of things upon the faery building of our youth.’[11]

Some comments about AHH from his friends:[12][13] -‘the most charming and the most promising’ of his contemporaries - ‘his mind was more original & powerful than the minds of us his contemporaries’ -‘he had a genius for metaphysical analysis’ -‘’a peculiar clearness of perception’ - an ‘always active mind’ - ‘angelic spirit’ - ‘he seemed to tread the earth as a spirit from some better world’ -‘his mighty spirit (beautiful and powerful as it had already grown), yet bore all the marks of youth, and growth, and ripening promise.’

Tennyson said: “He would have been known, if he had lived, as a great man but not as a great poet; he was as near perfection as mortal man could be.”.[14]

Gladstone hoped ‘that some part of what Hallam has written may be [...] put into a more durable form [...] his letters I think are worthy of permanent preservation.’ Hallam’s father collected together many of his son’s writings (but none of his letters and he left out poems he thought were unsuitable) and published them privately: Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam (1834). On being asked by Henry Hallam to contribute to an introduction, Tennyson replied: ‘I attempted to draw a memoir of his life and character, but I failed to do him justice. I failed even to please myself. I could scarcely have pleased you.’[15]


That Hallam's death was a significant influence on Tennyson's poetry is clear.[16] Tennyson dedicated one of his greatest poems to Hallam (In Memoriam A.H.H.), and stated that the dramatic monologue "Ulysses" was "written with the feeling of his [Hallam's] loss upon me than many poems in [the publication] In Memoriam". Tennyson named his elder son after his late friend. Emilia Tennyson also named her elder son, Arthur Henry Hallam, in his honour.

Hallam is buried at St. Andrew's Church in Clevedon, Somerset.

Bibliography

  • Jenkins, R (1995). Gladstone. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-66209-1. pp16-18

Kolb, J. The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam 1981 Ohio State University Press 0814203000

Martin, R. B. Tennyson; The Unquiet Heart 1983 Clarendon Press Oxford 0571118429

Ricks, C. Tennyson, Macmillan, London, 1972 0333486552

Hallam, H. (ed.) Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam 1834

Lang, C. Y. and Shannon Jr. The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson 1982 Clarendon Press Oxford

References

  1. ^ C. Ricks Tennyson, Macmillan, London, 1972.
  2. ^ R. B. Martin Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983.
  3. ^ C. Ricks Tennyson, Macmillan, London, 1972.
  4. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  5. ^ R. B. Martin Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983.
  6. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  7. ^ H. Hallam Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam 1834
  8. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  9. ^ R. B. Martin Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983.
  10. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  11. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  12. ^ J. Kolb, The Letters of Arthur Henry Hallam, Ohio State University Press, 1981.
  13. ^ H. Hallam Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam 1834
  14. ^ H. Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, New York, MacMillan, 1897.
  15. ^ H. Hallam Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam 1834
  16. ^ H. Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, New York, MacMillan, 1897.
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