Blog, She Wrote: Of Poets & Little Boys Named Tennyson

Time for another birthday celebration! This time we are studying Alfred Lord Tennyson, the poet, who was born on August 5, 1809. He is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. If you'd like to see his writing, I found many of them on Poemhunter.com . How about a sample?

The Owl

When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

Photo from the Public Domain

Though we are generally a science-loving crowd at our house, we do read a lot of classic literature and generally work hard at most things, but admittedly poetry really isn't one of them! So, why would I pick Tennyson to study with the kids? It's simple. We're related. I am a direct descendent of the former poet laureate and therefore so are our children. Do we lay claim to this fact often? Let me put it this way...J7's middle name is Tennyson. It's true. We brought back a long tradition in my father's family in which every male child has the middle name Tennyson. All the way up to my father's generation when my grandfather refused. Then my dad's generation did not pick it back up. My father has 9 grandsons and when we were pregnant with our last child we decided it would be pretty cool to bring back the name into the male line if we had a boy. Mission accomplished. J. Tennyson was born on June 10, 2005.

Please check out the other August Birthday Hop posts from the iHN. There a bunch of bloggers out there who are celebrating with all kinds of famous people in history. Be sure and visit!