This is something that all suffer from. This is something many question. This is one of the hardest things to understand and bear. It's death. Death happens every day and is one of the most difficult concepts to understand. Each person faces death differently, grieves in a unique way, and yet everyone can identify with the commonality of loss. Lord Tennyson, for example, approached the death of his beloved friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, in different stages, which he expressed in his poem In Memoriam AHH. When Hallam, Tennyson's closest friend, died suddenly at the age of twenty-two, Tennyson felt as if his life had been crushed before his eyes (Robson, Christ 1189). After his friend's death, Tennyson began to doubt his own life, its purpose, and the meaning of the universe. To express his feelings, he composed In Memoriam AHH over a period of seventeen years (Robson, Christ 1189). The different sections of the poem represent Tennyson's gradual passage through the grieving process, allowing readers to understand what Tennyson felt through the stages of his grief. (Robson, Christ 1189). Tennyson illustrates this process, starting with Hallam's first death. Tennyson's tone can be felt in his lines: "I held true, with him who sings on a clear harp in various tones, that men might rise on the springboards of their dead selves to higher things » (1.5-8). Tennyson once believed that men could rise to bigger and better things, but he struggles to contemplate the reality of death and how he will ever find positive in the situation. He wonders why this happened to his beloved friend. How is this possible? Why Hallam? In canto 6, Tennyson connects Hallam's death to other grievances, trying to find something that...... middle of paper...... his beloved friend's ass, but after having questioned God himself, and the world; Tennyson realized that God ultimately controls our destiny. Tennyson realized, through his various stages of grief, that Arthur Henry Hallam was in a better place and could finally be at peace with what had happened to his beloved friend. Works Cited Tennyson, Lord Alfred. “From In Memoriam AHH” 1849. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2. 9th edition. Boston: WW Norton, 2013. 1186-1235. “Headnote from In Memoriam AHH” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Catherine Robson and Carol Christ. 9th ed. Flight. 2. Boston: WW Norton, 2013. 1189. Print. “Epilogue to In Memoriam AHH” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Catherine Robson and Carol Christ. 9th ed. Flight. 2. Boston: WW Norton, 2013. 1234-1235. Print.