Goodness, he died the year my grandparents were born… In my sixth form, Tennyson was frowned upon. He was old hat, too flowery, you weren’t supposed to admire “craftsmanship” in a poem (whyever not?) The English teachers ensured that we had a relatively “modern” syllabus, of Yeats, E M Forster, Graham Greene, and Arthur Miller. But I have always had a soft spot for Tennyson’s musical colourful verse. Favourites: “The Lady of Shalott”; the lyrics “Blow bugle blow” and “Now sleeps the crimson petal” from “The Princess”; “All night have the roses heard” from “Maud”, and the “Morte d’Arthur”. For some odd reason this collection doesn’t include “The Dying Swan”, a favourite I had to track down online. Tennyson gave us the phrase “Nature red in tooth and claw” from “In Memoriam”.