Maud Part 1 10 - Analysis

Introduction

Part 10 of Tennyson's Maud reads as a bitter, inward monologue combining jealousy, social anger, and a longing for moral strength. The tone moves from resentful sarcasm toward a more personal, almost devotional yearning. A shift occurs from external social critique to an inward desire for self-transformation.

Context and background

Written in mid-Victorian England, the poem reflects class tensions and anxieties about industrial wealth and social mobility. Tennyson's interest in chivalry and moral leadership colors the speaker's reaction to a newly wealthy, titled rival and a changing social landscape where money buys status.

Theme: Jealousy and Romantic Possession

The speaker's jealousy dominates: he obsesses over "one of the two at her side" and imagines Maud's potential acceptance of the new lord. Imagery of courting and bridal movement ("Bound for the Hall, and I think for a bride") reveals possessive love turned to despair and self-reproach.

Theme: Class, Money, and Moral Corruption

Tennyson critiques ostentatious, newly acquired wealth—the lord whose grandfather "Went to a blacker pit" and whose "gewgaw castle" sits pompously on the moor. The poem links purchased rank and "a bought commission" to a moral hollowness, using derisive images like "waxen face" and "rabbit mouth."

Theme: Yearning for Honest Leadership and Self‑Renewal

Contrasting the corrupt aristocrat, the speaker longs for "one still strong man" who "can rule and dare not lie." This ideal becomes internalized: the closing cry, "And ah for a man to arise in me," shows the desire not merely for an external savior but for personal moral resurrection.

Symbols and recurring images

Industrial and aristocratic imagery—"gutted mine," "coal all turn'd into gold," and the "gewgaw castle"—symbolize the transformation of suffering into superficial power. The voice oscillates between marketplace images ("hawker of holy things," "chink of his pence") and chivalric song, setting up a tension between vulgar commerce and noble idealism. The ambiguous figure of Maud functions both as beloved and as emblem of social aspiration.

Conclusion

The passage intertwines social critique with intimate vulnerability: resentment at bought status and a market-driven society slides into a moral plea for integrity, both in leaders and within the self. Tennyson casts the personal wound of jealousy as a spur toward ethical self-formation, leaving the poem poised between bitterness and hope.