Maud Part 2 5 - Analysis

Introduction

This section of Tennyson's "Maud" is haunted, bitter, and conversational, voiced by a speaker who believes himself half-buried and tormented by the living and the dead. The tone moves from ironic rage to moments of rueful sentiment, with a recurring undercurrent of claustrophobic agitation. Shifts occur between denunciation (of churchmen, gossipers, "British vermin") and intimate appeals ("bury me deeper").

Relevant context

Written in Victorian England, Tennyson's poem reflects anxieties about social hypocrisy, institutional failure, and urban modernity. The speaker's distrust of clergy, press, and polite society echoes mid-19th-century critiques of industrialization, public spectacle, and moral decay.

Main themes

Death and unrest: The speaker's imagined posthumous suffering—"my heart is a handful of dust" and "the hoofs of the horses beat...Beat into my scalp and my brain"—turns the grave into a site of continued torment rather than peace. Hypocrisy and public scandal: Repeated complaints about gossip, "idiot gabble," and the failure of church rites ("not a bell was rung") expose social and institutional betrayal. Isolation and unreliable speech: The speaker oscillates between intimate confession and paranoid accusation, suggesting alienation; his plea "bury me deeper" reads as both literal and metaphorical desire to escape exposure.

Recurring symbols and images

The grave and shallow burial symbolize lack of closure and social indifference. The trampling hoofs and "stream of passing feet" emphasize urban noise and callousness. Rats, wolves, and arsenic function as images of corruption and secretive violence—the "British vermin" and "Arsenic, arsenic" convey both literal and moral poisoning. The nocturnal garden of lilies and roses, possibly "not roses, but blood," offers a distorted vision of beauty tied to pride and brutal love, complicating any consolatory afterlife.

Speaker, voice, and tone

The speaker is unreliable and performative: he claims death yet still speaks, alternately accusing public figures and confessing private grief. This voice mixes satire, invective, and pathos; its volatility strengthens the poem's sense of social claustrophobia and psychological disquiet.

Conclusion

Part 2.5 of "Maud" uses macabre imagery and bitter social critique to depict a world where burial offers no rest and public life amplifies private injury. Tennyson's speaker forces readers to confront how exposure, gossip, and institutional failure can turn both society and the idea of death into sources of torment.