Tennyson is widely regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry.

Born in Lincolnshire to a clergyman father, he began writing poetry from an early age in the style of Byron.

He was largely tutored at home then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the literary club "the Apostles".

He succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850. Much of his work was based on classical mythological themes.

One of Tennyson's most famous works is Idylls of the King (1885), a series of narrative poems based entirely on King Arthur and the Arthurian tales.

His best-known poem, The Lady of Shalott, tells the story of a princess who cannot look at the world except through a reflection in a mirror.

Tennyson wrote a number of phrases that have become commonplaces of the English language, including: "nature, red in tooth and claw", "better to have loved and lost", "Theirs not to reason why,/Theirs but to do and die", and "My strength is as the strength of ten,/Because my heart is pure".

After marrying Emily Sellwood, the couple settled in Farringford, a house in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. The hills above Freshwater are named after Tennyson.

He is buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

ame: Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson Occupation: Poet Laureate, one of the most popular English poets.

DATE OF BIRTH: August 6, 1809 DIED: October 6, 1892 LOCAL LINK: Lived on the Isle of Wight