A) Write about the techniques Tennyson uses to tell the story in Tithonus
The purpose of this essay is to discuss narrative methods and techniques used by Tennyson to tell the story in the poem Tithonus. Tennyson uses the theme of light to effectively illustrate the intense love Tithonus felt for Aurora but simultaneously this also highlight the love Tithonus will never feel again. This is shown by constantly mentioning the East where the sun rises, and also by the words ‘Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly….yet they blind the stars’- by saying her eyes blind the stars Tennyson could also be saying how he (Tithonus) too was at one point blinded by his love for her.
The use of imagery within the poem like ‘glimmering’ and ‘lights’ gives readers the idea that his life was happy with her in it yet, the contrast of language, ‘gloomy’, ‘shadows’, ‘twilight’ underlines the fact that he is no longer joyful as he is now without her. Another reason we could argue that he is no longer happy is that he may be envious of how she is immortal and forever youthful but he is immortal but consistently aging; this interpretation is supported by the continuous mentioning of immortal youth ‘To dwell in the presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth’. Also the use of the word twilight suggests that Tithonus state is that he is caught in the middle, forever watching the circle of life without him in it – ‘the woods decay…dies the swan’.