A more obvious doubt, however, concerned the reality of immortality. And the oft-quoted lines from In Memoriani, "There lives more faith in honest doubt,/ Believe me, than in half the creeds," are probably the nearest that Tennyson ever came in his search for an answer concerning this doubt. These studies have revealed that a prevailing doubt shaped much of this poet's thinking concerning religious dogma, as seen in "Despair" and in certain other poems. And biographies have been studied to learn, if possible, the extent to which Tennyson's poetry is expressive of his own personal beliefs. Arthur's Concordance to the Poetical and Dramatic Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson1 has been used to aid in the location of all lines of poetry that contain the words "doubt" or "faith." Available periodicals, books, and dissertations have been studied to learn the findings and opinions of others. They are the following: "The Ancient Sage," "By an Evolutionist," "Crossing the Bar," "De Profundis," "Flower in the Crannied Wall," "The Higher Pantheism," "Locksley Hall," In Memoriam, "Supposed Confessions of a Second-rate Sensitive Mind," "The Two Voices," and "Vastness." In addition to these eleven poems, a few others have been examined for clues as to what kind of doubts plagued the poet, what steps he took in his search for an abiding faith, and what conclusions he eventually reached. A preliminary study indicated that a number of poems have been recognized as "Doubt and Faith" poems. A realization of the extensive use of these words presented the challenge for a study to determine how frequently these words are used, why the poet used them, and what their use reveals about the poet himself. Alfred Tennyson, the nineteenth century poetic giant of Victorian England, who served as poet laureate for forty-two years, is best known for his elegy, In Memoriam, The Idylls of the King, and such short poems as "Ulysses," "The Lotos Eaters," "Flower in the Crannied Wall," and "Crossing the Bar." But few readers of his poetry are aware of the frequent use of the words "doubt" and "faith" in these poems, as well as in a number of his other poems.
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