Part C · Broad Questions — Locksley Hall

The speaker stands on the sands near Locksley Hall. He asks his comrades to leave him alone for a while:
Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 'tis early morn;
He is sad, angry and full of memories. But he is not only a lover. He is a young man of the age who thinks about money, science and the future. His private pain opens into public questions. So his voice becomes the voice of many Victorians. Tennyson gives personal feeling a wide social meaning. This is why critics say he spoke for the conscience of his age.

The speaker loved his cousin Amy. But her family forced her to marry a rich man. The speaker feels betrayed. He blames the false values of society. Money matters more than true love. He says Amy's husband has a nature lower than her own. He calls her fate a wrong done by social custom. Here Tennyson shows a real Victorian problem. Marriage was often a business deal. The poem protests against this cruel habit. In this way, Tennyson speaks for the moral feeling of honest people.

Materialism means love of money and goods. The speaker hates it. He sees a society where gold rules the heart. He says:
Is it well to wish thee happy?—having known me—to decline
On a range of lower feelings and a narrower heart than mine.
Here he speaks of Amy's lower life after marriage. He also attacks the money-loving age. The cause of his pain is not only Amy. It is also the greedy world. Tennyson thus acts as a moral critic. He warns the nation that wealth without feeling is empty. This reflects the honest conscience of Victorian England.

The Victorian age was full of new machines and inventions. The speaker looks at this change with hope. He sees ships, trade and railways joining the world. He says:
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
He imagines air ships carrying goods and people. He dreams of a world full of peace. This shows the confidence of the age. Many Victorians trusted science to improve life. Tennyson shares this hope and gives it a strong voice.

Tennyson does not praise progress blindly. The speaker also feels fear. He sees a future of war and war in the air. He writes of a time when the air is full of fighting:
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
Science may bring harm as well as good. This shows the mixed mind of Victorians. They loved progress but feared its cost. Tennyson shows this honest double feeling. That is part of true conscience.

After the fear, the speaker sees a better dream. He sees a world of peace and law. All nations will join in one parliament. He says:
Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.
This is a famous vision of world unity. It shows Tennyson's deep faith in human good. He believes law and reason will end war. This gives the poem a bright and moral message. It also shows the generous hope of the best Victorian minds.

The poem also reflects British pride in its age. England was a rich and strong empire. People felt proud of its trade and its power. The speaker also turns from his sorrow and thinks of a wide world. He decides to go forth and not waste his life. He thinks of far lands and new work. This is the energy of the age. But the poem also shows the danger of pride. The speaker's talk of savage lands shows a narrow, imperial view. Modern readers see this clearly. Even so, it mirrors the mood of that time.

At the end, the speaker is still angry. He talks of leaving the old hall and going away. But he also looks forward. He ends the poem with a mix of anger and hope. He cries:
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.
He accepts that change is a part of life. He decides to face the future. This is the poem's moral. A man must not be crushed by grief. He must join the march of progress. Tennyson thus offers a message of courage to his age.