‘TENNYSON’S FUTURES’, 27-28 MARCH 2009, ENGLISH FACULTY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

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. -‘Locksley Hall’

I remember once in London the realization coming over me, of the whole of its inhabitants lying horizontal a hundred years hence. -Alfred Tennyson

Tennyson was acutely aware of his place in time, and the future, with all of the uncertainties and certainties that it holds, is one of the central preoccupations of his poetry. The bicentenary of Tennyson’s birth in 2009 provides an ideal opportunity to consider the poet’s position both in relation to his future and to ours. This two-day conference will explore possible future directions in Tennyson studies and ask vital questions about Tennyson’s conception of and relationship to the future. How does Tennyson imagine the various futures that he describes in his poetry? How is his role as a poet affected by his need to look forward? How have later writers and artists responded to Tennyson’s work? And how might the emergence of new critical trends affect assessments of Tennyson in the future? Proposals are invited on any aspect of the conference theme, including but not limited to: Tennyson’s representations of personal and historical futures; his revisions and re-imaginings of his own poems; his cultural status and posthumous reputation; literary (and other) responses to Tennyson; new theoretical and critical approaches to Tennyson.

Confirmed speakers include: Matthew Campbell, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Eric Griffiths, Seamus Perry, Christopher Ricks, Nicholas Shrimpton, Helen Small, Herbert F. Tucker.

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words, together with your name and institutional affiliation, to
tennysonsfutures@gmail.com
Deadline: 17 October 2008

For further information and updates, please visit the conference website at sites.google.com/site/tennysonsfutures