Wisdom Lingers

The bearded fellow above is one Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, born this day 1809, in Lincolnshire, England. He was the son of a rector, and his mother was the daughter of a vicar, so I wonder how he managed to avoid the pitfalls of the church.

He began writing poetry in his teens, and it is for his (later) poetry that we are making him our hero of the day. And what poetry is it, he is the second most quoted author (after Shakespeare) in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and there is no shame in being out-quoted by Shakespeare. Lines like "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", and "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers" are just some of the lovely verses that flowed from his pen.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" is one of his more famous poems, and it has one of the most recognizable opening lines in all of the poetry universe. He wrote awesome lines about a wide variety of things, from nature, to medieval legends, many subjects would be enlivened by his pen, and for that Alfred, Lord Tennyson (August 6th, 1809-October 6th, 1892, at the age of 83), you are my (361th) hero of the day.