Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, was born on the 6th of August 1809 and was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains today a poet of worldwide fame. Much of his work is instantly recognisable and within a few words he distils perhaps the very essence of being English with such phrases as ", "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all" and "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die". His poems vividly capture and enthral and amongst their number are "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears" and "Crossing the Bar". He died, mourned by an entire Nation on the 6th of October, 1892. Among our readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe.