Richard Holmes: Young Tennyson and The Boundless Deep

Acclaimed biographer Richard Holmes joins us for a virtual conversation about rediscovering one of the first modern poetic minds — Alfred, Lord Tennyson — and his masterful new biography, The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief. Magnetic, mercurial, and highly emotional, Alfred, Lord Tennyson was haunted by the great intellectual and scientific issues of his time. Coming into his poetic powers as rapid and revolutionary discoveries were being made in the fields of biology, astronomy, geology, and marine science, Tennyson was looking for answers to questions that had felt previously unknowable — about biological evolution, the notion of a godless universe, and of planetary extinction. The result is a poetry that has an uncanny modern magic. In The Boundless Deep, Holmes uncovers the great Victorian poet as we’ve never seen him before — a young man wrestling with ideas about geology, deep time, the vastness of a modern cosmology, and social revolution. In a special virtual conversation, hear Holmes discuss how Tennyson’s wild imagination helped him emerge as the poetic voice of his generation — and why he remains an inspiration for our own age. Broadcast on Mar 16, 2026 at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Your support helps us continue creating online content for our community. Donate now: http://www.92NY.org/Donate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/92ndStreetY Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/92ndStreetY TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@92ndstreety Archives: https://www.92ny.org/archives