Hemorrhagic Stroke as Inspiration for Poetry: The Case of Alfred Tennyson, Arthur Henry Hallam, and In Memoriam A.H.H.

Abstract

Background: Neurology and literature have a complex interface; one of the facets is that of works inspired by grief on the passing of a beloved one due to a neurological disease. Summary: In Memoriam A.H.H., written by Alfred Tennyson and published in 1850 in response to the untimely death of Arthur Henry Hallam, is one such elegy, which had a profound impact in Tennyson’s body of work and on the history of Victorian poetry in general. In this review, the author delineates biographical notes of both men before analyzing the disease and death of Arthur Hallam due to hemorrhagic stroke. Key Messages: By evaluating Hallam’s autopsy report and contemplating the different hypotheses on the etiology of his stroke, as well as how his death due to catastrophic neurological disease was memorialized in verse, neurologists may gain better insight on the interface between neurology and literature inspired by grief.