From 1832 to 1842 Tennyson spent a roving life.  Now at home, now in London, now with his friends in various parts of England.  He was spending his time in finishing his poems, so that when he again came before the world with a volume, he would be a master.  The circle of his friends was widening, and now included the greater number of the master-minds of England.  He was poor, so poor in fact that he was reduced to the necessity of borrowing the books he wished to read from his friends.  But during all this time he never wavered in his allegiance to poetry; he had determined to be a poet, and to devote his life to poetry.  At last in 1842 he published his Poems in two volumes, and the world was conquered.  From this time onwards he was recognized as the leading poet of his century.

In 1845, Tennyson, poor still, was granted a pension of 200 pounds, chiefly through the influence of his friend Richard Monckton Milnes, and Thomas Carlyle.  There was a great deal of criticism regarding this pension from sources that should have been favorable, but the general verdict approved the grant.  In 1847 appeared The Princess, a poem, which, at that time, did not materially add to his fame; but the poet was now hailed as one of the great ones of his time, and much was expected of him.

In 1850 three most important events in the life of Tennyson happened.  He published In Memoriam, in memory of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam; he was appointed Poet Laureate, in succession to Wordsworth; and he married Emily Selwood, a lady to whom he had been engaged for seventeen years, but whom his poverty had prevented him from leading to the altar.  From this time onwards the life of the poet flowed smoothly.  He was happily married, his fame was established, his books brought him sufficient income on which to live comfortable and well.  From this point there is little to relate in his career, except the publication of his various volumes.

After his marriage Tennyson lived for some time at Twickenham, where in 1852 Hallam Tennyson was born.  In 1851 he and his wife visited Italy, a visit commemorated in The Daisy.  In 1853 they removed to Farringford at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, a residence subsequently purchased with the proceeds of Maud, published in 1855.  The poem had a somewhat mixed reception, being received in some quarters with unstinted abuse and in others with the warmest praise.  In the year that Maud was published Tennyson received the honorary degree of D.C.L., from Oxford.  In 1859 was published the first four of the Idylls of the King, followed in 1864 by Enoch Arden and Other Poems.  In 1865 his mother died.  In 1869 he occupied Aldworth, an almost inaccessible residence in Surrey, near London, in order to escape the annoyance of summer visitors to the Isle of Wight, who insisted on invading his privacy, which, perhaps, more than any other he especially valued.