The Unknowable Woman: Depictions of Women in Alfred Tennyson’s Moxon Tennyson and the Arctic Monkeys’ AM
Abstract
This essay compares Alfred Tennyson’s Moxon Tennyson (1857) and Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 album AM, examining their enduring representations of women as devoted, desirable, and unknowable figures. Both artists use repetition, vivid imagery, and intermedial elements to develop a lasting depiction of enigmatic women. Using a presentist lens, this essay explores how historical resonances in Arctic Monkeys’ songs and modern parallels in Tennyson’s poetry make both works more alluring for a contemporary audience. In doing so, this essay illustrates that portrayals of women are neither confined to the past nor isolated in the present; rather, they persist across time.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Erin Slater
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