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A Critical Analysis of Tension's In Memorial A. H. H. During the Victorian Period, long held and comfortable religious beliefs fell under great scrutiny. An early blow to these beliefs came from the Utilitarian, followers of Jeremy Bantam, in the form of a test by reason of many of the long-standing institutions of England, including the church. When seen through the eyes of reason, religion became "merely an outmoded superstition" (Ford & Christ 896). If this were not enough for the faithful to contend with, the torch of doubt was soon passed to the scientists. Geologists were publishing the results of their studies which concluded that the Earth was far older than the biblical accounts would have it (Ford & Christ 897). Astronomers were extending humanity's knowledge of stellar distances, and Natural Historians such as Charles Darwin were swiftly building theories of evolution that defied the Old Testament version of creation (Ford & Christ 897). God seemed to be dissolving before a panicked England's very eyes, replaced by the vision of a cold, mechanistic universe that cared little for our existence. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was painfully aware of the implications of such a universe, a