Tennyson’s most celebrated work is ‘In Memoriam’ and in this work he talks about the ‘the Muses’.

The muses, poetry, the arts – all that made life beautiful here, and which we hope will pass with us beyond the grave.

Originally, muse referred to the Greek goddesses of music, poetry, and the arts. These goddesses, collectively known as the Muses, were believed to inspire poets and musicians.

This was in relation to a dream he had when he moved away from the rectory at Somersby in May 1837 to live at Beech Hill House, Epping.

The dream, which took place the night before the move, is recorded in section CIII of the poem. He seems to be living in a hall, and maidens with me singing of what is wise and good and graceful. In the centre of the hall stands a statue and to which they sing and which, though veiled, is recognised by Tennyson. The statue is thought to represent Arthur Hallam. His great lost love from student days.

The shape of him I loved, and love
For ever.

A dove brings in a summons from the sea. The maidens weep and wail when they realise he must go, and lead him down to a little boat moored at the side of the river below. They all get into the boat and as they glide down the river, the maidens become even more splendid, while he grows in stature, too, as the maidens continue to sing of that great race that is to be.

 As they draw out to sea, they approach the shinning sides of a great ship:

The man we loved was there on deck,
      But thrice as large as man he bent
      To greet us. Up the side I went,
And fell in silence on his neck;

Whereat those maidens with one mind
      Bewail'd their lot; I did them wrong:
      "We served thee here," they said, "so long,
And wilt thou leave us now behind?"

So rapt I was, they could not win
      An answer from my lips, but he
      Replying, "Enter likewise ye
And go with us:" they enter'd in.

And while the wind began to sweep
      A music out of sheet and shroud,
      We steer'd her toward a crimson cloud
That landlike slept along the deep.

Tennyson (1809 – 1892)
The last stanzas from section CIII

As we can see from these lines the Muse, the metaphorical maidens, went with him on his move to Beech Hill House. As well as the memmory connection with Arthur Hallam.

Tennyson later said of the dream:
I seemed to see, as it were, the spirit of the place, and the spirit of my past poetry, rise and wave me farewell.

This vision deeply moved him and contributed to his belief that Somersby was a spiritual wellspring for his poetry. A place where his creativity flourished. It also exemplifies the Romantic ideal of inspiration as something external and almost divine.

The dream marked the end of an era for Tennyson — the end of his youth and his intimate connection with the pastoral, poetic world of Somersby. It also reflects a kind of melancholy and reverence for the creative past.

This dream is often cited in biographies and literary studies because of its poetic resonance and its connection to his self-conception as a poet and to his muse.