The Surface Is a Lie: Tennyson’s Kraken, Buttermere’s Depths, and the Hidden Truths of a Poet’s Life

In this must‑listen episode of Alden Carrow’s Poetry Podcast, Alden descends beneath the bright surface of things — from Tennyson’s abyssal Kraken to the steep, enclosing walls of Buttermere. Guided by the theme “the surface is a lie that holds the light,” Alden explores what lies beneath the calm, polished appearances we trust: the millennial darkness of the deep sea, the silted cold of a Lakeland lake, and the hidden pressures beneath a poet’s working life. The episode opens with Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Kraken,” a listener‑requested guest poem that plunges into the ancient, dreamless depths where truth sleeps far below the reach of sunlight. Alden then shares his own poem “Buttermere,” written during a storm‑struck autumn walk in a valley where beauty, geology, and a quiet history of imposture all press against the surface at once. In the second half, Alden turns to the unseen labour of submitting to literary journals — the long silences, the sediment of rejection, and the patient, necessary work that happens out of sight. For emerging poets, this is a rare, honest guide to surviving the depths without losing heart. And as always, listeners are invited to take part in the ongoing competition: email a poem you’d love to hear featured in a future episode to [email protected], and you’ll be entered into the draw to win a signed copy of Cumbria In Verse — Lakes To Fells In Poetry. Settle in. Slow down. There is light on the surface — but the truth is waiting beneath it.