Hallam's sudden death was a fatal blow to Tennyson's spirit and faith. Tennyson was never recovered from it for almost his whole life. He was desperate for the loss of his best friend, and all his great works after that seemed to be his way and reaction to self-healing. Tennyson's works can be called the product of "despair", which plunged him into deep sadness. But grief does not solve the problem. He must find the soul of his best friend to find comfort. "In Memoriam" is a record of his spiritual communication with Hallam, so the poem was originally entitled "The Road of the Soul".