Lady Clara Vere de Vere

The poem is about a lady in a family of aristocrats, and includes numerous references to nobility, such as to earls or coats of arms.

Tennyson spent some time as a guest at Curragh Chase and wrote the poem to show his close friendship with the de Vere family.

The speaker tells that Lady Clara has rebuffed a young, but low-born man who loved her, and he committed suicide after her rejection.

The references to coronets and earls are deployed ironically—the poem's speaker is not, in fact, impressed with the Vere de Vere ancestry, and all of her noble claims can't balance out Lady Clara's coldness, pride, and idleness (as proven by the fact that she apparently has no better claim on her time than breaking hearts).

The poem's speaker then professes a more democratic viewpoint, where good character is earned by virtue, not by high birth.