JSYK42: Tennysonian idle thoughts

What did ol' Tennyson mean when he said 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'? Did he mean that to love someone mutually is a beautiful thing and everyone who never knows it misses out? Did he mean that giving your heart to someone, even unrequited, is some joy in itself and indicates and promotes humanity more than cutting off one's feelings for the world ever could? Or was he insinuating that to love, in any form or capacity, is to find someone or something to pour your life into; something to give your life over to and, in return, gain a greater form of life because what you love ignites what you are to create in you what you can be, extending what you can do and magnifying your view of what you believe possible, simply by being? By even existing, your love gives you something to cradle, even when a terrifying reality crashes like shattering glass on your shoulders, because once there was this one good thing, this nearly perfect and beautiful thing that you even remotely believed in. Did he mean that without it, man is nothing but a cold pile of happenings and miscommunications which amount to nothing, leave nothing, and have no effect worth mentioning to anyone? Or, was his simple line a simple suggestion that kissing is great and everyone should try it because yolo? Maybe it's a little of it all.